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Counsellor's Office: Cadet Ven Miya reporting for check-in

Posted April 6, 2021, 9:01 a.m. by Lieutenant Commander Vanessa Lofton (Counselor) (Nathan Miller)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Vanessa Lofton (Counselor) in Counsellor’s Office: Cadet Ven Miya reporting for check-in
<snip>

“Oh ....” Miya puffed out her cheeks in a sigh. While it was nice to hear the counsellor say she had a lot to give to Starfleet, she knew she still had much to learn. “Thank you for saying that, but there’s so much I’d need to get better at!” She started to tick the points off on her fingers. “Medically, I need a lot more experience in emergency medicine and I’d like to undertake a surgical elective - not that I plan to be a surgeon, but it helps to have some basic knowledge. There’s still so much to learn about all the different aspects of counselling … oh, wait! You said ‘one’ thing to improve!” Miya looked embarrassed. “Looks like I need to improve my listening skills.” She ducked her head, earring jingling faintly, as she thought hard about what answer she could give.

A memory came unbidden: her last holo-conversation with her parents, before she’d left to join the Challenger. They had been proud of her good scores at Starfleet Academy; she always worked hard to live up to the task the Prophets had chosen for her, but her mother had said something that she remembered only now. “Make sure you take time for yourself, Miya,” she’d said. “You can only serve the Prophets if you’re able to look after yourself, too.” At the time, caught up with the excitement of preparing for life aboard a starship, she hadn’t thought much of her mother’s words. Now, however, they took on a new meaning.

She glanced at Vanessa. “I think .... I think I need to get better at - uh, at balancing my life. I’ve been so busy studying, first on Bajor and then at the Academy, that it’s hard to remember I will eventually graduate and life will be - well, very different. Not that I won’t need to study, of course I will, but …” she waved one hand - the one not occupied with her glass of water - to indicate the room around them and, beyond, the complexity of the Challenger and all who lived and worked on her, “I need to work out how I’m going to manage my role in sickbay and my life outside of it. Bring things like sports and music back into my life. That’s one thing I definitely need to get better at.”

[Cadet Ven Miya]

Vanessa sighed, smiling softly. “That’s something I think we all need to be better at,” she noted. “That’s commendable, and it does start getting easier here - no studying, as you mentioned; you work in much closer proximity with your fellow cadets (and soon colleagues); and you’ll have more free time than at the Academy.”

She glanced at a chrono on the wall and sighed. “Sadly, our time here is almost up,” she said with a smile. “So, what questions do you have for me?”

Lt. Cmdr. Lofton - CNS

Miya took a deep breath. She’d been wanting to ask this ever since arriving outside the counsellor’s door! “What would you recommend are my next steps towards becoming a counsellor, Vanessa? Not just what courses or training I should take, but are there any other preparations I can make which would make me a better candidate to be one? And related to that .... could I possibly shadow you some time, please? I don’t mean sit in on any confidential discussions, obviously, but just to find out what’s involved in being a counsellor.” She quirked her lips in a small smile. “There’s only so much you can learn from training manuals and role descriptions - not to mention taking part in sessions like this, of course.”

[Cadet Ven Miya]

Vanessa grinned, shaking her head. “You should be eligible to take the licensing exam with the courses you’ve already taken. After that, it’s a request to change your occupational specialty with Command. They’ll look for a recommendation, which I’ll be glad to provide - after you shadow me,” she added, her grin broadening to a smile. “That would include you monitoring a few of my patient sessions, and me observing you doing some of your own. Those may be remote monitoring, depending on the patient.”

“So that one was easy!” she continued, laughing. “What other questions do you have?”

Lt. Cmdr. Lofton - CNS

<bump, just to keep this from falling off the board out of sight>


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