Your own, personal, downloaded self help counselling.

Guaranteed to change your life!

Money back guarantee.

Are you ready to change your life? Are you stuck with 'something' that you would like to be better? Perhaps that something is depression, being anxious, being part of a bad relationship, being stuck in a bad job, being unmotivated, wishing for things but never getting them, the list is endless.

Simply put, if you are here now because you are wanting to change something in your life, make something better, then we can help. What you need is the determination and motivation to change. Just by reading this page you are indicating you are seeking change, something better, so you are showing you are motivated. Great! Let's see where we can take you.Margaret River counselling, counselling in margaret river can help.
Gr8relationships.com offers 2 programs. The first will help you understand why you stay stuck even though you don't like it. For instance staying stuck in an unhappy relationship, or constantly feeling anxious over certain events (perhaps social anxiety). The second program is aimed at providing you a vehicle to change. It's a proven method. There are many scientific studies that show it works. It's based on well accepted psychological methods. There is nothing strange about what we are offering.

Program 1 is designed to help you understand why you think and behave the way you do, even though you may not like the way you think and behave. Perhaps you are experiencing depression, anxiety, relationship difficulties, self esteem issues, loneliness, grief - the list is endless. This program will help you understand why it may be that you cannot seem to get out of or move on from the way you think, your depression or your unhappy relationship. This program comes with a money back guarantee. This means if you find after reading the eBook and completing the exercises you are not wiser in understanding why you are stuck in depression, anxiety or an unhappy relationship - or what ever it is that has brought you here today, you will be given your money back, in full, no questions asked.

To find out more about Program 1, click here

Program 2

This program is aimed to help you change. It uses an approach called "Acceptance Commitment Therapy" or ACT (pronounced act as in to act in a play). The program also uses Mindfulness to help you focus on what matters most in life. Many people believe happiness is the thing that matters most in life. However, the conecpt of happiness is so loaded in our modern world, that we will not focus on happiness as a means to changing your life. It's like the word god. It is difficult to say 'god' without it instantly creating some image and a series of thoughts and values. For example many people will think of a man with immense power up above us looking down on us judging what we do. It's hard to think of the word god without it being 'loaded' with preconceived ideas. So it is with happiness. We tend say we are either happy or not happy. If we say we are not happy then that usually follows with "I'll be happy when ........". I'll be happy when I have more money or a better job, or a new house etc. Like the word 'god', happiness is also loaded. But if I say mindfullness what do you think of? Hopefully not a lot if you do not know much about it! If you do know about mindfulness you will understand it is very much about living in the here and now. Very much appreciating what we have right now, what is happening right now, bring very connected to right now. There is a free audio exercise you can try below to start to give you an understanding of how the state of mindfulness feels. Believe you me it's much better than trying to be happy!

More about ACT:

When you think of counselling what do you think of? I guess it would be something like someone helping someone overcome a problem.

The thing with counselling is, there are so many types of counselling. In mainstream circles or traditional counselling, counselling that deals with helping people change negative thoughts and belief systems to more positive thoughts and belief systems is very popular.

The therapist or counsellor would challenge the client's thoughts and belief systems, helping break the downward cycle of thinking by challenging the client's negative and unhelpful thoughts. The therapist would try to get the client to base his or her behaviour on more realistic thoughts and assumptions.

Sounds good?Margaret River counselling, counselling in margaret river can help. Margaret River Counselling can help.
But, what if you didn't have to put that much energy into it?

In the example above the first step is to recognise your negative thoughts and then challenge them. Almost like having a conversation with them and through this process coming up with more realistic thoughts that help you.

What if there was a therapy where you didn't have to give your negative thoughts any attention? You didn't have to try and change them or reason with them at all?

This is where ACT comes in and this is the therapy I offer you through this self-help program.

