Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Status Report

Posted by Captain Rende Asam (Commanding Officer) in Status Report

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Leah Hart (Nurse Practitioner/Counseling) in Status Report
Posted by… suppressed (12) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“Would you tell them I don’t bite, then?” Leah said, sucking down a snort. “At… at Starfleet Medical, it was a different sort of situation. The people I treated were dealing with acute physical or psychological issues. There’s a whole different team that handles the day-to-day counselling. Here, I’m doing both, which I actually quite enjoy. But mental health practitioners are relatively rare on starships, especially those that serve farther away from the core of the Federation. I’m still in the early days where I’m trying to convince people that talking to me doesn’t count as a strike against them. But, I hear what you’re saying. What we need on the ship are more planned opportunities for the crew to bond. Something more than hoping there’s people in the galley to hang out with or that you can find people to have a dance party with.” She wasn’t ready to touch the remarks about avoiding her family.

~Leah Hart, NP

Rende nodded, “That is an acceptable request. I believe in leading by example. I can tell the crew all I want that you don’t bite, but they will believe it if they see me around you. So how about weekly sessions? And they don’t have to be in your office. We can go to the lounge and just chat, or we can even have regular session in your office as needed.”

Leah nodded slowly. “I am very open to that, and I am glad you are too. I think it’s always nice when the crew seems the captain out and about the ship more.”

“I believe mental health care is vital to a good crew. I also know there is some stigma there. There shouldn’t be. So you let me know what your schedule looks like. I know you are swamped.”

Hart laughed. “Truth. But this is important, so I will make the time.”

“Lt., Leah, how would you feel about taking lead on crew activities? Rand handles most of it, but poor girl does most things on this ship, and I think it would be good for her to work with someone, rather than doing for everyone else all the time.”

Cpt. Asam, CO

Leah smiled. “I’d be happy to help with that. And Rand and I have interacted a few times so I think she might be open to it.” She paused for a moment to consider how she might approach the situation. “Did you want me to reach out to her myself, or would you prefer to broach the topic with Rand?”

~Leah Hart, NP

“I’ll let her know I’ve done that and you can reach out to meet with her.” Rende knew Rand didn’t particularly enjoy social situations, so planning them was problematic for her.

Cpt. Asam, CO

She nodded. “Okay then, that sounds like a plan.”

Leah gazed to the side for the moment and took a deep breath. Despite Asam coming here and asking about her personally (and not just professionally), she was still reticent about getting too personally. But she decided to go out on a limb. “Did you know my father was in Starfleet?”

~Leah Hart, NP

“No, I didn’t.” Asam had read Leah’s service record, but she didn’t do a background check. That had already been done and there was no reason to do it again. She also didn’t hold the actions of family to account for an individual. They were not the same.

Cpt. Asam, CO

She nodded slowly. “He had a Doctorate in Engineering and was a ship design specialist. He worked at the New Aberdeen Shipyards at Aldebaran III, which is where I was born and raised. He would tell me about his early career when he was a junior officer and all the antics he and his friends got into. He served on several ships until he took a design position. I could tell how proud he was to be in Starfleet and also how special being on a ship was.”

“Something about being here makes me really sad, Captain. Because my father died ten years ago and I can imagine how proud he’d be to know that not only did I eventually join Starfleet too, but that I was also serving on a starship. And there are days I wish he was around so I could tell him about it. My mother is rather toxic, and my sister is sadly and unconsciously following in her footsteps. I can avoid their calls, but not always and not indefinitely. I should be excited to be here and proud of myself for tackling the challenges I’ve had already, but I can’t find that enthusiasm. Grief is weird and it’s not linear. And so I’m just sad that other than my grandmother I don’t have anyone close to me to be my champion the way he always had been.”

~Leah Hart, NP

“That is completely a valid point. It’s hard to not have those closest to us around for our achievements. If I might,” Rende said, “a suggestion. Write to your father, anyway. Tell him all about your achievements, fears, struggles, the boring mundane. The people we love are still alive. Were you to go back in time, they would still be there. Right now they have just transcended what we know.”

Cpt. Asam, CO

The suggestion earned Rende a soft smile. Leah took a deep and steadying breath, fighting back the feelings that had been hovering underneath for awhile now, even before her transfer. “It’s not a bad idea, at all. Thank you, Captain.” She took another deep breath. “It’s been harder at times because there were some difficult circumstances around his death. There was an accident at the shipyards and he was blamed for it. They assumed it was his negligence, but I knew my father. He was a fallible man who always admitted his errors, but he was meticulous at work. Negligence made no sense. I had to fight to get people to dig deeper, to clear his name. He had significant head trauma before of the explosion, but they ended up finding signs of an aneurysm.”

“Losing him, having to fight hard and get myself involved in Starfleet’s systems, I don’t know that I can quite explain it, but I felt compelled to follow in his footsteps, ast least as far as Starfleet was concerned. My mother was furious about all of it. It was like she had assumed the worst about him and was okay letting it be. She couldn’t stand that I was right that something was wrong about the whole thing, and she certainly can’t stand that I’m in uniform too. The psychiatrist part of me understands that a part of her is scared to lose me too, but her way of showing care and love is, uh, pretty cruel most of time these days. So much worse than when I was younger.” Hart shook her head and sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m rambling.”

~Leah Hart, NP

“Ramble away. It’s alright. It is really true what they say. Put 100 people in the same room at the same time to witness the same event and you get 100 different stories. The only thing you can do is live your truth. You had to protect your father, and you did.”

Cpt. Asam, CO

Hart nodded and smiled softly. “He believed in me. Never made me doubt it either. Without him around, it’s much harder to cut out the noise from others. And yes, I’ve considered going non-contact for my own sanity, but then I would lose the rest of the family I am close to, and I’m not willing to do that. So I am trying to figure out how to find that feeling of camaraderie and support here. I’m sure once Rand and I have a chance to brainstorm, it’ll help. It’s that whole getting stuck into life here thing.” Leah gave Rende a slopsided smirk. “And to be honest, I needed to be here long enough to see if you were going to keep me. I’ve had a reputation of being a pain in the ass to those higher in the chain of command. It’s not always a desired trait.” She wasn’t apologetic about that in the least.

~Leah Hart, NP

Asam laughed. “I know a little something about that. It’s good. I don’t think you would last long in your field if you weren’t. I think you’ll do just fine here, Lt. It’s a big change though, so give yourself some grace.”

Cpt. Asam, CO

Hart nodded. “I know. And I do need to remind myself of that here and there. She drew in a deep breath and blew it out, giving Rende a lopsided smile. “It’s much easier to counsel others than myself, naturally. I think I’ve just hoped that if I kept pushing through, it would get better. It probably will, but it won’t hurt to be more proactive about things.”

“So, meeting. I’ll give you a couple options for sometime in the next few days. Pick one and we can do a chat and lunch in the galley. Does that work for you?”

~Leah Hart, NP

Rende nodded, “That works just fine for me. You’ll get there, and if you need an ear I’m always available.” She stood up. “I’m glad you are here Lt. I think you are going to be good for the crew, all of us.”

Cpt. Asam, CO

Leah rose out of courtesy, even though she doubted Asam expected it automatically. “Thank you, Captain, I appreciate that. I hope the rest of your day goes smoothly.”

~Leah Hart, NP

“Yours as well, Lt.” Rende turned and walked back out of sickbay.

Cpt. Asam, CO