Starfleet Medical Academy Lecture - One of Our Own

Posted on 28 Jun 2025 @ 4:22pm by Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle

566 words; about a 3 minute read

The room was still, the atmosphere more subdued than usual. The display screen behind Dr. Delainey Carlisle bore the day’s lecture title: One of Our Own – When Injury or Loss Hits Home. Students, many of them in the latter half of their counseling track, watched her closely—several already sensing that this topic came from personal experience.

Dr. Carlisle began simply.

“Today we’re going to talk about something that isn’t in the training simulations or textbooks—not really. It's not a psych case or a theoretical model. It's what happens when someone you care about, someone you work with every day, is critically injured or lost... and you're still expected to lead, counsel, function.”

She paused, letting the silence speak.

“This isn’t just professional. It’s deeply personal. You need to know—it is normal to feel strong emotions in these situations. Fear, helplessness, guilt. None of these are signs of failure. They are signs you care, which is not a weakness.”

The screen behind her changed to read:
Acknowledge. Contain. Process.

“There are three basic stages I encourage you to think about. First, acknowledge the emotion. Identify it. Say it in your head. 'I’m scared. I’m angry. I feel like I should have prevented this.' Naming it takes it out of the fog and gives you some ground to stand on.”

“Second, contain. This is not about bottling up. This is controlled holding. Picture a mental container, something you’ve built—your safe place, your vault—where you can put the feeling for a while. You know it’s there. You plan to come back to it. But it doesn’t drive your decisions in the moment.”

“Third, process. That might be hours or days later, depending on the situation. That’s when you take the container down and open it, preferably in the company of someone trained to help—or someone who will listen without judgment.”

A hand went up in the third row.

“Yes, Cadet Ren?”

Ren, a Bajoran in her second year, looked hesitant but determined. “Ma’am… what if the injured person is someone under your command? Not just a friend, but someone you gave an order to—maybe even the one that got them hurt?”

Dr. Carlisle nodded slowly. “That’s the hardest layer of this. When you’re in a leadership position, you’re never just grieving or afraid—you’re also questioning yourself. That’s a kind of guilt no one prepares you for. You think, did I miss something? Did I make the wrong call? Was it my fault? And maybe you did. Maybe you didn’t. But leadership isn’t about never making mistakes—it’s about what you do next.”

She walked a few steps toward the class, her voice quieter now.

“If you freeze, others suffer. So you honor that person—the one who got hurt—by doing what needs to be done. You guide. You steady the others. And later… in a quiet room… you let yourself break down, if you need to.”

Another student added softly, "What if you don’t break down?”

Dr. Carlisle smiled faintly. “Then I’ll be there to help you figure out why.”

The class sat with that for a moment longer, the weight of the conversation settling into each of them—not just as students, but as future officers.

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