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Lt. Q Dawson Psych Eval (Tag Ensign Kastarak)

Posted March 28, 2023, 4:31 p.m. by Lieutenant Junior Grade Quentin "Q" Dawson (Chief Weapons Officer) (ALEXANDER HAMPSHIRE)

Posted by Ensign Kastarak (Doctor / Counsellor) in Lt. Q Dawson Psych Eval (Tag Ensign Kastarak)

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Quentin “Q” Dawson (Chief Weapons Officer) in Lt. Q Dawson Psych Eval (Tag Ensign Kastarak)

Posted by Ensign Kastarak (Doctor / Counsellor) in Lt. Q Dawson Psych Eval (Tag Ensign Kastarak)
Posted by… suppressed (15) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Q followed the computer directions down to the counselor’s office and pressed the door alert. He had just been transferred over to the Chernov to take over as their Weapons Officer and wanted to get checked out and ready for duty. He was hoping that the counselor could get this taken care of swiftly but understood the protocol of it. He’d been attending therapists since he was a teen. His parents insisted when his older sister died. Even though they eventually stopped going, much to their detriment in Q’s opinion, he continued and found the therapy most rewarding.

Looking in his calendar, moments before the door alert rang, Kastarak had seen Dawson’s name and new position. It had come quickly, a bit quicker than expected, that his friend Umbri would be replaced by this new man. His notes of Mr Dawson were few. He was human, from Earth, England specifically. Lancashire. 30 years old, 178 cm tall.

As the door chimed, Kastarak rose from his seat and walked to the door to greet his new client. The doors opened, and he saw the man.

“Mr Dawson, I presume?” he said, inviting him in. “Please take a seat.”

There were two armchairs and a small coffee table by the window, overlooking a red nebula outside. It was quite the aesthetic view.

– Ensign Kastarak (physician / counsellor)

“Yessir,” Q said in his crisp British accent. Many people had commented during his time at the academy that he sounded like he stepped out of a Jane Austin novel. Stepping into the counselor’s office, he took the seat offered him, “Thank you, sir. Where would you like to begin sir?”

There was a lot of sir there, which Kastarak decided to pick up on. His clinical mind went in all directions and hypotheses. Nervousness? Rigidity? Cultural background? Only time would tell.

Kastarak began with introducing the purpose of this meeting.

“I should begin with outlining the agenda for today. You are here for a mandatory psychological evaluation. Every thing you say here – with some exceptions, such as intent of committing violent crime, active suicidality, and so on – will stay between you and me. I will write a report to the first officer and the captain which will simply summarize my findings, whether or not you are psychologically fit to serve. Until I find you are psychologically fit, you may not serve, or you may serve with certain restrictions. If that is the case, we will discuss the matter with the captain and first officer, to find reasonable accommodation. Do you have any questions so far?”

“I will then ask you some questions about your psychological health, past and present, and about how you react to stress and stressors. Before we begin, is there anything you would like to share with me?”

– Counsellor Kastarak
Q nodded along as the counselor went through the standard disclosure that accompanied new patients. Q had heard it before and was accustomed to the routine. “Well sir,” Q began, “I don’t think there’s much I could tell you that you won’t find in my medical file. I’ve been in therapy for 16 years, not always with the same doctor, however. Ever since my sister died aboard the Odysseus. You might have heard of it. You might have heard of the incident. An away team went down to investigate an anomaly and lost all hands. Unfortunately, I don’t know much more than that. The mission was classified and I’ve been in therapy ever since. By choice mind you. My parents enrolled me in therapy to help with the loss of my sister, but I chose to continue long after they stopped. I even had a mind to study and practice psychological medicine, but found it wasn’t for me.”

-Lt. Q Dawson (CWO)

Kastarak listened carefully to Dawson’s words.

Waiting a few short seconds to make sure that Dawson had finished what he wanted to say, Kastarak spoke.

“I appreciate the candidness in which you relate this story. I understand it was the loss of your sister that was the catalyst for therapy. More specifically, what did you and your therapists work on?”