Here's a little more about ACT

• Rather than fight or change negative thoughts and feelings we accept them. A negative thought or feeling here is defined as a thought or feeling that is not helping your life, or affecting your ability to have the quality of life you would desire.
• We do not try to control our negative thoughts or feelings or try to turn them into positive ones and minimise their impact. Examples here would be saying to ourself "maybe things aren't as bad as I thought they were" or "every time I have a negative thought I'm going to try and think positive ones instead".
• By not fighting, changing, controlling or minimising negative thoughts or feelings, we are in fact not giving those negative thoughts or feelings any power at all. It is the belief with ACT that if you allow those thoughts or feelings any more attention beyond just identifying them and then letting them go, they easily take hold and take over.
• If you are confused about this do not be, the online self help course will explain this perfectly for you.
• Let me give you an example. If you unfortunately lost your foot you would not constantly focus on the fact that you have lost your foot. You would not fight or change the fact you have lost your foot. You would not minimise or try to add a positive slant to the fact you had lost your foot. Instead, eventually you would accept that you had lost your foot and then adapt to the loss to make the most of your life.
• So it is with ACT and the way we treat our thoughts and feelings. By accepting them as uniquely ours, they are a product of who we are and they uniquely shape our lives - we can then focus our lives on getting the most out of each and every moment.
• If already you find yourself saying "but I do not want these thoughts or feelings - I hate them" you are buying too much into them and already giving them too much power. Again in the self help counselling course, you will learn how to give them the minimum amount of attention without needing to get rid of them, or change them, or control them, or fight them - wow already these options sound very tiring!

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) gets it name from one of its basic messages of accepting what is not in your personal control. So we don't try to change things or turn thoughts or behaviours into positive ones, we simply accept that we have them. Then we commit to action that improves and enriches our life. Increasingly it is being accepted that in our current western world, we think too much! If we learn to focus more on the present moment we can enjoy a more balanced life. It is something foreign in our western society. All too often we get caught up in the concepts that if we have more - a bigger TV screen, a bigger house, more youthful looks, a fancy car, more holidays - that somehow we will be happier. Does it work in the long term? I think most people would say no. It can give you a lift in the short term, but before you know it, we are back on the treadmill doing it all over again. Even in the way we feel. We have to be happier, less depressed, always on top of things. Does this all sound familiar?

ACT is designed to help you get the most out of life. We don't pay much attention at all to those thoughts and feelings that are painful. It sounds very simple but by not giving them much attention other than identifying them, we are able to put so much more energy into doing the things that will really benefit our life. On that point it is then important to actually work on your values so that you know what really is important to you.
Margaret River Counselling can help.

Here's an article from Time magazine on ACT
(click here)

Let's look at brief example of how ACT works:

You have a thought that you are fat.

It invades most of your life.

So much so that you don't like going out socially because you think everyone will stare at you.

You keep to yourself and don't say much to anyone at work or even with close friends and family.

"I am fat" rules your life!

With ACT we would focus on accepting that you frequently have the thought "I am fat".

We don't try to change it, minimise it ("well you're not that fat"), comfort you, let you talk endlessly about it - we simply accept that you have the thought "I'm fat". When you acknowledge and accept that the thought is there and often pops into your head unannounced, we can then operate on helping you choose other options that will benefit your life rather than doing the fat story (the fat story is something like this "I'm fat, I hate it, everybody thinks I'm a slob so I'm going to stay home, not socialise much and generally beat up on myself").

Often we believe that if we could change or get rid of our problem (in this case being fat), then we can be happier. With ACT we believe this is an elusive dream, in other words, something that requires so much energy to try and achieve.

ACT believes achieving a state of mindfulness is far more achievable than trying to be happy. Mindfulness means living NOW. Being in the present as much as we can. Really appreciating everything around us right here, right now. ACT, like many Eastern traditions, believes we think too much. So many of our thoughts are focused on the past or the future. Here we generally worry or carry guilt. If we can reduce those thoughts and focus more on now, we have far more energy and vitality to focus on what is happening in the present. After all, now is all we have. We don't have yesterday and we don't have tomorrow. By focusing more on now we are in a much better position to direct our lives with vitality, free of guilt and worry.

