Restoration Beyond the Couch
'Restoration Beyond The Couch' with Dr. Lee Long: Insights for Mental Wellness: Join Dr. Lee Long on 'Beyond The Couch,' a transformative podcast blending professional psychological insights with real-life experiences, offering practical strategies for mental wellness that bridge the gap between therapy and everyday life.
The Beyond the Couch with Dr. Lee Long podcast is intended solely for general informational purposes and does not represent the practice of medicine, therapeutic and psychiatric services, nursing, or other professional health care services. It also does not constitute the provision of medical, therapeutic or psychiatric advice, and no doctor/patient relationship is established. The information on this podcast and any materials linked from it are used at the user's own risk. The content provided through this podcast should not be considered a replacement for professional medical, therapeutic, or psychiatric advice, diagnosis, or treatment. It is important that users do not ignore or postpone seeking medical, therapeutic, or psychiatric advice for any health or mental health condition they might have, and should always consult with their health care professionals regarding such conditions.
Restoration Beyond the Couch
Beyond the Couch: The Start of What’s Next
In this special season finale of Restoration Beyond the Couch, Dr. Lee Long is joined by his wife, Charlotte Long, to look back on some of the most powerful conversations and meaningful moments from the season. Together, they reflect on standout episodes, personal insights, and recurring themes that left a lasting impact.
It’s a celebration of growth, connection, and the voices that made this season so impactful, as well as a glimpse into what’s to come.
Dr Lee Long. Welcome to the season two finale of Restoration Beyond the Couch. I'm Dr Lee Long, and today we're taking a moment to reflect, celebrate and look ahead. This season has been filled with meaningful conversation, powerful insights and stories that have inspired growth, healing and connection. In this episode, we're revisiting the moments that made an impact and sharing what's next, for both Restoration and the podcast. So, whether you've been with us from the beginning or just discovered us, we're so glad you're here. Your path to mental wellness continues and we're honored to walk it with you. Welcome, charlotte Long, to Restoration Beyond the Couch. Thank you, I'm so glad that you're here. You have been the wind beneath my wings for many years and I'm so glad you agreed to do this. Thank you, and so we're going to talk about all things Restoration Beyond the Couch.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely it's been fun. What's been neat from my perspective is a lot of these podcasts. I don't even know who's on it, much less what the content is, until they're launched. Who's on it, much less what the content is until they're launched and I wake up. Excuse me, and I see you know that since I subscribe, I'm a subscriber. I went to Apple podcast, thank you for that.
Speaker 3:And I pushed the plus button in the right hand corner and so it pops up on my screen and says there's a new podcast and it's exciting. And I hear it and I'm always blown away and it's always so helpful. I always gain something that I can take home and practice and implement in my life one way or another. So thank you for that and, in addition to that, I just think that it's a great way to offer these resources to people literally beyond the couch. One-on-one sessions are great fantastic marriage sessions, family sessions but therapy can be done anywhere is what this is showing me. Tell me more about what your intent was in this.
Speaker 1:So the whole be on the couch idea is the fact that you know there are people who will come and sit in our offices or an office anywhere, frankly, and they'll work through the things that the struggles that they have going on they'll work through.
Speaker 1:You work through the things that the struggles that they have going on they'll work through. Um, you know the things that they want to work through, but there are also people who may never either be willing or able to darken the door of an office or a therapeutic office and I, I want to provide a service or an opportunity for somebody to join in that conversation, to say, okay, I realized that anxiety doesn't have to be debilitating, that I could have a perspective on what I'm going through that might actually be powerful for me, without having to go into an office and sit with a therapist. And so it truly was to try to take these skills or these options or opportunities to people beyond the couch do therapy, they show up in an office here or anywhere that they might have an addendum or an opportunity to go further in their own minds.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that there is kind of this like a lot of people don't know what therapy is or what counseling looks like, and they think it's just sitting in an office and somebody saying how does that make you feel?
Speaker 1:Well, there are those who do that.
Speaker 3:This broadens it so much more and I've been amazed at the topics. Can you go over some of the like? Everything from sleep, which is crucial in mental health.
Speaker 1:And who knew right? Who knew that sleep was so pivotal?
Speaker 3:I knew, yes, you did. I love my sleep.