– Counsellor Kastarak

Q shrugged and considered the question. “Well, when you’ve been to therapy for 16 years, you tend to work on a great deal. However, generally, the early sessions were geared toward counseling me through my sister’s death. Then they were helping me come to terms with the fact I would likely never know what happened to her. Since then, however, I’ve discussed a variety of topics with my therapists. I see therapy, in the same way, one might view their general practitioner. You go to your doctor regularly to keep up with your physical health and I believe the same should be done with your therapist to keep up with your mental health. Simply good practice.”

Lt. Q Dawson (CWO)

Kastarak pondered Dawson’s reply. He spoke quite long without actually answering the question. Kastarak still didn’t know or understand what Dawson needed therapy for. Was it nervousness again? Kastarak noticed that the “sirs” were gone. There was, moreover, an aura of defensiveness in the reply. While Dawson’s reply was fine in a normal conversational matter, this was after all a psychological evaluation. He had to dig deeper.

“I agree with you,” Kastarak said, betting that he might be able to build up rapport. “Therapy is a useful tool for understanding oneself and for adjusting one’s thought, emotional and behavioural patterns. I understand it was useful to and meaningful for you.”

He paused.

“At the same time, I am curious as to what types of patterns of thoughts, emotions and behaviours you worked on. How would you say you have changed in these sixteen years?”

– Ens. Kastarak (Counsellor / physician)

“Well,” Q began as he relaxed into his chair a bit more, “There were a few areas of note, sir. The first, I believe at the core of most of it, was my sister’s death. We were a very close family, sir. When she died, I do believe my parents blamed themselves, feeling they pushed her into a career in Starfleet. While I was able to work through her death as I said, my parents never fully recovered. My therapy seemed to shift away from my sister’s death and more onto my parents’ overbearing nature. My father grew into a very stern man while my mother developed a very nervous disposition, sir. I had wanted to join Starfleet as soon as I graduated high school, but my parents wouldn’t hear of it. So, instead, I enrolled at Cambridge, but couldn’t really find what I wanted to do with myself. After graduating with a liberal arts degree, it was through my recent therapy sessions at the time that I found that the reason I wasn’t able to find myself at Cambridge was that I wasn’t living my life, but theirs. So, I joined Starfleet and have since found real satisfaction. Not only do I feel closer to my sister than ever before, but I feel closer to myself as well.” Q hoped that this was what the counselor was looking for. He understood that the officer needed to get a good sense of where his mental health was at this moment, and Q was doing his best to give him everything he needed.

As Q spoke, Kastarak considered every word spoken. He noticed that Q softened up, relaxing more. His “sirs” were back, and there was a sense of genuineness in the words conveyed.

“I understand,” he said simply. “It has been meaningful to you.”

He paused. Before the two of them, on the coffee table between them, was a glass carafe of water and small glasses. He poured himself some water, and then asked “Some water, Mr Dawson?”, offering to pour his guest a glass too.

“What can you tell me about your psychological health presently and recently?” He asked.

– Ensign Kastarak (Counsellor/Physician)

“Oh yes, thank you,” Q said as he took the offered glass of water, “I would consider myself in very good mental health at present. I don’t know of any real issues that seem to be bothering me at the moment, but as you know, we all have our days. But they are few and sparse, Sir.”

“I see,” replied Kastarak diplomatically. “Could you tell me of a recent example of when you had, as you speak, one of those few and sparse days. What happened? How did you react? And how did you move on?”

