Summary of Counselling and Mediation Support

Click here for Counselling

Click here for Mediation

COUNSELLING

"Professional, understanding, non-judgemental counselling in a safe,
supportive environment"

Available counselling:

Marriage counselling
Counselling
Individual Counselling for children, teenagers, adults and the elderly
Family Therapy
Mental Health Counselling with bulk billing
(to find out more about these areas, click here)

One Day Relationship Retreats (contact Mark for more details - 9757 2542, 0403 684 278 or support@gr8relationsips.com

Telephone Counselling Australia wide (click here)

Life Changing Book to change old habits "My New Life" (click here)

About Mark Lockyer:
Mark is a qualified Social Worker and Teacher with over 15 years experience in counselling, and has recently moved to Margaret River. His experience includes working with children and adolescents, adults and couples in relationships. His approach is personable believing that we have the answers within ourselves and counselling helps the process of unlocking and discovering those answers.

Mark is married with a 25 year old son and two step children, 19 and 15 years of age. The family also has a Labradoodle dog named Jack and a cat (Soxy). Mark lives locally in the Margaret River area.

As mentioned, Mark has extensive experience in counselling individuals, as well as relationship and family therapy. Mark has worked in liaison with Family Court Judges and Magistrates, through the Family Court of WA, in helping parents mediate appropriate outcomes for child related matters. If you live in the Margaret River area and require counselling or mediation, please call Mark on 0403 684 278, 9757 2542. counselling Margaret River

Mark is an Accredited Allied Mental Health Professional with Medicare Australia. He has considerable experience counselling and supporting those in need. If you have a "GP mental health care plan" you are eligible to receive medicare rebates for personal or group therapy and counselling. Bulk billing applies for Healthcare card holders.

Mark's current focus is on helping people develop their communication skills in personal relationships. This has stemmed from common issues that arise over and again in counselling sessions. To put it simply, relationships rely heavily on communication. If that communication is not constructive or valued by other parties, difficulties arise.

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Counselling
Available in Margaret River, Western Australia.

• Counselling is available in Margaret River, Western Australia. Medicare rebates are available if you have a "General Practitioner Mental Health Plan" - see your GP for more details. This is for people experiencing ongoing mental health issues such as depression, anxiety etc.
  
  Mark is qualified to counsel in the areas of mental health (depression, anxiety etc), relationships, family therapy, child focused therapy and individual matters.

• All clients are treated with respect, dignity and confidentiality in a safe, caring environment.
• All safety checks are up to date - including police clearances and Working With Children checks.
• Mark is a full member of The Australian Association Of Social Workers and abides by the their code of ethics and professional conduct guidelines.
• Mark's counselling approaches include the following:
  
• Marriage or Relationship Counselling (click here), Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (click here), Role Theory (click here). There are others, however, these are the main ones.

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• Marriage or Relationship Counselling: (adapted from www.mayoclinic .com)
  How does marriage counseling work?

Marriage counselling typically brings couples or partners together for joint therapy sessions. The counsellor or therapist helps couples pinpoint and understand the sources of their conflicts and try to resolve them. You and your partner will analyse both the good and bad parts of your relationship.

Marriage counselling can help you learn skills to solidify your relationship. These skills may include communicating openly, problem solving together and discussing differences rationally. In some cases, such as mental illness or substance abuse, your marriage counsellor may work with your other health care professionals to provide a complete spectrum of treatment.

Talking about your problems with a marriage counsellor may not be easy. Sessions may pass in silence as you and your partner seethe over perceived wrongs. Or you may bring your fights with you, yelling and arguing during sessions. Both are OK. Your therapist can act as mediator or referee and help you cope with the emotions and turmoil. Your marriage counsellor shouldn't take sides in these disputes.

You may find your relationship improving after just a few sessions. On the other hand, you may ultimately discover that your differences truly are irreconcilable and that it's best to end your relationship.

What if your partner refuses to attend marriage counselling sessions? You can go by yourself. It may be more challenging to patch up relationships when only one partner is willing to go to therapy. But you can still benefit by learning more about your reactions and behavior in the relationship.

