COUNSELLING DEPARTMENT BRIEFING - ATTENTION ALL COUNSELING PERSONNEL

Posted on Sat Sep 12th, 2026 @ 2:37pm by Avalon [ADMIN NPC]

Mission: Season 6 - Episode 8- The Price of Home
293 words - 0.6 OF Standard Post Measure

COUNSELLING DEPARTMENT BRIEFING

THE PRICE OF HOME — CREW PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Classification: Departmental
Distribution: Counselling / Medical Command
Date: 11 August 2398

SITUATION

For nearly eleven months, Elysium personnel have lived with the possibility that they may never return to the Milky Way.

The Erebus Initiative changes that.

It does NOT guarantee return.

This distinction is psychologically significant.

PRIMARY RISK

Hope.

For the first time, the crew may learn that a scientifically plausible route toward home exists.

Personnel may interpret:

“A route may be possible”

as:

“We are going home.”

Those statements are not equivalent.

EXPECTED RESPONSES

Counselling personnel should anticipate:

- excitement,
- disbelief,
- anxiety,
- obsessive interest in Erebus,
- renewed homesickness,
- fear of disappointment,
- anger at delays,
- resentment toward summit delegates,
- impatience with safety concerns,
- survivor guilt,
- conflict among personnel who have begun building lives in Circinus.

Some individuals may discover they are no longer certain what “home” means.

Others may have relationships, dependants or commitments formed during the Circinus journey.

Romulan survivors face an additional complication: Elysium's road home is now also potentially theirs, despite the destruction of Havraha.

RECENT TRAUMA

The crew continues to process:

- Galatonian attacks,
- destruction of Havraha,
- Romulan losses,
- events on Niea IV,
- imprisonment and torture,
- Operation Sunrise,
- deaths during escape,
- accumulated casualties since September 2397.

Personnel directly involved in these events may experience increased symptoms when interacting with unfamiliar governments or security forces.

CONFIDENTIALITY

Normal counselling confidentiality remains in effect.

Credible threats to personnel, delegates, the ship or summit should be handled according to Starfleet procedures.

COUNSELLING PRINCIPLE

For nearly a year, the crew has been learning how to survive without home.

Now they may have to learn how to hope for it again.