So what does mindfulness feel like? Would you like to experience it? If you click on the link below you can access an audio exercise where all you have to do is listen and follow the instructions. It's not scary at all, in fact many people find it very relaxing, though it's not meant to be, it's designed to really bring your focus to the here and now. Please feel free to give it a go!

By clicking on the play button the audio will play after loading, which will depend on your internet speed
(will not play in Firefox)

If you are prepared to get off the treadmill of chasing happiness, feeling less depressed, trying to fit in more, having the perfect relationship, trying to be like every one else - then ACT can help.Margaret River counselling, counselling in margaret river can help.

You will discover a new way of being. Living more in the present and not worrying about the future or feeling guilty or being reflective about the past.

You will learn to better identify your thoughts and feelings and the ones that give you unhappiness, depression, anxiety, unhappy relationships etc, you will learn to let go like cars passing by on the street. You will have more energy to be present now and so make the choices that will benefit your life and give you more vitality.

Are you ready for the journey?

Are you ready to commit to change?

Are you finally ready to let go of your old way of thinking and being?

Yes!

Then let's go!

To find out more about Program 1, click here


To contact Mark Lockyer

Email him at:

support @ gr8relationships . com




Be the you, you want to be!

Testimonial:

"I've completed both programs that Mark has to offer. At first I was a bit apprehensive about doing something like self-help but because I live in a remote location it is virtually impossible to see a counsellor face to face. What I found was that Mark is so clear in explaining the process that it was fine. I had no worries following what he was saying. Really the biggest obstacle is ourself. I needed to make sure I was motivated to change. As Mark says in the book, and I realise it so clearly now, we keep ourselves stuck - familiarity is very comfortable. So I kept motivated and kept at it. I was determined to change and so took on what Mark had to say, I embraced it. The result now is that I'm a lot more aware of my actions and thoughts and so I'm in a lot better position to either hook into them and do something else, something that will bring me vitality. The end result is more than often I choose vitality. This has helped me keep depression at bay. I thoroughly recommend Mark's programs - but you have to be ready and willing to change!" Matthew Ryan, Fly in Fly out Miner, Margaret River

"It did take me a while at first to get used to this new way of thinking. You quickly realise in our society there isn't really a part of us that learns to observe what is going on in our life. Eastern philosophies like Buddhism have it, the ability to focus on thoughts and feelings and then direct the focus to the here and now. But we don't really do it in our society. We seem to spend more time problem solving and getting frustrated when we can't change things! I like ACT because it's not about change, it's about acceptance. Even saying the word acceptance is more calming than anything else I've tried. I like the analogy of walking along and coming across a piece of dog poo in our path! We don't try to reason with it or change it or convince ourself that it's something other than what it is - a piece of dog poo! Once we observe it and identify it we go around it and go on our merry way. So it is with ACT. The dog poo represents the thoughts and feelings that drag us down and stop us really living in the moment, putting all our energy into the here and now. After all, it is all we have. We don't have yesterday or tomorrow. Simply here and now." Megan Joyce, Margaret RiverMargaret River counselling, counselling in margaret river can help.
Margaret River Counselling can help.

 

Are you seeking counselling in the Margaret River area? Perhaps individual or marriage counselling? If you are this site is here to help.

Do you find the cost of counselling with a psychologist or other type of counsellor expensive? If you do, accessing your own professionally developed counselling self help package will be much more affordable. That is what we offer you here.
Margaret River Counselling can help.
Let's start by asking the question "what are you looking for in counselling"? Is it someone who can help you solve a problem? You know something is not right and you want it to get better. Is there is a sense or a feeling that something in your life is just not right? You should be feeling happier or less guilty or perhaps be in a better relationship? Would you like more confidence, worry less, be able to make more friends, feel happier? Do you want counselling for an unhappy marriage or relationship? Are you experiencing depression or anxiety and want it to go away? There are so many reasons why people such as you seek out counselling. We are here to help.Margaret River counselling, counselling in margaret river can help.
If you could have a self-help guide that was GAURANTEED with a money back guarantee to help you feel better and improve what ever problem you identify with, would you be interested? Is the fact that it will be hundreds of dollars cheaper than mainstream counselling also attractive? If you answered yes to either of these questions then please read on. There is only one condition - you need to be ready to make change. The best support in the world will not work if you are not ready and willing to change.
Margaret River counselling is here to help
But first, who put thus web site together?