How do you choose a marriage counsellor?

Take care when choosing a marriage counsellor or therapist. Not all are licensed or certified, or have specialised training in couples counselling. Look for a marriage counsellor who is a licensed mental health professional. Mark has been trained in this area and is a licensed Allied Mental Health Professional with Medicare Australia. Mark works in private practice in Margaret River Western Australia.

What questions should you ask when choosing a marriage counselor?

Before choosing a new marriage counsellor, you can ask lots of questions to see if he or she is the right fit for you. Consider asking questions like these:

• Are you a clinical member or licensed by the state, or both? Mark is a member of the Australian Association of Social Workers and also registered by Medicare Australia.
• What is your educational and training background? Mark has an Honours degree in Social Work from the University of Western Australia. He also has a Graduate Diploma in Teaching and has participated in many further education courses on counselling.
• What is your experience with my type of problem? Mark has 15 years experience in private practice counselling with individuals, couples, families, children and more specific issues such as mental health issues and substance abuse.
• How much do you charge? Mark's hourly rate is $135.00. Often the first session will last up to 1 and a half hours.
• Are your services covered by my health insurance? If you are referred by a doctor with a "General Practitioner Mental Health Care Plan".
• Where is your office, and what are your hours? Based in Margaret River at the Reef Centre on Fearn Avenue, 9757 2542, with flexible hours including after hours consults and home visits.
• How long is each session? Typically 1 hour. First session may last 1 and a half hours.
• How often are sessions scheduled? This is negotiated between you and me
• How many sessions should I expect to have? Dependent on the issue and your willingness to engage, counselling can be ongoing but this needs to be agreed to between yourself and the counsellor.
• What is your policy on cancelled sessions? If you cancel with less than 24 hours notice, 50% payment is required.
• How can I contact you if I have an emergency? Please call my mobile 0403 684 278 or the office on 9757 2542. If the telephones are unattended, please leave a message and I will call you back within 24 hours.

Making the decision to go to marriage counselling can be tough. But marriage counselling can help you cope better with a troubled relationship — rather than trying to ignore it or hoping it gets better on its own.

More information on Relationship Counselling click here

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• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is the term for a number of therapies that are designed to help solve problems in people's lives, such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or drug misuse.

  CBT was developed from two earlier types of psychotherapy:
  •Cognitive therapy, designed to change people's thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and expectations.
  •Behavioural therapy (also called behaviourism), designed to change how people acted.
  American psychotherapist Aaron Beck helped to develop CBT and believed that the way we think about a situation affects how we act. In turn, our actions can affect how we think and feel. It is therefore necessary to change both the act of thinking (cognition) and behaviour at the same time. This is known as cognitive behavioural therapy.

  Solving problems using CBT
  CBT says that your problems are often created by you. It is not the situation itself that is making you unhappy, but how you think about it and how you react to it.

  An example of how CBT can be used to solve problems is described in the following scenario.

  Scenario
  A woman believes that her manager secretly dislikes her and is trying to undermine her job. This makes her anxious and depressed at work, so she begins to make some mistakes.

  When her manager points out her mistakes, and suggests ways that she can avoid making them again, it reinforces her belief that her manager dislikes her. As she's convinced she's going to be fired, her performance drops even further. Finally, her manager loses patience with her performance and does fire her.

  Applying CBT
  A CBT therapist would attempt to break this downward cycle of thinking by challenging the woman's negative and unhelpful thoughts. Then the therapist would try to get her to base her behaviour on more realistic thoughts and assumptions.

  The CBT therapist may point out that the manager is unlikely to undermine an employee because it's in the manager's interest to have productive and motivated staff. Instead of seeing the manager's suggestions as a personal attack, it would be more helpful for the woman to see them as support and encouragement.

  The therapist and the woman would then talk about how she could act in the future based on these more realistic beliefs, such as asking for feedback about how she could improve and training to learn new skills.

