Posted by Lieutenant Séan Iven (Counselor) in Iven’s Office- Trauma Doesn’t Keep to a Schedule

Posted by Captain Eela Dasca (Lt. Governor) in Iven’s Office- Trauma Doesn’t Keep to a Schedule

Posted by Lieutenant Séan Iven (Counselor) in Iven’s Office- Trauma Doesn’t Keep to a Schedule
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Monday morning and things were not going quite as usual. Or rather, for most of the Starfleet contingent on Oed, it was business as usual despite the slight increase in security. It wasn’t super obvious unless you were looking for it, but there was a subtle shift in the mood that had no specific source.

As he was getting on with his day, it was about mid-morning when Séan received a call from a blocked location on Oed.

~Caridee Sevren

Séan was puzzled that he was receiving a call but that the caller was obscured. He had a brief thought of calling security first, there were smugglers and criminals on Oed, but decided against it. He could always notify them if the call or caller were of a dubious nature. He straightened his tunic before he reached out a hand and accepted the call.

“This is Lieutenant Iven. How may I be of assistance?”

Counselor Iven

The face of a light skinned woman with dark gunmetal blue eyes and long wavy brown hair appeared on the screen. Her forehead had the ridging typical of a Haliian, but it was much softer. As she took in Iven, her eyes held an intensity that might appear vaguely familiar to him, but it was mixed with deep concern. ||Hello, Lieutenant, thank you for answering. I’m Caridee Sevren. My mother is Captain Dasca, and I know she’s a new patient of yours.|| She paused, unsure how much to say right now, but from a professional point of view she knew it would do her mother no good to not give him as full a picture as possible before they spoke.

||This morning, a tragic event has unfolded and involves my mother. You may or may not be aware of her relationship with Ambassador Mathis’ attaché, Dashiel Jones, but he was found dead this morning.|| Caridee exhaled. ||It’s quite complicated, and I’m happy to walk you through it as needed, but long story short, my mother was telepathically bonded to the man at the time of his death, and for a Haliian with my mother’s abilities, this triggered a dangerous condition called Kuuskaritz Syndrome, which is essentially a complete severing of the mind-body connection. Her body and mind functioned, but she had zero use of her psi abilities and also could not detect emotions in others, nor generate her own. There are physical complications that can prove life threatening, and while the condition has been reversed, as expected she immediately began to feel everything she could not earlier. My suspicion that she experienced his death through his own sensations is correct and so, as you can imagine, not only is she experiencing grief but also trauma form this experience. It’s agreed that she needs psychological support, and though I’m a psychiatrist, she’s my mother. Would you be able to have an emergency session with her over video conference?||

~Caridee Sevren

Séan let the news and details settle in his mind before speaking. “First let me convey my sympathies to you. I’m sure this situation has not been a pleasant one for you or your mother. Now of course I will meet with her over video conference but before I do I have a couple of questions. Is there a chance of the Kuuskaritz Syndrome recurring or the symptoms of it coming back?”

Counselor Iven

Sevren shook her head. ||No. There’s no mechanism for it to come back. Typically, the condition surfaces after an injury to that area of the brain, or on rare occasions a psychic attack. While my mother’s manifestation is unexpected enough to be unheard of before, it’s not repeatable. When Kuskaaritz is successfully treated, the patient always recovers physically and then it’s a matter of emotional and psychological support afterwards.|| Caridee still had that possible outcome had they not been able to treat it floating in her mind and she really needed to let it go. It was no longer the worry.

~Caridee Sevren

Séan nodded in acknowledgement. “That is a relief to hear. Psychological support I will do my best to provide. Can you go into more detail of her current state? You said that she was emotionally detached to the point of not feeling them. The backlash of having it all come crashing in must be incredibly overwhelming.”

Counselor Iven

Caridee nodded. ||Yes, it has been. Without intruding on private details I can’t share, I can say that we anticipated this. Myself and another person present whom she is close with empathically grounded her through touch. We basically flooded her with whatever positive and caring feeling we could, and while it didn’t stop the flood she received, it did ease some of the side effects we were concerned with. We did have to counter a medication in her body, and that helped her physical symptoms, but she is still processing the memories now available to her and all the emotions that went with them.||

Sevren pausd and took a deep breath, a tiny, if sad, smile appearing on her face. ||My mother is a resilient person and stronger than most I know. But this event comes on the heels of another deeply difficult personal event. I don’t know all the details of her work in that area, but I do know she’s struggling right now. And yet, she is the Lieutenant Governor, and if there is one thing you need to understand about Captain Eela Dasca, Counsellor, it is that my mother will not be accused of failing her duty. Not ever. Not even if it puts her at risk and costs her something. Right now she needs to regroup and give herself a moment to process the fact that she experienced the visceral death of a man she cared deeply about. She doesn’t have to say much about it- I can feel what she is feeling right now as her shields are quite thin at the moment.|| She was trying to not look so concerned, but it was impossible under the circumstances. ||The reality is that Oed Five needs their leader. They will grieve with her and show her compassion, but I think she’s concerned that it will be used against her if she can’t get back on her feet fast enough, or if the fallout paints her in a negative way. I’m just a guest here, and so I don’t know if that is true or not. She said Oed can be a brutally honest place and it will hold their leaders to account. But I think we can both agree that this is not only her not her fault, but she’s allowed more than one minute on her own to figure out what she’s thinking and feeling about this whole tragedy. The rest? You’ll have to suss that out from her.||

~Caridee Severen