STF

Everyday Work

Posted June 7, 2023, 7:22 p.m. by Lieutenant Tandra Mika (Chief Mental Health Officer) (Lucas Foxley)

Posted by Lieutenant Séan Iven (Counselor) in Everyday Work

Posted by Lieutenant Tandra Mika (Chief Mental Health Officer) in Everyday Work

Posted by Lieutenant Séan Iven (Counselor) in Everyday Work
Posted by… suppressed (17) by the Post Ghost! 👻
A few days after Séan’s first day, Mika arrived at the hospital at 0700. She liked starring that early, it gave her time to review her schedule and work on paperwork and other tasks. She liked to start her appointments with patients in the later morning and afternoon, that gave her time to wake up a little and be really ready to listen and think.

Opening her office with a thermos of herbal tea in one hand and a PaDD in the other, she sat at her desk, set up the PaDD and set to work. There were requests to review, cases to review and assign, Starfleet paperwork to do and a few other tasks she wouldn’t have time for between appointments later in the day.

~ Mika, CNS

A half hour later Séan arrived at his own office after he had finished his morning routine. He sat at his desk after replicating a hot cup of coffee and began reading through reports and the other minutia related to the job. He was about ten minutes in when he read something that gave him a question.

With coffee and PaDD in hand he made his way to Mika’s office, knocked to announce his presence, then entered. “Hey, do you have a second?”

Counselor Iven

Mika looked up from what she was doing, nodded, and then gestured him in. “What’cha need?” She asked with a friendly smile.

~ Mika, CNS

Séan closed the door behind him. “So this is a little awkward for me to bring up but I need to anyway. A crewmember from my last posting has sent me a mail asking if I’d be willing to do a sort of virtual counseling session with him. He wasn’t formally my patient during my time aboard but in passing we’d had conversations that tended to be off the clock counseling. It really is hard to shut that part of myself off. Anyway, I don’t necessarily want to step on the Chief of Psychiatry’s toes but he and I have been a bit of a rapport and I’m not sure if he would seek them out even if prompted to do so. Do you have any thoughts?”

Counselor Iven

Mika blanched. She was quiet a moment, processing. “Your posting a year and a half ago? The Ogawa? And this person is contacting you now? Why?” She was.... somehow unsurprised he’d been doing.... off the clock sessions for someone. And that made the situation… weirder? This person wasn’t even formally a patient. This was the sort of thing Mika would want to ask someone else.

~ Mika

Séan felt that might be a misunderstanding when he said off the clock, so he tried to clarify. “I don’t mean off the clock like something arranged because at that point they may as well have come in to my office. One such situation was going to the lounge, drinking some tea, play some cards while off duty and them just talking. Like the other night when you and I went for a walk and we were just talking.” He pointed at the chair in front of Mika’s desk to nonverbally ask if he could sit.

Counselor Iven

Mika nodded and gestured to the seat, silently offering it to him. “No, I understood that. Umm… How urgent is this case? Is he a risk to himself or his ship? Why wouldn’t he see the Chief of Psychiatry there? Do you want to see him virtually?” They were slammed with their own cases here.

~ Mika, CNS

Séan did kind of a half shrug in response to the questions. “It’s been a year and a half and I’m not current on the Ogawa or the patient’s status. On the one hand I want to help anyone who reaches out but on the other I just got here and haven’t even got accustomed to my case load. As for why he wouldn’t seek help from those on the ship… my feeling is that they somehow feel that admitting to or seeking out help is a failure. Now that I’m not aboard it might be less shameful because there’s no possibility of our having sessions spreading amongst the crew.”

Counselor Iven

“Whether you’re having sessions or not shouldn’t spread amongst the crew anyway. Isn’t Ogawa a medical ship? Is this a doctor? He should know that.” Mika wasn’t trying to be cold, she was just stressed and she had no idea what the right thing to do was. “You’re more experienced than me,” She admitted finally, “I… I’m not really sure. Do you think you can handle taking on that case alongside your workload here?”

