Posted by Civilian Ana Caputo (Governor’s Chief of Staff) in Live from the Government Tower

Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Live from the Government Tower

Posted by Civilian Ana Caputo (Governor’s Chief of Staff) in Live from the Government Tower
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

A smile tugged at her lips as she nodded slowly. “Okay…those are very good questions,” Eela said, giving herself a moment to properly think them over. “And I am probably going to have to tackle them a bit separately.”

“So… yes, as a practitioner, it was very important to me that there was connection, but there are a couple things that influenced my practice. So, first off, it’s important to understand that there are many styles or modalities of therapy. The underlying philosophy behind each plays a role in how you conduct sessions and the way we structure goals for the patient. My degrees and training came from Starfleet Medical and I had the wonderful fortune of having a very broad education and training in a wide range of therapy styles. Personally, I’ve always gravitated towards relationship-based therapy, and a holistic approach that takes into account the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being of a person.” She smiled. “That’s the Haliian approach actually, and it’s the thing that feels most natural for me.

“Does it ever become difficult to maintain what’s typically a proper professional distance from patients?” Eddie followed up.

“It can be, yes,” Eela said with a nod. “It is the danger with a more personal approach to therapy, but also for me personally my abilities allowed me to gauge reactions better. Not perfectly of course, but if I sensed that things were going in a less helpful direction, I could use the rapport and connection we’ve built to steer it into more productive territory. Also, a good therapist has very clear boundaries and especially with the style I practiced it was essential that I enforced those boundaries.”

“However, you also need to keep in mind that especially early in my career, mental health professionals on starships were rare. It took a lot of advocating from those of us practicing at the time to convince the higher ups that it was useful on most places where people are stationed, mobile or not. So, the thing about therapists is that because we are individuals and we each have our own beliefs and styles, we are not always the right therapist for every person. And that’s okay, and normal. But if you’re the only one around on a ship, and finding a different therapist isn’t possible because you’re off exploring some region far out, then it’s up to that therapist to adapt and maybe try modalities that are not your natural inclination. You do your best to find the middle ground so you can support as many people on your crew as possible, but I always did find I did my best work when I could use my abilities in different ways and build a really strong therapeutic relationship.” She paused there to give Eddie a chance to ask follow-up questions before she tackled the other question he had asked.

~Eela Dasca, Lt. Gov.

“What do you do, in that case? If you’re the only therapist around, and not a good fit for someone… what do you do?” Eddie asked, deeply appreciating her thorough answers.

-Chief of Staff

Eela chuckled. “Hope or pray to whatever you might believe in that it you’ll find a way to make it work? I mean, figuring it out really becomes your only option. In those situations you really learn to stretch yourself and your skills and find some sort of compromise. It might mean trying a style of therapy that isn’t natural to you, or having to experiment and test out exercises together. You have to be really honest with your patient and recognize and honour the situation you’re in. Because the only other option is to not see that person, but if they need support, then especially if you’re the only one around you’re ethically bound to do what you can to make sure they are okay, at least until an opportunity arises for you to transfer their case to another therapist who might be a better fit. And despite what people might assume, we don’t take those needs or requests personally.”

She smiled. “Which leads nicely to your other question about my personal experiences, because on more than one occasion I’ve been the patient outside of the standard evals that Starfleet required. And when I was the therapist myself, I had to work with someone else who is experienced in counselling therapists. I also didn’t necessarily have someone present on my assignment and had to rely on subspace.” Eela paused and took a moment to take a slow and deep breath.

“For me… I don’t know…” This was a much more complicated and personally difficult topic, and she wouldn’t shy away from it, but Eela also knew she needed to tread gently. “I’ve been through some very difficult times in my life, some recently, and those were times where I required a great deal of support. My… experience of mental health care is very much improved when I am approaching it very holistically. I need to feel that the person I am working with understands the various pieces of my identity, the things that make me who I am. I know that when I try to push away other parts in favour of one, I… don’t tend to do as well. I can suffer needlessly. But unfortunately for my therapists, I can also be a very stubborn woman”-she smirked-“and sometimes that makes the work harder. It’s not intentional, but like anyone, the more difficult a situation, the more we want to avoid it, so we can deflect or minimize. The therapy methods that have ultimately worked the best are the ones that challenge me but also give me a much needed perspective that I might be missing. The thing that is always true with me is that I never assume I know everything, even about things I’ve very knowledgeable about. Others can always give me something I might not have thought of. This is especially true when I’m struggling to cope with something. Sometimes that much needed perspective comes from a therapist, but I’ve also had a great deal of help from just people I’m close with in my life. Those connections have helped so immensely. I mean, hell, it’s why I’m in a good enough place to able to have this conversation with you today, because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but my life has been a bit chaotic since I got here, let alone whatever it was before,” she said with a cheeky little smirk. “If I hadn’t been willing to dig and do the work, as well as listen to others and lean on them… well, I wouldn’t be in as good a place as I am, even if it’s still really difficult some days.”

~Eela Dasca, Candid Lt. Gov.

“Did you come to benefit from mental healthcare before or after joining the field yourself? I’m curious because there’s a way people who share a line of work speak that’s different from how they might speak to others.” Eddie asked.

“Oh, during and after for sure,” Dasca said without missing a beat. “I joined Starfleet at seventeen and pursued psychology right away. Both my undergraduate and Masters degrees are granted through Starfleet Medical. When we’re in training, every mental health professional has to go through their own counselling to help them understand how they think, their biases and dig at any issues that might later be triggered by a patient’s issues. Awareness is key. The more aware you are of something, the more you can take steps to ensure it doesn’t interfere with how you work with a patient. But for me, I needed help after a really stressful and difficult time. I was going through a lot and not coping, nor did anyone expect me to be able to shrug it off and carry on. But at the time I was the head counsellor for our ship, so I had support from other therapists, including my assistant counsellor. And there is indeed a difference in how we communicate with each other in sessions. We re trained to dig deep, to be able to identify things clearly. That doesn’t make it easier, and it doesn’t mean we won’t be avoidant of difficult things, but I grew up with a scientist mother and a herbalist father. Being curious and digging deep were a part of my upbringing, so at least for me personally I’ve always been very self-aware, even if I can still be a difficult patient. The difference is I know I’m being difficult,” she said with a throaty chuckle. “But sometimes that’s just where you are at and that’s okay. We’re all allowed to struggle, to have low moments, to just have days where you don’t want to do what you should for whatever reason. It’s a part of being alive in a universe that is complicated and rarely straight-forward.”

~Eela Dasca, Lt. Gov.