Speaker 1:You do, you have and you've taught me a lot about that through the years, and you're right and what it does to our brain. I had no idea that our brains cleaned themselves, like who knew that scientists did, and I came across that information in the last couple of years and it's a game changer to think about. Who knew that dreaming was so powerful for your brain, that it makes your brain more efficient, it helps you sort through all kinds of wonderful things and I mean I just think we right like sleep is such a pivotal piece for mental health and physical health, right? Yeah, so such a pivotal piece for mental health and physical health.
Speaker 3:Right yeah, so that was an interesting topic. We talked about different modes of therapy beyond just one-on-one talking to a therapist. What are some of those we covered?
Speaker 1:So we covered DBT, or dialectical behavioral therapy, which we offer here at Restoration and it's just we, we walked through that as an overview and DBT. Sometimes people ask what are the four pillars of DBT. The first pillar, in the, in the cornerstone of DBT, is mindfulness, because a person has to be connected to themselves in order to um sort any of the other things out in their life. It's emotional regulation, distress, tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness. So those are the four pillars of the four pieces of DBT.
Speaker 1:We also talked about CBASP, and no, that is not an order, not a seafood order at a restaurant. It's cognitive, behavioral analysis, systems of psychotherapy, total mouthful. But CBASP is an interpersonal theory of psychotherapy and it's an acquisition learning theory, meaning you acquire new skills. Dbt is also an acquisition learning theory, but CBASP is very much an interpersonal learning theory and so it really focuses on the relationship between the therapist and the person that's being treated, and it's mostly normed for chronic depression. But we are at an exciting time in our field with CBASP where we are working through the options of other concerns or issues that people struggle with that CBASP would be a good fit for.
Speaker 3:So that's on the forefront too, that that you know. Expanding CBASP that reminds me how one of our play therapists, cara Burr, who's been featured in a journal article with her integration of CBASP with child play therapy and how she utilizes that with the children. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so. So she's worked on that with the creator of CBASP, who is our mentor here, and they, they have all worked. They have worked together to put together something that makes sense for what I call the babies and, uh, the the way that they're looking at that. And I don't want to get too far into the weeds on the technical stuff, but because CBASP is an interpersonal theory and I'm going to say that a hundred million times it is interpersonal there is a grid or a circumplex, is what its technical word is that is used to show when somebody is let's say they're a domineering personality, what the interpersonal pull is to the other person. Like, if I walk in the room and I'm a very domineering force, what that pulls out of most people in the room is to be submissive. Okay, you want to take charge? I'll let you right.
Speaker 1:There are other people who have different types of responses and we use in CBASP this it's called the IMI or the inner, the impact messaging inventory, and we know that a person's like a person's interpersonal style, and so it's teaching parents what is your kid's interpersonal style? Are they a dominant kid? Are they more of a submissive kid? Do they move over to the friendly side of that octant Do they move over to the hostile side and the word hostile really means the whole stay away from me bit, but that's how that's being utilized is, how does your kid relate and what does it pull out of you? Because there's some parents that will say, you know, my kid just makes me want to pound the table and yell at them. And those kids are usually the passive, aggressive kids. They're the hostile, submissive and they pull out of their parent, that hostile dominance, right. And so once the parents see that in that octant, it really illuminates that interpersonal interaction.
Speaker 3:That's so interesting to me. I loved hearing the episode with Kara Burr because I hear the sweet voices in our waiting room. It's so cute and I've seen our beautiful, fun, colorful, interactive play therapy room and to get to connect those dots of what goes in there. There's so much intentionality and everything is so intentional and that was fun to hear about. So we had that. We had neurofeedback.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's another modality that we use here with neurofeedback, and what I love about neurofeedback is the, the, the brain mapping, and, uh, the, the. Dr Weckl uses brain mapping in a lot of his assessments, which is another really nice feature of understanding what's really going on underneath the hood here. Now, neurofeedback does not improve Pute something into you. It reads what you're putting out, and so it's not an invasive treatment but, like for folks who have struggled through like attention issues, anxiety issues, even I've seen it work with trauma of helping them focus on the, the, the. The way it works is that you watch a TV, a show on on the television that's in front of them, and if you're, if you're losing focus, the clarity of the video goes away and the. But the more you focus, the more the clarity of the video comes back, and so that it's it's in real time, giving you feedback about how your brain is operating and things that you can do in real time to adjust it. Yeah, so it's been a. It's such a powerful modality that we offer here.
