Melissa VanBeck, M.S, individual therapy, couples therapy, and co-therapy

APPROACHES
Psychodynamic Therapy:	What does that mean? People often defend against painful feelings—which is fine except when defending gets in the way of having a good life. When approaching from a psychodynamic perspective, the focus is on gaining an awareness and an understanding of true feelings and their origins. That understanding can shed light on many behaviors. Once the relationship between feelings and behaviors is understood, better life choices can be made.
Systems Therapy:	How does that work? Relationships are systems. Systems are about connections. The way we feel and think connects to the way we behave. And over time patterns of behaviors develop and become entrenched. Even if those behaviors are unhealthy and don't get us what we want, we follow them anyway—they are familiar and we know them. The work of systems counseling is to identify and untangle the unhealthy connections and discover more productive ways of relating.