Hi, my name is Mark Lockyer and I am a qualified Social Worker and Teacher with 16 years experience in counselling and supporting people like you with issues affecting the quality of their lives. The settings I have worked in, include hospitals, youth agencies, the justice system, mental health agencies, child protection and private practice. I have helped people with all sorts of issues - mental health, relationship problems, aged care, youth issues, abuse - the list is endless.

Mark Lockyer
BSW (Hons) - University of Western Australia
Grad Dip Ed - Edith Cowman University, Western Australia
Allied Mental Health Professional - registered with Medicare Australia
(Medicare Rebates for those with a mental health plan)

It is worth mentioning here I am more than just 'academically' trained. I have been divorced, lost 2 brothers tragically and experienced my fair share of hardship in life, so its just not talk the talk - I've also walked the walk.

If you are still reading this information - thank you! Please read on to get a better understanding of how this web site and its self help products can help you.

I hope by reading the content below you get an understanding of what gr8relationships.com has to offer you on your road to self-discovery and ideally, an ever increasingly satisfied, fulfilled and contented life.

We are social creatures and our level of 'happiness' is largely dependent on our relationship with others.
Margaret River Counselling can help.
However, the most important relationship we can ever have is with our self. If we do not like who we are, or we have never even thought about our self, it can be difficult to have positive relationships with others, which in turn affects our level of 'happiness'. I have met many people who only ever think about 'others' and when I ask them about them self, they reply with comments that indicate they rarely think about who they are or what they value and desire in life.

This can be hard to grasp at first, but when you think about it, if you only think of others and little of yourself, then you become reliant on others for your 'happiness'. You can then often feel powerless when those relationships change. If we always think more of others, and then they change, we can feel helpless to do anything about it, other than blame that person if we do not like the change.

The main point to be made here is that by taking control of your own life, understanding who you really are and ultimately that you are responsible for how you think and feel, regardless of how those around you behave, you can create more control and happiness in your life.

That is why the name of this counselling and support site is "gr8relationships" - the aim is to help you improve the relationship you have with yourself and ultimately the relationships you have with others.

Listed below are some of the areas this web site can help you with:

Personal or Individual Counselling:

For men, women, teenagers and children. Helping you steer your life in the right direction. Personal counselling can help you better plan your goals and stop the 'stuckness' that may be holding you back from achieving your dreams. If you or a loved one experience fear, panic, anxiety or low self esteem, understanding your thoughts and behaviours can help you 'reprogram' the way you think and behave, to help you achieve better outcomes. Our self help program can help.

Relationship Counselling, Marriage Counselling:

If you are experiencing relationship difficulties in your marriage or other intimate relationship, counselling can help you understand the patterns of behaviour that lead to the difficulties you are experiencing. A trained counsellor can identify cycles that are often set up in relationships and marriages that lead to problems. These can be overcome if both partners are willing to engage in counselling. Our self help program can help.

Mental Health Issues:

With 1 in 5 people experiencing a mental health issue at any one time, it is likely we all know someone who is experiencing the discomfort of a mental health issue. Whether depression, anxiety, panic, phobias, obsessive compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, grief, or a range of other mental health issues, research shows that therapy is an important part of staying mentally healthy and on top of any mental health issue you or a loved one may have. Our self help program can help.

Whether what brought you here today is a personal issue, a relationship problem or a mental health issue such as depression or anxiety, the self help program we offer can help. You will be guided and supported throughout the whole process.

In the left hand column we detail more what the 2 problems offer.

The first counselling self help program will help you understand why you stay stuck in a life that is not the one you really desire. It helps shed light on why you may stay stuck in depression, anxiety, loneliness, an unhappy relationship etc. This is very helpful in aiding you to understand what the problem really is. It's not that somebody else is causing you to feel unhappy or sad, or that a bad job contributes to your depression. The skill is comprehending how you react to these situations and how you often put 'suffering' in place to deal with it.