  The outcome
  After several weeks of trying these new thinking and behavioural techniques, the woman's manager sees an improvement in her attitude and performance, and their relationship continues to improve. After several months, the manager recommends the woman for a promotion.
  To see a video on cognitive behavioural therapy click here

• For further information please telephone Mark on 0403 684 278, 9757 2542 or email support @ gr8relationships.com

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Telephone and Online Counselling Australia and World Wide using Telephone (Within Australia 0403 684 278, 9757 2542, international 61 4036 84278), Skype (ID marklockyer), Yahoo Messenger (afbmh @ yahoo.com) or MSN (afbmh @ live.com)
Available Australia and World Wide

Confidential telephone counselling is available Australia wide in the privacy of your your home or where you feel comfortable with privacy.

The counsellor is Mark Lockyer who has over 15 years experience in personal and relationship counselling. He is respectful, safe, non-judgemental in his approach, believing that within us all we have the answers to our problems. Often we need a gentle, understanding listener to help us uncover what is best for us.

You can call using the home telephone, your mobile telephone, Skype (id marklockyer), MSN (id afbmh@live.com) or Yahoo (id afbmh).

Call Mark on 0403 684 278, 9757 2542 (internationally that is 61 403 684 278) for further details. The cost is $120 per session (for 1 to 1 and half hours) and includes Mark's highly acclaimed eBook and audio version of "My New Life"
(click here for more details on the eBook) which normally sells separately for $49.97 (you get it FREE with telephone counselling).

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One Day Relationship Workshops

Mark's life changing 1 day retreats in a safe and supportive environment

Mark's one day workshops can reverse so many of the blockages. At least half of the road we need to cover to change, requires the willingness to change. If you are ready and willing to change the rest is fairly easy. I can show you the water but I cannot make you drink it. However, if you are willing, it tastes so much sweeter!

Please enquire about the next one day workshop. They are based on demand and limited by numbers. Enquiry details are listed below. You will not be disappointed!

Please also feel free to download papers Mark has collected relevant to the topic of change in our personal relationships. They are listed at the bottom of this page.

"My New Life" eBook

One simple but very profound piece of evidence that has been discovered by psychologists, neuro scientists and linguists is that we think and communicate via language. Out brains primarily process 'language' based information. We are both governed and limited by language. Therefore how we use language, and ultimately the way we communicate with others, determines the nature of our relationships - are they productive, intimate or conflictual and distant?

Simply by changing communication style we can change our lives and the place we have with those we care for.

Believe it or not it is not that difficult. The techniques are fairly simple. What can make change difficult is our reluctance to embrace it or our defences that prevent us from changing. Familiarity is a powerful thing.

Read Mark's informative eBook all about how to improve your relationship NOW! Instant download

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MEDIATION

What is Mediation? What is mediation?

Mediation is a structured negotiation process in which an independent person, known as a mediator, assists the parties to identify and assess options and negotiate an agreement to resolve their dispute. Mediation is an alternative to a judge imposing a decision on the parties.

Family Court - Child Related Matters (custody matters)

Alternative Dispute Resoltion (eg personal matters, disputes with neighbours etc)

Small Business Disputes

Family Dispute Resolution, Custody and Property Mediation, Child Related Proceedings - Family Court Mediation

When couples are disputing property or child related matters, mediation can be very effective both cost and stress wise. When matters go to the Family Court, having lawyers draw up the initial application can easily cost you over $1000 for each party! Effective mediation costs no where near this amount and saves you the incredible stress of having to communicate through lawyers and go through the foreign court process. With due respect to the legal process, many Family Law Solicitors will also agree that court should be a matter of last resort.

Mark Lockyer has worked with the Family Court as a Family Consultant (mediator) and has helped many parents ultimately avoid the process of having a magistrate or judge tell parents what will happen, particularly in the area of child related (custody) issues.

Typically, a mediation session will last 4 hours. One hour spent with one parent, then an hour spent with the other parent. This gives Mark an understanding of what each parent would like with regard to child related matters. Remember Mark acts ethically so his priority will be what is going to be in the best interests of the child, taking into account the child’s age and development.

