The start of the new year brought about a fair amount of work for just about everyone, largely as the major holidays around Christmas and New Years passed. Kids went back to school and a more "normal" routine kicked up again, and for Doctor Jones, this was often no exception. His practice in Lyre had originally intended to help Animalians adapt to the ways Humans dated and for interactions between Humans and Animalians in the dating scene before their conversions. But that soon took on additional roles after Heather Green's attack and he was contracted to provide some measure of therapy as part of her recuperation. The development of Regressive Hypersexuality and the fact that helping Animalians adjust to it worked best with therapy added to that work. In Animalia, those things worked out fine, as he was able to expand his staff and even had been helping Bunni Clair work toward a child psychology practice. Within Lyre/Animalia, Doctor Jones felt he'd had a lot of success with regard to being able to work with Animalians.
But he also knew that Animalians were also gradually spreading out from just being concentrated in Lyre and Animalia. They had various colonies around the world, and presently three in the US. They had others that were living as individuals with their mates and families in other parts of the country. Jill was happily married and in Louisiana with her husband, though Doctor Jones didn't know if the one who had been there for some of his "dating therapy" sessions had had any hatchlings yet. And some of the events over Christmas and the week that followed presented their own worries, as Martha scheduled an appointment mostly to voice her worries on her parents in Minnesota, who were in the heart of the blizzards at the time and had been filled with worry that her parents might run into trouble and that her younger sibling might enter the world under rougher than expected circumstances. Dr. Jones had even noted that Martha flipped through pictures of her and Robbie's kits and her parents after they became Megatherium (Giant Ground Sloth) Animalians. He saw that as just worry and assured Martha that things would be fine, which things did turn out to be after those blizzards passed.
But things related Regressive Hypersexuality and at times some measure of coaching with those who converted to become Animalians who were gay. The former came from the issues that often lead to Regressive Hypersexuality, often relating to some psychological trauma and often combined with the age of the person before becoming an Animalian. The latter issue only became one because so many political conservatives wanted to use Animalia as a means to "cure" homosexuality, which naturally irritated Animalia and frightened those who were homosexual. There the counseling would be more to assure them that becoming an Animalian would not make them change their minds on who they loved and wouldn't force them to change who they loved. It was something that brought Dr. Jones back to what he'd started his practice with in Animalia, though, it also shouldn't have had to be that way. Now, it appeared that some of those worries were also coming up in Dino City where he couldn't be.
Normally, the requests for help that he got might come from others in his profession in the area, often asking on his experience with Animalians when they had issues, they wanted to talk about, but the present case was a bit different. As it was coming as a result of a building super in Dino City asking the herm Dakotaraptor Dinotopians, Dakota and Harper to find out about anyone in Glen Rose that might be able to help. In theory, they'd found a pair of therapists that ran different practices in Rosa Winters and Yellow Dog, which with the latter Doctor Jones assumed was a family name, and Doctor Jones could look over their provided information in ways that Dakota and Harper couldn't, but there were other issues there. But he really couldn't just ask around, as there was the whole right of privacy that came along with clinical therapy, and for the most part, those with Regressive Hypersexuality really hadn't posed a threat to anyone. They were often a bit hornier than the average Animalian, but many were actually quite capable of controlling themselves. Therapy was only an added benefit, and Doctor Jones couldn't really ask around on those things without risking breaking those privileges or forcing them to.
And unless a Dinotopian became a threat as a result of Regressive Hypersexuality, no forcible action could be taken. So far, he'd only made limited diagnosis of that with Dinotopians, but none had really reached a point where "control" was an issue. And Lizzie, the Dimetrodon "Dinotopian," was the only one that had ever had some therapy sessions with him, but he'd found that Lizzie was fairly functional and wasn't in dire need of therapy. But he also knew that a lot of things that often went on with the worries over Regressive Hypersexuality, he also couldn't avoid making some effort to provide suggestions for Dakota and Harper, though much of this was ultimately going to be left to looking into what Doctors Winters and Yellow Dog focused on and remind the two Dakotaraptors that unless something happened that proved a risk of laws being broken or there being a legitimate threat, force could not be used.
And that brought him into looking into the two therapists that Dakota and Harper had found. Both had clinics in Glen Rose, which made them good potential candidates, though he noted that Doctor Yellow Dog looked to have a relatively small office set up near the city's historic downtown area, and as such likely wouldn't have the room available to remodel for Dinotopians, and would mean that if Doctor Yellow Dog was to be a candidate, he would need to consider either expanding his practice to open an office in Dino City and go from there. Doctor Winters was further away from Dino City, on the east side of Glen Rose, but from the photos of her clinic on her website, Doctor Jones could see that if any Dinotopians did have the desire for help, Doctor Winters had the space, and possibly the money to expand her clinic or remodel or even rebuild the building without moving out of her location. Though that was all with locations and didn't reflect the quality of the therapists. The first thing that Doctor Jones figured to do was to check on Lizzie.
"Hello?" came a feminine voice through the phone after the number was dialed.
