Ensign Josh Herrick: Better than expected
Mark P
OOC: Seemed like a good place to fade out for Josh; feel free to add more tags if desired or we can pick up in a future session.
((Counseling Offices, Deck Eight, USS ‘Oumuamua))
Josh had managed to pull himself together enough
that he was able to share what re-triggered his claustrophobia — his first day
on the ‘Oumuamua when he and Corelli got caught in that EPS conduit explosion.
Now, he wanted to focus on fixing it — maybe once and for all — so that he
could get on with his life. Now, he sat across from the person that might be
able to help him bring it to a close.
Salo: It’s not going to be instant.
Herrick: It’s been 2 decades that I’ve been dealing with it. I… get that it’ll take time.
Salo: It will require time, but also effort. I’m not going to lie to you, you’ll likely start working on it, and you may not see results immediately. Or you may see some results, and then find yourself sliding backwards - two steps forward one step back.
This was not exactly what Josh wanted to hear, but it also wasn’t a surprise. Holo-counselors had told him the same thing in the past but none of them had warned about the degree of relapse that he had run into now.
He’d gone past the typical self-management techniques to assisted ones like sleep-inducing hypos, but at least that was monitored by professionals, even if it was under the guise of insomnia. And, it was not as it had gotten in the Academy. He had it mostly under control at the moment.
Herrick: Ok, I think I might lean more heavily on you during those points to make sure that it’s not a lot more steps backward than forward.
Salo: I’m going to schedule you for a weekly session with me.
She glanced around before continuing.
Salo: And we’ll take it day by day. If you did need to talk to me before our session, I am available.
It seemed like the counselor was wrapping the session up, and thankfully, hadn’t pulled him from active duty. He wasn’t sure what Brzezinski would have done, maybe suspend him so they could have done a ton of exposure therapy. At least it seemed like Salo was in his corner and he appreciated it.
For the first time in months, he felt somewhat at peace. Perhaps the cathartic release of emotion had helped ground him. But, to Salo’s point, that was temporary — like so many other crutches he’d used. Ahead of him still lay a long road to recovery.
[End scene for Herrick]