~ Mika

Séan was taken aback by Mika’s response but he tried very carefully to keep it off his face. They were the same rank and close in age but she was his direct report and he was following protocol by bringing this complication to her. “I…” He hedged his words for a second as this was a new situation for him too. “My gut says that taking on talking to him is a complication I shouldn’t bring upon myself with the amount of cases we already have. The psychiatrist in me feels that this is the only way he’ll get any help though. If I make it clear that I’m swamped and that they need to transition to their ship’s own mental health specialists quickly… maybe it’s doable short term?”

Counselor Iven

Mika sighed and frowned. He was following protocol. But she just didn’t know. She’d only made herself look worse, though. And made him feel bad probably. She’d really messed this up already. “I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know. In physical medicine, this isn’t really something that would come up.”

She rubbed her forehead, a stressed movement as she thought. “I… I must have come across as not caring. I do, it’s just been a very busy few months. I’m not going to say don’t do it, especially if you think he needs it. I just… Worry about managing everyone here, too.”

~ Mika, CNS

“No, I didn’t feel that way at all.” Séan shook his head in disagreement. “I do understand where you’re coming from though not at all at this sort of scale. I think I’ll send him a message back saying that I unfortunately don’t have the time. I’m not even sure the difference between our day and shipboard time and would not want to have these calls at three in the morning.”

Counselor Iven

Mika nodded. “It’s best he get help from someone present.” She shook her head again. “Maybe I should’ve said that from the start.” She offered a little smile. “If something like this comes up again I hope you won’t hesitate to bring it to me. That was the right thing to do.”

~ Mika, CNS

“Of course. It is the protocol for it.” Séan responded with a smile in return. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I’ll recommend that he tries to seek out anyone he feels comfortable talking to even if it isn’t one of the mental health professionals. Not the best option but if they won’t see a counselor then it’s better than nothing.”

Counselor Iven

“I’m not sure I would suggest that,” Mika said, thinking. “A friend isn’t a replacement for a counselor. Whatever the problem is, they could make it worse. I would advise them to seek real help. Assure him the counselor on board is good and can help.”

~ Mika, CNS

“I don’t think either is really going to work if I’m being honest.” Séan said with a grimace. “I was surprised he even reached out to me. I’m convinced that you would have to corner him to get him to talk to you on the clock and even then he would likely keep saying that nothing is wrong.”

Counselor Iven

“He’s one of those types, huh?” Mika sighed. “But he’d talk to you off the clock?” She frowned, “I guess that explains why it’s you he’d reach out to.” Then she shrugged, “It’s a really difficult situation.”

~ Mika, CNS

Séan nodded and also sighed. “He seemed a decent enough sort from what little interactions we had but I could tell he was having difficulties accepting both cultural aspects of himself. I suspect there had been a development of some sort that was the impetus for him reaching out to me but he didn’t divulge anything else.”

Counselor Iven

“It doesn’t seem like you know him that well.” Mika commented. “Not to sound detached again, but why is this specific case so important to you?”

~ Mika, CNS

Séan looked at Mika in confusion. “This case isn’t particularly important to me so much as every person that needs help is important to me. If I knew he would seek out any help at all it would be easier to refer him to the Ogawa’s Chief of Psychiatry or any of the other counselors but I’m stuck with too many uncertainties.”

Counselor Iven

Mika sighed, “I know. It’s hard when you know he won’t do what’s best for himself. But…” She thought for a moment, “When Commander Korczak first contacted me, it was about an ensign with an attachment issue with the potential to spiral out of control. The ensign had been transferred here, and he wanted to ensure this patient continued receiving care.”

Mika shrugged, looking helpless. “I told him there was nothing I could do. That I had ten more cases that could spiral out of control waiting to be seen and this patient would just have to wait with the rest of them. He insisted this patient needed to be seen, so I said ‘Okay, fine, Commander, then YOU come out here and treat him’. And… Well, of course the man did just that, but that’s not the point,” she sighed.

“The point I’m trying to make is, we can’t help everyone. Sometimes, we have to leave it up to them to do what they need to do, we can’t make them. If we had the resources to spare… Then maybe it would be different. But that’s just not the circumstances we’ve been dealt.”

~ Mika, CNS


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