When both parties have been interviewed they are brought into the mediating room together where a suitable outcome for both parties is negotiated. If need be legal representatives can also attend these meetings. The mediated outcome is later written up into a memorandum (non-binding) for you both to refer to. Ongoing mediation can then occur to fine tune matters as circumstances change.

The cost for the 3 hour meditation meeting and 1 hour memorandum writing is $580.00. Ongoing mediation is charged at the rate of $135 per hour.

Why use a private service for Family Dispute Resolution? It is efficient, currently with minimal waiting list times.

Mark Lockyer operates in Margaret River, Western Australia. He is a qualified Social Worker and Teacher with extensive experience in counselling and mediation.

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Alternative Dispute Resolution

Alternative Dispute Resolution, or ADR, is a way of resolving disputes without going to court.

Most types of ADR use a neutral third person to help the parties come to agreement. The degree of influence this person has over the final outcome depends on the type of ADR you choose.

Advantages: ADR is
*Less formal
*Less costly and
*Less time-consuming than going to court.
*Results are specific to your needs

What happens in the mediation process - what can I expect? Click here

Small Business Disputes

The following information has been taken from the web site: http://www.innovation.gov.au/Section/SmallBusiness/Pages/SuccessfulDisputeResolutionIntroduction.aspx

The Resolving Small Business Disputes: Six Steps to Successful Dispute Resolution kit aims to help small business resolve their disputes as quickly and as cheaply as possible, and to implement good business practice with respect to disputes that may arise. The kit is designed to encourage and help small business to use Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) as a viable alternative to litigation.

•Introduction
•Step 1: Understand your dispute
•Step 2: Understand your options
•Step 3: Select an approach
•Step 4: Access dispute resolution services
•Step 5: Prepare for resolution
•Step 6: Successful dispute resolution, including Avoiding disputes & dispute management systems
•Dispute resolution - Case Studies

Introduction
Good Business Management Includes Good Dispute Management
Problems arise every day between businesses, their customers, suppliers, partners and employees. Most of the time these are dealt with quickly and efficiently through common sense. A small percentage, however, escalate into a dispute. Disputes that remain unresolved may start affecting the profitability and productivity of the business.

The Kit aims to help small business resolve their disputes as quickly and as cheaply as possible, and to implement good business practice with respect to disputes that may arise.

Traditional Dispute Resolution for Small Business
Although small business often have legal recourse in disputes, their access to justice can be constrained by the cost of going to court, the long time and delays before their case is heard, the disparity in the quality of representation and their need to preserve business relationships. In many cases, neither party achieves a satisfactory result from a Court judgement.

The Benefits of Alternate Dispute Resolution
The thrust of the Kit is to encourage and help small business to use 'Alternative Dispute Resolution' (ADR) instead of litigation, where it is appropriate. In most cases ADR can offer small business a low-cost, quick and flexible system for resolving disputes. ADR is a viable alternative to litigation, typically achieving a success rate of around 80%, without costly and time-consuming legal action. For example, some studies show that using ADR in a dispute can cost as little as five percent of the cost of going to court.

ADR processes seek to produce a negotiated settlement between the parties in a manner that encourages common-sense, practical solutions and preserves business relationships. A neutral party (usually a mediator) helps the parties find a settlement that both can agree to, within a fully confidential process.

ADR provides the parties in a dispute with total control over the outcome, removing the uncertainty that comes with a Court case and judgement. Where an agreed settlement is not achieved, the, parties retain their full rights to proceed with legal action.

This Kit should help you to resolve your dispute through six simple steps.

Download full version of the kit in PDF format

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Telephone: 0403 684 278, 9757 2542 (Australia)

Telephone: +61 403684278 (International)

Email: support @ gr8relationships.com

Mark Lockyer
BSW (Hons), Grad Dip Ed, MAASW
Social Worker, Trainer, Facilitator, Mediator, Mentor, Consultant

Copyright gr8relationships.com 2010