Lies van Bekkum
Clinical Associate, Perinatal Coordinator, The Catalyst Center
Passionate, Encouraging, Direct
Dr. Lies van Bekkum provides her clients with a wonderful balance of warmth and straightforwardness as a therapist at The Catalyst Center. She is passionate about her work with mothers and their partners during pregnancy and postpartum, and with her upbringing in the Netherlands, she brings a refreshing international perspective on birth and parenthood.
She completed her doctoral research comparing the experiences of fathers during the birth of their children in home births, birth center births, and hospital births, and is passionate about working with new mothers and their partners as they explore their new roles as parents.
Lies specializes in helping people to grow their existing strengths and develop new ways of living more flexibly and more joyfully. She has a wonderful sense of humor that is balanced with her knowledge of what helps people become unstuck from Depression, Anxiety and other challenges. She is firm and direct when needed and also expressive of her genuine caring for the people with whom she works.
In her work with couples she uses an approach called Emotion Focused Therapy that helps people to get to the heart of the matter in their relationships. She is skilled at bringing couples beyond their anger and resentment. She gets them back in touch with what drew them together in the first place and helps them develop a deeper understanding themselves as individuals and embrace the ways they can help each other grow and live a life filled with love.
Lies is passionate about working with people around issues of complex identities.
She excels at exploring issues of race, ethnicity, nationality, language, gender expression, sexual orientation, and other complex identities and intersections between many identities.
Dr. Lies van Bekkum Training and Experience
- Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Denver 2015
Hear from Lies
I love working with new and expectant mamas to empower you to move through the transition into parenthood without losing yourself in the process. I lead our new and expectant mamas group where the group holds space for mamas to share openly in a safe and supportive environment. I also love working with couples around parenting, communication, and sex. My approach is very direct. I use humor in my work with clients and tend to work well with people who are looking for a direct, non-nonsense therapist who is comfortable naming what I see and chosing how to move forward from there.
~Dr. Lies van Bekkum
Education
- 2015 Psy.D. Clinical Psychology, Graduate School of Professional Psychology, University of Denver
Advanced Training
- 2019 Memory Reconsolidation, The Flash Technique & EMDR Training
- 2019 Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for Difficult Couples: Evidence-Based Techniques to Effectively Work with Challenging Couples
- 2016 Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Training, Basic Certification
- 2015-2016 Denver Health – Women’s care – Postdoctoral Fellow
- 2015 PSI Maternal Mental Health Certificate Training
Recent Presentations, Research & Publications
- van Bekkum, L. (2015) A Qualitative Analysis of Father’s Experiences During Labor and Birth in Non-Hospital Settings. Dissertation. University of Denver
- KC Lomonaco, Psy.D. , Lies van Bekkum, Psy.D., Jennifer Hyer, M.D., Camille Hoffman, M.D. (2016) Behavioral Health Integration in Women’s Care: The Future of Integrated Care in America. Conference presentation Melbourne, Australia at The International Marce Society for Perinatal Mental Health.
- Perinatal Mental Health Presentation to the Denver Health Doula Program. Co-presenter with Karmen Thulin (2016)
- Hoffman, M. C. Lomonaco-Haycraft, K. C., Liberman, A., van Bekkum, L., McGloin L., Grote, J., Hyer, J., Stainback-Tracy, K. (2017) Implementation of Integrated Perinatal Mental Health Program in a Federally-Qualified Health Center: A National Model of Perinatal Care in Vulnerable Populations. Colorado Journal of Psychiatry and Psychology. Denver Health Edition. 2, (2) 55-62.
- Lomonaco-Haycraft, K. C., Hyer, J., Tibbits, B., Grote, J., Stainback-Tracy, K., Ulrickson, C., … Hoffman, M. C. (2018). Integrated perinatal mental health care: a national model of perinatal primary care in vulnerable populations. Primary health care research & development, 20, 1–8. Advance online publication. doi:10.1017/S1463423618000348
https://fertilegroundwellnesscenter.com/2018/12/11/postpartum-sex/
https://fertilegroundwellnesscenter.com/2018/11/15/sex-during-pregnancy/
https://fertilegroundwellnesscenter.com/2018/09/27/sex-during-struggles-with-fertility/ - Speaker on a panel at the viewing of the Emerging Considerations in Maternal Mental Health Forum (2019) at St. Joe’s Hospital hosted by the Colorado Breastfeeding Coalition.
Specialty Areas
Services
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