Posted June 8, 2023, 2:48 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 (31) 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
Séan put a hand to his chin in thought. “I wonder… no, that wouldn’t be all that feasible. I won’t be transferring back any time soon and I doubt he’d be willing to come here. Even if he did like you said there’s still an order to things and who knows where on my already full schedule he would fit.”
Counselor Iven
Mika nodded. “If he wanted to come here, then it’s not like we don’t need medical officers. But whether he would want to wait to see you or not…” She shrugged. “You could offer that and leave it up to him.”
~ Mika, CNS
“I suppose that is the only thing I can do. I’ll recommend he reaches out to help on his ship and if for some reason I really am his only option then he’ll need to consider a transfer or extended leave here if he wants me to see him.” Séan sighed but then perked up and looked at Mika with a smile. “It might not have been the most satisfying solution but we worked well through the problem and narrowed down what was available. A decent team effort if I say so myself.”
Counselor Iven
Mika nodded. “That’s a good idea. Doesn’t turn it entirely down, offers realistic options.” She smiled, “It’s a better solution than we had before. I’m glad we worked through it.”
Then she looked at Séan, “While I have you here.... You do know my best friend is the CMO right? And she tells me you haven’t reported for your arrival physical.” She gave Séan a look, “You’re running up on the deadline for that. If you don’t get it done, Medical will pull you off duty.”
~ Mika, CNS
“Ah crap.” Séan muttered in embarrassment. Not because he was being called out but because he had totally forgotten. “I don’t really have an excuse for that. I threw myself into the work and getting my physical done had completely slipped my mind. Was the CMO upset? I wasn’t really avoiding her on purpose. Well maybe a tiny bit.” He said while chagrined.
Counselor Iven
“Maybe a tiny bit? You’re not afraid of doctors, are you?” Mika giggled a little bit. “No way, you were stationed on a medical frigate.” Then she smiled, “You know I’m a doctor too?” Then she made herself a bit more serious, she didn’t want to accidentally offend him. “Uhm, anyway. Go ahead and head there sometime today. She’s not upset, people forget. But as a doctor myself I’m aware of the importance of completing your regular physicals.”
~ Mika, CNS
“Since my incident I’ve come to mildly dislike being in for check ups and such. I’m eternally grateful to the doctor who fixed me up but the time spent in the medical wing plus going back to get checked on was a kind of reminder of what happened.” Séan said with a slight grimace. Then he looked at Mika as she got serious and teased her back. “Your being a doctor doesn’t frighten me one bit. You’re like half my height.”
Counselor Iven
Mika huffed and fake pouted. “I’m a foot shorter! That’s not half!” Then she shook her head, “I can understand that. Sharah will make it easy. She’s…” She chuckled a little bit, “Well, if you’re not scared of short doctors, you have nothing to fear. She’s as short as I am.”
~ Mika, CNS
“Well you’re not exactly short…” Séan said while trying to fake sound convincing. “I could probably carry all of you with one arm though.” He said with a grin. “I’ll be sure to head over and get my physical done as soon as the work day is over.”
Counselor Iven
Mika side eyed him playfully. “I’d like to see you try.” She puffed herself up a little bit. “Okay. Sharah will tell me if you skip it, so you’d better get it done.” She smiled at him, “How is your caseload? Not too overwhelming, I hope? As we get more counsellors out here, it’ll be easier to maintain smaller case numbers. It’s already much better than when I arrived.”
~ Mika, CNS
“Maybe later.” Séan grinned in response to the playful challenge. “My case load has been fine so far. I’m still getting familiar with the patients and earning their trust. Not everyone is willing to dive right in right away, but I know it’ll happen with some time.”
Counselor Iven
Mika nodded. “I still have some clients who are still getting used to me. It takes time.” She smiled, “but of course, you know that.” She looked at Séan, “Is there anything else you want to talk about or ask?”
~ Mika, CNS
Séan took a moment to think if there was but shook his head. “I think this was everything. If anything else pops up I know where to find you.” He collected his coffee cup and stood from the seat. He gave a small wave with the hand holding the PaDD before heading back to his office and continuing the work day.
Counselor Iven
The day wore on as usual. Mika completed her usual morning work and checked her afternoon schedule. It was a full day of seeing patients. Some, she knew would be easier, others she recognized that they would be mentally or emotionally taxing harder sessions.
Lunch arrived, and Mika departed her office, more than ready for a break. What to do, though… She normally just grabbed food either from the hospital cafeteria or the food trucks out in the square and ate in her office. But today, an idea popped into her head, and she paused, then turned and altered her path. She stopped in front of the door to Séan’s office and knocked.
~ Mika, CNS
© 1991-2024 STF. Terms of Service
Version 1.15.11
RSS Feed