"Hello, Lizzie, this is Doctor Jones calling," Doctor Jones spoke, "I just wanted to check in and see how you were doing. As it has been a while since we've had a session."
"Well, I've been down in Dino City, so it's not like I can come in, even if I heavily needed it," Lizzie answered with a chuckle.
"Well, that sounds good," Doctor Jones answered, "it lets me know that all prior clients are doing well."
"Yeah, I'm doing fairly well," Lizzie answered, "I've actually gotten some work going in Dino City and have been helping some new arrivals on my own... including with a very nice looking man that's moved into the new Bara House down here."
"Another Dimetrodon Animalian?" Doctor Jones asked.
"Not yet, and he's also a bit nervous about things because he's gay, cuz' well..." Lizzie's voice fell off.
"Texas politics," Doctor Jones said slowly.
"Yeah, but I've gotten some help from a therapist down here... Doctor Winters," Lizzie explained.
"Oh?" Doctor Jones blinked and was happy that he didn't have to ask about the therapists in the are directly.
"Yeah, I met the guy on the street one day, and he seemed interesting, and I did flirt a bit with him," Lizzie answered, "and that hurt a bit when he didn't respond as well... and that's what sent me to see Doctor Winters. She doesn't do all the couples dating therapy and Regressive Hypersexuality therapy you do, but she was quite helpful in getting me to hold my cool and not be too openly pushing for something. And that's what helped me learn the guy was gay and was afraid that I was trying to "cure" him."
"Which I trust you weren't wanting to do?" Doctor Jones questioned.
"Of course not," Lizzie answered, "I mean... I'd like him to become my mate if he becomes a Dimetrodon Dinotopian, but if he doesn't, I'm not going to force him. And Doctor Winters was able to help me explain that to him. We're actually doing fairly well as friends and I hope that he'll settle on becoming a Dimetrodon Dinotopian... Not too many Synapsid Animalians out there... aside from all the Mammal Animalians, if you know what I mean."
"Well, that's all good to here," Doctor Jones smiled, taking some private triumph in what limited sessions he'd had with Lizzie, "and that you found someone who could help. You say that this Doctor Winters doesn't do "dating therapy," may I ask what she does do?"
"A lot of it is family and couples therapy," Lizzie answered, "nothing related to dealing with criminals or anything related to the insane or things like that. But helping kids deal with stresses at home that shows up and with married couples working through issues. I only went to her because she was the only one that I knew of. She seemed to work out alright, though."
"And you'd trust her?" Doctor Jones asked.
"With what I need to," Lizzie answered, "is that all?"
"Yes, it was good to get an update from you, and if you like what Doctor Winters has done for you, don't be afraid to see her if anything comes up that you need. And I wish you well," Doctor Jones said again.
From there, he then hung up and allowed that part of his research to be completed. He didn't get anything on Doctor Yellow Dog, but he did get some measure of knowledge on Doctor Winters that wasn't criminal on his part or intrusive on any therapy that Winters had had with Lizzie. It didn't mean that Doctor Rosa Winters was the best solution for everyone that Dakota and Harper had likely been reported on, but just that she could potentially help. He'd still need more information on Doctor Yellow Dog to find more on his practice to provide a comparison. Though, without another former client to refer to, Doctor Jones would have to look through more direct information on what Doctor Yellow Dog advertised and what was also published regarding his work. That was more in line with research into his practice's site and some of the other possible links that would come up.
The search proved to be a longer one than what Doctor Jones expected. Though, from what Doctor Jones found, it seemed that Doctor Yellow Dog was also a competent therapist and advertised handling the same things that he was told Doctor Winters handled. His site advertised his heritage, mostly from the Comanche, and his work in helping people with loss and other pressures. This seemed to relate to issues that would come up after divorces, deaths, and other related trauma. Which was commendable, though, from news reports that Doctor Jones was able to look through, it seemed that Doctor Yellow Dog was also tasked as an advisor regarding potential criminal cases where Doctor Yellow Dog was also called in to provide a mental evaluation of any criminal that either claimed ill mental health or was suspected to have questionable mental health by the prosecutors. It was respectable work, but it also struck Doctor Jones that adding in some of the sort of cases that this building super had alerted Dakota and Harper to, would overwork him.
And that overwork was a private factor that Doctor Jones considered. He'd taken on partners and expanded his own practice in Animalia because of the volume and pressure of some of the Regressive Hypersexuality cases that ended up did coming in. From what he'd found, he couldn't entirely say that Doctor Yellow Dog was a bad option if it was absolutely necessary in terms of his quality, but from some of the other cases that he seemed to be called to, based on what he'd found in the papers for the Glen Rose area, Doctor Jones also had the sense that with what information he could find, that the man could be overworked if things were too pressing. In this, he might be willing to recommend both therapists, but began putting mental notes on how to tell this to Dakota and Harper that if they contacted those moving into the Bara House in Dino City and any issue of that nature actually comes up that Winters be considered the primary candidate for cases that would require a lot of repeated or longer sessions, but that Doctor Yellow Dog only be used if the cases were minor and wouldn't require that much work, if only to ease what was probably an already busy workload.