Speaker 3:And it has a lifelong impact. Right, it's not something I mean you can go in for tune-ups I don't know the proper name but it's something that will forever strengthen those neuropathways.
Speaker 1:Yes, because it's like a workout. It teaches you how to do it on your own.
Speaker 3:And speaking of Dr Jeff Weckl, he also. We did a fascinating episode that was so interesting, on testing and assessment. I've always wondered too when people call and they want testing and assessment. There's not just a pat answer, it's very individualized to the person and that's taken into consideration with a brief interview, and so can you just kind of a quick overview of what the testing and assessment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the way that it's done here is that they come in, you'll do a quick or not a quick, you'll do an intake meeting, and so that's where the psychologist will grab background information on the person being assessed and that's where the menu of questionnaires is sort of chosen from. Is after that questionnaire, then the person who's having the testing done for them will go through all of that. Then it's a couple of weeks I think I don't want to. I mean it's a period of time that that is all pulled together and then a report is done and then you have a feedback session.
Speaker 3:So helpful when treating also? Yeah, because you can be very precise. Yes, so we had that. We had a lot of fun topics too. I have to share a fun story. I'm going to touch on the dating, and one of our administrators just told me this and it made me chuckle. But we just had an episode called Dating Over 50. And she just turned 50. And she's a supporter of us so she put it on in her car. You know was listening and didn't finish the episode. So when her daughter gets in and it pops up on her screen dating over 50. She looks and says Mom, she's having a supportive frustration.
Speaker 3:Well, then she leaves and then the next day her husband gets in the car and he turns on the car. It pops up real big on her screen dating over 50.
Speaker 1:And he says, honey, do we have something to talk about? Yeah, right.
Speaker 1:But anyway, he gave some great information, some great, yeah, but anyway, he gave some great information Some great, yeah, dr Don Hebert. And he gave some great information. He wrote a book called Rematch and in that book he gives such good information about what it's like Because people who are in that stage of life have not gone through all of the technological changes in the way that you meet someone, and so I mean I work with people who maybe they may not be 50 yet but they find themselves later in life trying to date and how to go about that. A lot of those people who are they've never been through this with a technology. It's been such a helpful tool and so, yeah, dawn, that was, yeah, that was a great one.
Speaker 3:And then you and your sister Lila also talked about. She's one of our counselors here at Restoration Counseling and executive team and pours into all the other counselors. But she also talked about the dating issue.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we did talk about the dating and relationships.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that goes into that we're going to kind of dating and relationships.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that goes into that.
Speaker 3:We're going to kind of do a part two, hopefully with her Cause. That was such a good one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a great one.
Speaker 3:Um, so gosh, who else we? We touched on eating disorder with the wonderful, fantastic.
Speaker 2:Nicoletta Bradley. Right, right, yes.
Speaker 3:We had some sound issues which we learned a lot about podcasting from that, yeah.
Speaker 1:I would. I'd have to say that. One of the things about podcasting that I had no idea because I've never done this before, we've never done this before. That one of the things that I I just thought it would be seamless and you just come in, you just say what you need to say and you move on.
Speaker 3:But that's Enneagram seven. We'll talk about that.
Speaker 1:And I didn't. I you don't consider how often technology I mean, as we're talking about technology earlier technology is a wonderful thing until it's not and yeah, so there's all kinds of technological things and you know episodes that we would record and something would happen with the recording and we couldn't use it. So such a bummer.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there was one where we talked about um the different generations. Yes, and the work that that some of our therapists have done with that, with, uh, quite specifically Dr Sarah Blakeney, and uh, we ended up having to rerecord that, which was fun Like spending time with Sarah is always great and having to read, think through all those different angles, it's like, well, I've already said that, but it left it was left.
Speaker 3:She was such a great sport. Thank you, sarah. Um twice we had our featured guests sober sis.
Speaker 1:Jen couch love sober great information.
Speaker 3:Talk about therapy beyond the couch. She has a ministry that goes beyond.
Speaker 1:Yeah, her organization is quite fascinating. It's so wonderful. It is focused on women that are looking to be sober minded, and the way that she goes about it is so uplifting, it's so encouraging and it's really powerful. And she talks about not just being abstinent from substances but being sober minded in the way you live life, which I am a huge fan of sober mindedness.
Speaker 3:Yes, and.
Speaker 1:I'm a huge fan of Jen Couch.