– Ensign Kastarak (counsellor / physician)

Q laced his fingers around his glass and pondered a moment. “The last time would be when I was on Starbase 228, waiting to transfer to this ship.” Q took a breath and set down his drink as he continued, “My father’s voice kept echoing in my head from the last time we spoke. He was trying to talk me out of coming, you see. There was a fear in him, breaking through the cracks in the wall he had built around himself since my sister’s death. It wasn’t his words really, but the emotion behind him. I’d rarely ever seen him like that, and every time I did, I could feel a shiver run through me. Like a static shock radiating across my skin. As I was waiting for the Chernov to arrive to pick me up for my transfer, I couldn’t help but think about that and worry if maybe he was right. Maybe this was all a mistake and I was throwing away my life. Then I looked at Clarissa’s face. My sister, Clarissa. I keep her photograph with me as I travel. It’s a picture of her the day she graduated from Starfleet academy. She was so happy at that moment. So proud of herself. It reminded me of what I wanted. Why I chose this life. So, when the Chernov docked, I made my way onboard and turned that static fear into exhilaration. It’s her, sir. My sister is what drives me on. Inspires me to be greater than my fears and better than yesterday.”

Kastarak carefully considered what Dawson said. There were indications of a sensitivity to neuroticism in the client, but not outside the normal range. He would make a note of it, however, it could prove important in the future. Before he could reply, Dawson spoke again.

At the end, Q looked at Kastarak and stared into his deadpan Vulcan face, and smiled, “I hope I’ve given you what you were looking for sir?”

“Are you in a hurry, Mr Dawson?” Kastarak asked back.

– Ensign Kastarak (counsellor / physician)

Q shrugged and chuckled, “Just looking forward to taking my place, sir. That’s all.” Q tried to read what the Vulcan was thinking, but Kastarak’s face was too impassive, as most Vulcans are. Q had no luck. “I hope you haven’t found anything concerning.”

Kastarak was tempted to follow up with a question, what is it that you hope I haven’t found? but decided against it. He took a breath, and leaned forward ever so slightly.

“Let me summarize what I’ve gathered so far. Your sister’s death has been a defining event for you. It brought you here, to this ship, to Star Fleet Academy. It has affected your relationship with your parents, and caused you to confront various topics in the therapy for over a decade. You feel more at peace now, though you have your days, as you say, and an emotional sensitivity. I do not think you are emotionally unstable, but sensitive. This is something I believe you will need to continuously work with and be aware of. Overall, however, your psychological health is good. Now, Mr Dawson, what do you make of my assessment? Is there something here you consider wrong? Anything you wish to add?”

– Ensign Kastarak ( counsellor / physician )

Q leaned back in his chair and considered for a moment. He shrugged and leaned forward again, smiling, “No, seems about right, sir. Pretty much what I’ve been told before. I must say, it is interesting to find a Vulcan as the ship’s counselor. I’ve always thought of psychology as the study of emotions and how they interact with the brain, and with Vulcans suppressing their emotions, I would think that would pose a difficulty for you. But, it’s certainly a unique perspective.” Q rose from his seat and extended his hand to Kastarak, “I look forward to further sessions with you.”

-Lt. Q Dawson (CWO)

Kastarak took the hand and shook it. Now was not the time to impose Vulcan norms on the man. “You will always be welcome here.” He decided not to comment on the back-handed compliment. Did Dawson really not understand Vulcans better than that? Did he not know the emotional agony that Kastarak would feel every time he had flashbacks from the destruction of his family? Under his cool deadpan surface, Kastarak felt offended, slighted, even angry. He noticed the emotions, knew where they were from (his trauma), found a logical reason (invalidation of his trauma), and knew it was nothing to do Dawson. He, instrad, purged it all, returned to a serene state of mind, and continued:

“Before you leave, let me, for the sake of form, inform you of what will happen now. I will send a message to the captain and the first officer indicating that you are fit for duty, I will not make any other note to them. Your medical notes are protected. And you will always be welcome to discuss your thoughts and emotions with me.”

– Ensign Kastarak (counsellor)

Q gave a smile, utterly unaware of any slight Kastarak may have felt, not intending any insult with his exploratory comment into the unique perspective Kastarak had. “Sounds perfect. I look forward to seeing you again soon. ” Q turned to head out and then stopped at the door and turned back to Kastarak, “Do you fence sir?”

-LT. Quentin Q Dawson (CWO)


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