The other program offers an understanding of ACT (pronounced 'ACT') - Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. In the column on the left is information on ACT. You will be able to apply ACT to your own problem. It will help understand how ACT can help move you on to experience a life with more vitality. Remember these programs come with money back guarantees. If you do not like the information or you find it does not work for you, we will refund your money - no questions asked! That's quite an offer!! It also shows you how sure we are that this program can help. If you are committed and willing to practise the exercises on a regular basis (they really are very easy but require commitment to practise them like any new skill), you will experience positive change in your life. Good luck!Margaret River counselling, counselling in margaret river can help.
Program 1:

What you get:

An eBook "My New Life" (a book you download in PDF format) along with the audio version of the eBook and a mindfulness exercise.

In this fantastic eBook you will learn:

• how you came to think the way you do
• how you have stayed where you are
• how and why you feel so stuck
• how you haven't been able to change
• how your thoughts have created your reality
• how to start changing the way you think
• how to practise changing your life
• how to attract what you really want in your life
• how to keep depression and negative thoughts at bay
• how to improve your self esteem
• how to really start living and enjoying life
• how to start living a life you once thought was impossible!
  

Margaret River Counselling can help.
To find out more about Program 1, click here

 

.....rather than chasing happiness

 

 

 

 

 

 

...live more in the moment

 

 

Margaret River Counselling can help.

 

Example of ACT in action

Oh no! There's an elevator - I hate them!

Old response using avoidance - "I'm going to look for some stairs. I hate elevators. There must be some stairs nearby. Where are they? They MUST be here! Stupid stairs - you would think they would be close to the elevator! Where are the stairs? I hate this!"

New response using ACT - First step is observing our thoughts and feelings, not fighting them or trying to change them, just observing and accepting. "I notice I'm having the I hate elevators story (thoughts). I can really feel the pain in my gut (feelings). It feels like dark ink in water spreading over my whole stomach. That feeling is spreading over my stomach. Yuk, making me feel a bit sick. I need to accept it and observe it. Focus on my breathing too, to keep me connected to the present moment. Now I notice that 'ink in water, sick feeling' is starting to go a little. Still focusing on my breathing. Breath going in and then going out. Chest rising, chest falling. I notice that feeling of the dark ink streak in my stomach is just about gone. Oh I notice another I hate elevator thought pop into my head. Thank you. Ok the doors are opening. I notice another I hate elevators thought, thank you. Ok really focusing on what I can see to keep me focused only on the present moment. Interesting wall to the elevator. Quite intricate detail. All ornate. Noticing breathing. Breath going in and then out. I notice another I hate elevators thought. Thank you. Doors closing. I notice the buttons, better press my level. I can hear the whir of the elevator motor. Breath going in and breath going out. Here I am. Doors opening. Out I go.

With the ACT version not once did we buy into the thoughts and feelings beyond just noticing them. With that awful feeling in the gut it was explored and allowed to happen as though we are an interested scientist. When it was allowed to do what it needed to do it started to go. Not once did we fight or try to change anything. It was all accepted. A mindfulness exercise brought us back to the present. The ornate wall of the elevator. Probably not many people ever recognise that beautiful wall! They just get in and think ahead of all the things they need to be doing. Not staying in the moment and really appreciating now.
Margaret River Counselling can help.
When you become more fluent with practise at doing an exercise like this it really takes very little effort.

Program 2:

This is an eBook "ACT and My New Life" (an ebook you download in PDF format) along with the audio version of the eBook.

In this fantastic eBook you will learn:

• how to see your 'problem' as the observer
• how as the observer you are better able to make changes to your life
• how to identify what gives you vitality rather than suffering
• how to accept negative thoughts and feelings without struggle
• how to stop struggling and start living a life full of vitality

As well ACT will -

 

Margaret River Counselling - Counselling in Margaret River, Western Australia