Speaker 3:I love sober sense Absolutely yes, and I'm a huge fan of Jen couch. I love sober Absolutely yeah. We would be remiss if we didn't do a huge shout out to endure lab and your lifeline right. Mr Lee Hargrave.
Speaker 1:That's right, that has gotten you through thick and thin right Through every athletic endeavor that I've, I have uh chosen to take on.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:He has coached me through all of my marathons, all of my ultra marathons, all of my heaviest lifts yes, lee.
Speaker 3:Hargrave and Isis Hargrave have done that for so many people and continue to do that for people here in Fort Worth. I've been able to experience some of the training from them, and it's life changing.
Speaker 1:It's wonderful, it is life changing.
Speaker 3:We have so many great resources around us. I'm glad we can share them.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:Uh, we also, oh, Enneagram.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. Yes, so the Enneagram talk about, talk about a resource. I mean the first episode of the Enneagram, we went through all the numbers, then the second uh episode with the Enneagram with with Dana Corley and Jetty Bowen, who Jetty Bowen is one of our therapists here we walked through the different in. They call them intelligence centers, but they are basically how you perceive the world. From what angle or perspective does each of the numbers perceive the world? And it was such an enlightening experience, it was such an enlightening episode, I thought, for me and we've had some really good feedback on that.
Speaker 3:Yes, we have so much so that we did a second one that went deeper into it, and it comes up almost daily in our household because, we're interacting with such a variety of personality types under one roof Tracy Carrington.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, Dr Tracy, dr Tracy.
Speaker 3:Dr Tracy.
Speaker 1:That was such a fun one. Yeah, um, dr Tracy does such great work with athletes all over the world and helping them walk through mindset issues and helping we do such collaborative work and I love, I love collaborating with with uh, with Tracy. She's such a gifted professional and helping these amazing high level like Olympic athletes, professional athletes, like in collegiate athletes, high school athletes, like she works with all levels of these individuals and helps them get their mind around their success.
Speaker 3:It was kind of fun that we were trying to coordinate with her. I was like, well, how about this day? And she's like, oh, I'm going to be in Paris with my athletes competing in the Olympics.
Speaker 1:Oh darn.
Speaker 2:Okay, she's so interesting, so effective.
Speaker 3:And now also we have RJ Halbert, and that's really exciting to talk about, because look what a difference a year made. Their book was already a bestseller.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:It was an enjoyable read. It was doing as well as it could. You got to be featured on the Kelly Clarkson show with them. And now where are they? What are they doing?
Speaker 1:So the interesting thing about their book if I'm going to go back just a little bit their book is mystery. As Jason says, the J of the RJ says it's mystery, some history and a little bit of therapy, and I think there is there. I have not heard a more apt explanation of of how, of the book?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the book is titled caretaker right, it's the good pastor chronicles.
Speaker 1:It's the first of three and it it's a fantastic book. And you're right, they've won all types of awards for this book. It's been a bestseller and then the year later calling it an audio book because it's more of an audio experience. And that finally dropped in May of 2025. And it is, I think, yes, for the character Liana Right, very touching, one of the main characters.
Speaker 3:And then you know the actors reading the.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, the actors reading the script are really. I mean, they're just.
Speaker 3:Download the Audible today.
Speaker 1:They're fantastic yeah, go get the Audible.
Speaker 3:We also had Michael Menard the kite that wouldn't fly. Yeah, Michael Menard, the kite that wouldn't fly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, michael Menard is such a oh, I love that character. He is such a great guy. Yeah, he invented the disposable diaper and he is. He's just a. Really he's just an ingenuitive like creative guy who is looking to solve problems.
Speaker 3:Specifically trauma.
Speaker 1:Well, right now he's at the place where he's looking to solve childhood trauma and I love his. He's like Lee we're going to take on the world and we are going to solve childhood trauma and he has a foundation that is called you act united against childhood trauma, and the website for that is you act now and he is. He's launching this and he is he will release a book soon called greater than gravity how childhood trauma holds you down. And when. When that comes out, we'll definitely talk with Michael again, but, yeah, with Mike Menard, and his current book that's already out is the Kite that Couldn't Fly and other stories. He was one of 14 kids who grew up in a 900 square foot home and he talks through all the ups and downs of that.
Speaker 3:It's a great read. So we touched on hormone regulation, different modes of brain scans from the Amen Clinic when we brought in yes, Lisa Marie Shaughnessy and she's a what a phenomenal person.
