“A Patient for the Councilor” OR “Shrinking the Jarhead” – Part II (Backpost)

Posted on 09 Jun 2019 @ 4:15pm by Gunnery Sergeant Kyle Walken & Lieutenant Amiri Aldana 365, D.V.M., M.D. & Lieutenant Junior Grade Wyndsor Emerson, Ph.D.

Mission: Hahai i na pilikua nui - Hunting Monsters
Location: Various
Timeline: Right after “Shrinking the Jarhead”

-Main Sickbay-

Doctor Aldana tapped her commbadge. -=/\=-CMO to Councilor. I have a patient here who is required to see you before they can return to duty. Do you have time in your schedule to meet him today?-=/\=-

Emerson frowned in surprise. =/\=Of course. I have some free time right now, actually. Would you like to share the circumstances, or should I just wait until the person in question arrives?=/\=

Doctor Aldana looked over at Mister Walken as if to ask if s/he could share his background with the Gorn.

=/\= I was a POW of the Gorn for roughly two weeks, Captain Bolingbroke, Commander Zamora, and now Lieutenant Aldana have told me to get a psych eval =/\=

=/\= I appreciate your candor, =/\= Emerson answered. She didn’t expect for her potential patient to be listening in as well. =/\= I’m happy to meet with you now. =/\=

=/\= Will be there in a few =/\= Walken replied before he looks to Doctor Aldana, “Nice talking to you Lieutenant, I’m sure we will meet up again outside of sickbay. Until then.” He gave a small wave before leaving for Lieutenant Emerson’s office.

“I’ll look forward to it.”


-Chief Counselor’s Office-


“How do you feel about coming to talk to me?” Emerson asked Walken as she regarded him across from her. She genuinely wanted to know the answer to that, but she also knew it was potentially less threatening than immediately asking questions about his experience in captivity.

“Honestly, I don’t see the point. I mean I get this is about possible mental health issues due to what happened, but I never really seen talking about it as a way to help.” The marine answered.

“It sounds like you’ve struggled emotionally and tried therapy before?”

“What? Because I don’t think talking to someone who hardly knows me helps I ‘struggled emotionally’. Come on Doc that’s crap and I have tried therapy before.” Walken groans.

“That’s fair,” Emerson answered. “I just thought because you said you understood what this was about and had never found it helpful before that you had some prior experience with therapy, so, what’s your hypothesis about why you were asked to come here,” the counselor asked after a moment, “What did they do or say to explain why they demanded you come here now?”

“No hypothesis, I know why I am here. I was a POW for two weeks they want to make sure I’m mental fit for duty. I know I am, but they want me to get cleared with you.” Kyle answers as he looks Lieutenant Emerson in the eyes. “So, Doctor psychoanalyze me.”

Emerson offered a small smile. “I’m afraid as a therapist, I wasn’t given mind reading abilities, so I’d like to get to know you a little better. Maybe you could tell me a little more about life before you were a POW?”

“Would’ve made things easier.” Kyle shrugged. “What’s there to tell, I’m a marine. They tell me to go take a location I do it, they tell me to eliminate a threat I do it.” The Marine leans back. “But I’m sure you know that or have heard it from other Marines. I’ve been aboard three ships, the USS Ulysses, USS Wyoming, and USS Hawai'i. While onboard the Ulysses I didn’t see a real fight until twenty-three eighty-five, we were helping evac a settlement due to an unnatural storm. During which we were ambushed, I lost my friend Akoni. He died saving me, I was pulled from active duty that was the first time and only other time I went through therapy.”

The counselor was afraid when he began to speak that he might continue to glaze over his experiences as just part of his duties, but she was surprised and appreciative of his admission of more personal experience. “I’m sorry you had to go through losing your friend,” Emerson offered. She didn’t say it, but she surmised under such circumstances, survivor’s guilt would likely be intense. “What prompted you to go to therapy then?” She didn’t want to assume he was forced. Perhaps he had been motivated to seek help on his own.

“As I said I don’t think talking helps, I mean I take time to reflect on what happened, remember the past, live with it. No offense to you or anything Doctor I just don’t think it helps. As for the last time yes, I was forced into it.” Walken answered.

"No offense taken," the therapist replied. "Research shows people forced into therapy frequently don't improve or find it helpful, which makes sense, considering people forced into therapy don't think there's anything to talk about. Would you mind telling me more about the first time you were forced into it? In my experience, people aren't ordered to therapy unless others observe things that leave them concerned."

Kyle folds his arms and looks annoyed, "I already covered it for the most part, the mission went wrong and my friend died saving me. I'm here for what happened recently, so lets get this done I have a mission to prep for."

The therapist knew it was possible therapy was ordered simply because of the circumstances Kyle had already described, but she had a sense there might be more to it, some behavior change that was enough to cause concern. Whatever the reason, however, she had to deal with his resistance and impatience now. "I respect your dedication to your work and appreciate your directness, so I will give it to you straight. You've been through two traumatic experiences in a relatively short time and unless you're a robot, they are bound to have affected you psychologically to some degree. Until I can establish whether that impact poses a risk to you or others during this mission, I am obligated not to clear you for it. I realize you don't want to be here, but the more patient you can be with the process, the faster it is I can complete my evaluation."

"Look Doc if you are trying to get some sort of angry reaction out of me it's not going to work. The previous event happened four years ago, I have accepted it and moved on. You do not have the right to hold that against me, I served my time and did all the counseling for it." Walken spoke calmly he didn't show any angry or irritation as he remained seated.

"You misunderstand me, Sergeant. I'm not holding what happened to you against you in any way. What I am saying is, I've been asked to evaluate you psychologically given all you've been through, and I wouldn't be doing you or the crew any favors if I rushed the process or cut corners. Dedication to duty is something I think we can agree on. That said, I'm not just focused on what happened years ago, but your time as a POW. How are you doing?"

Walken leans back sighs, "I'm fine, I know it's hard to believe but I'm fine. Was I afraid of course I was but I'm not going to sit around and cry, was I mad? Sure as hell I was but I'm not going to let something like anger interfere with my duties to anyone, be it from Cap, one of the L.T.s or even you. Duty is what drives me." Kyle paused for a few seconds, "You know what the first thing I did when I got on board was? I made sure my sister knew I was alive and send a message back home."

"I respect your determination and your concern for others. I would expect nothing less from a man in your position. How have you been sleeping?"

"Like a rock, sleep cycle and amount of time has not changed," Walken answered.

Emerson nodded.

"Very well, I will clear you for duty for now, yet we have an experienced counselor who I want you to follow up with: Dr. Perrin Arc."

Walken got up and grumbled under his breath to himself, "Great another asshole to tell me how to feel."

[OFF]

Doctor Amiri Aldana 365 D.V.M., M.D.
Lieutenant, Starfleet
A-CMO

Wyndsor Emerson, Ph.D., LTJG, SF
MHA

&

Kyle Walken, Sgt, SFMC
3MSOT/TL