Speaker 1:Talk to her about her track or adventure through her own hormone replacement. We talked with her about her own hormone replacement adventure and uh all the, all the ups and downs that that had and just the stories that she that she learned about, uh just other all the people that she met and learned their stories as she walked through her own. Um, I don't want to call it adventure, cause that sounds positive, but her own journey with with such a thing and so walking out of that process for her was really a life changing piece for her. And then her job at the Amen Clinic and what all the the Amen Clinic does, which is a really fun thing to to walk through. We also talked to Ministry Safe.
Speaker 3:Oh gosh, yes.
Speaker 1:With Greg Love and Kim Norris there, and Greg came on and talked about Ministry, safe and all the things that they do to protect children and environments, learning environments, school environments, church environments, sports environments just the different themed places that kids would have uh, our kids or vulnerable, the vulnerable populations and the things that that they have put into place. When you talk about warriors, those two are warriors for children and for for vulnerable populations. And so man shout out to them. Absolutely, thank you for what you do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and not only do they do it, but they teach along the way so effectively. They have Ministry Safe portal where you can go and be certified in Ministry Safe techniques and implement that into your own organization, which we use here at Restoration Counseling Right right. So we make sure everybody's protected. That's right. A couple times as well, we had one of our besties at.
Speaker 1:Restoration Dr Debra Atkinson Dr.
Speaker 3:Debra Atkinson.
Speaker 1:Yes, love spending time with Dr A. We talked through her book Mastering your Storm Perspectives from a Psychiatrist and a Coach, and what a wealth of knowledge. I mean we talked through dopamine and its impact on the brain, the body, the different things that dopamine does for us and not so much for us, but we talked through just all kinds of mental wellness concepts. And so always love talking to Dr.
Speaker 3:A oh yes.
Speaker 1:Another guest that we had on this past season was Dr Eric Wood.
Speaker 3:Dr Eric Wood yeah.
Speaker 1:He's at TCU. He's at the TCU Counseling Center. So Eric Wood implemented a really unique program at TCU and he utilized services outside of TCU some different providers and we happened to be one of them and we were the beta test for the TCU program that where we offered our DBT program on the tcu campus and the outcomes were so phenomenal that they opened it up to other providers. And the tcu students are really um, they really do get to benefit from some really awesome psychological mental health providers on their campus so they don't have to worry about leaving campus or going to an unknown space. They get to do that, they get to utilize that.
Speaker 3:And then, of course, your very most important guest of the entire season.
Speaker 1:Yes, probably of all seasons that will be unless.
Speaker 3:Unless we can convince the other two Right.
Speaker 1:Was our daughter Ella, and that was such a humbling and wonderful experience.
Speaker 3:She was a good sport.
Speaker 1:She was a great sport, but it was so fun to talk through, just from a psychological perspective, what it was like growing up with a therapist as a parent, but also getting to talk to her about my perspective of being her dad.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was called Through my Daughter's Eyes, I believe.
Speaker 1:I think that's right.
Speaker 3:And, yeah, we always love everybody's feedback and we try to implement that as much as possible, and we've had some great suggestions that we look forward to filling in. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know this is so fun for me, like I love getting to talk with different people, get to hear their story, you know, get to think about things that you know I don't get the space or time often to think about, um, to think about and just to discover new things.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so I would say look forward to these seasons coming, that we're going to keep discovering, we're going to keep asking questions, we're going to keep learning.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm excited to be on this adventure with you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you squelched my idea of doing it like a you know Desperate House, not Desperate Housewives a Real Housewives episode with the cameras following and the drama. Yeah, no, we're not doing that and you squelched the idea of a British accent.
Speaker 1:Authentically us. Okay, yeah, Well, thanks for listening for thank you to all of listeners for listening for this this past season and we've had so much fun doing this and our next season. I look forward to having just as much, if not more, fun bringing content at no cost to you. So thank you for listening.
Speaker 2:If you found value in our discussion and wish to uncover more about the fascinating world of mental wellness, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. Stay tuned for our upcoming episodes, where Dr Long will continue to delve into empowering therapies and strategies for mental wellness. Your journey to understanding and embracing mental health is just beginning and we're excited to have you with us every step of the way. Until next time, keep exploring, keep growing and remember to celebrate restored freedom as you uncover it.
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