claire callahan + christine chapel
mention of torture and mental health | complete
Christine picked up her coffee cup and headed down the hall toward Claire’s office. She’d stayed late to go over the files of the ten who had been kidnapped last month and wanted to talk to Claire about it. Having worked with the survivors of the Narada incident including her husband, Christine had become interested in helping PTSD survivors as well as those who were at risk for it. Claire had asked her if she would be interested in helping with some of the group sessions and Christine had jumped at the chance.
She knocked on the half-open door and peeked around it. “Hey,” she said with a smile. “Is this a bad time? I stayed over today, and I was hoping you still be here so we could talk.”
Chewing on the back of a pen as she re-read some notes she’d been marking up Claire could feel the need for a good rest but knew there was too much work to be done to go watch a bad tv show drink too much wine and eat pizza. When she heard a knock, she glanced up with a smile.
“Now’s good,” she answered pulling the pen from her mouth and shutting the folder with notes. “What’s up?”
“Nothing in particular. I was just going over some things and wanted to talk,” she took a sip of coffee. “I hope people actually come to the group sessions, and it will be so good for them. I think with PTSD, it’s the most helpful thing, knowing others have been through the same thing.” Christine understood that some people didn’t like talking in a group, but she hoped that with some encouragement they’d open up. “I can assure you Chris will be there, he doesn’t have a choice, and he knows it.” she grinned.
“A few of them have already confirmed, others indicated they’d rather not but I’ve managed to talk them into it a little. Some, as predicted are being difficult.” Usually, Claire wasn’t that candid about patients, but she knew Christine already knew all about the 10. Claire nodded with a smile. “I hear Luna’s coming with him.” She leaned back with a thoughtful look. “I was going to look into companion dogs for the rest of the group as well, what do you think?”
“I think that’s a great idea. When I worked with the PTSD group at Starfleet, several of them had animals, and they are a real comfort to them. Chris was paralyzed when I started working with him, and there was a ranch that specialized in working with cases like his. He loves horses and being with them, learning to ride again, it was the best thing for him.” It was also part of what had made her fall in love with him. “I am a huge believer in animal therapy no matter what form it takes. Luna isn’t a trained therapy dog at all but she went right to him and has stuck by him, it’s almost as if she knew he needed her. I know that Rey had a puppy too, I’ve seen her walking him and he seems very attached.”
“Dogs are good at that,” Claire wasn’t someone who had specialized in that side of things, but she knew the basics, and she knew how useful it could be. “I’m sure there are classes around for anyone interested in training their dog,” Claire commented. “I know not all dogs qualify, but even those usually get good basic training that can be more beneficial.”
Christine nodded. “I didn’t know much about it until I was working with the group in San Francisco. I’m sure there are some people around who would know what to do. I know a little, but I’m by no means an expert. I just think that dogs have so much love to give and they know when their people are hurting, at least that’s the way it seems to me. Not that cats can’t do that, but it seems as if they do it whenever they’re in the mood.”
“Atlantis has nearly everything we could think of, I bet there is someone working at the zoo or the shelter that might know what to do or about the training,” Claire pulled out a notebook and made a note about it. “Dogs are a little easier to train and interested in training too,” Claire smirked. “It’d be fun to see a service cat though.” She leaned back. “So, before we get to the group session, what’s your take on the group? Who is struggling more than others? Keeping things into much? Doing okay. Some clearly are more interested in working with us than others.”
She thought for a moment, thinking about each one of them, what she’d seen from them, what she already knew and after a moment she said, “I think Tony Stark is keeping things in. I don’t know him well, but her personality is the type that would not want to admit something was bothering them. I see a lot of the same things I saw in Chris when I first got to know him,” she shook her head. “Stark is one who is going to have to be pushed to open up, I think, and he’s not going to like it, but I’m pretty sure neither one of us is going to let him run over us. Lavender Brown didn’t seem as if she wanted to do group therapy. I don’t know her story that well but apparently she’s been through a group before but it was at school, and I’m sure it was very different since it was a school for witches and wizards,” she finished her coffee and put the empty cup on the floor, making a mental note to take it with her when she left.
“Iliana...she’s young, and I think she’s going to have to be encouraged to talk. The ones I worry about the most are the ones that are dealing with physical recovery too. Like Alicia, Clarke, Jemma, and Tony too. They were all hurt pretty badly. That’s a lot to deal with on top of the emotional factors. Clarke and Jemma both work in medical, and I think they understand the importance of it which will encourage the others. Chris having been through a very similar thing before will also be good for the group. I’m not just saying this because he’s my husband but I know first hand how far he’s come and he really does want to get through this and help the others too if he can.” Christine was proud of the progress he’d made even though there were times when she had doubted he would ever let anyone in but he had and she was grateful for it. “Rey, the girl from outer space for lack of a better term, she seems committed to getting better. I’ve talked to her a bit, she’s been dealing with some things from just before she came here and she told me that she’s been doing some meditation. Maybe she’d be willing to share that with the others?”
She’d missed someone, she knew that and chewed on her lip as she thought about it. “Wanda and Eponine,” she said when the names came to her. “It’s hard to tell with them. Wanda seems to be a fairly quiet person to begin with, I know she lost her brother not long ago in her time so I’m sure that makes this a lot more difficult. Speaking of difficult, I know Alicia’s sister arrived during all this and they had some kind of confrontation when Alicia slipped out of Medical for some fresh air. I was there that day and she was pretty shaken. As for Eponine, I don’t know anything about her other than that she’s from the time of the French Revolution and I’m sure that all of this must seem very strange to her.”
Claire nodded, she didn't disagree with a lot of what Christine was saying. When it came to Stark, she was used to those who didn't want to open up. "Lavender's I've done this before, approach worries me. While she has experienced trauma before, this is different, and I worry she's going on autopilot rather than dealing with the issues at hand." Claire had seen it before. "Which is why getting her to the group is critical." Claire was pleased Lavender said she'd be there but she still worried.
"Iliana's young and she's surprisingly more forthcoming than you might think at first, she says she doesn't know what to say but often finds words to talk about it, she's very focused on what her friend Keller would do and how Keller would handle it, which I do worry about." Claire wanted Iliana to focus on her, not on what her friend would or would not do. Nodding, she agreed about Jemma and Clarke. "The only downside of medical professionals is they sometimes think they know best which does play a factor in treating both Clarke and Jemma." Glancing back at her notes she nodded as Christine talked about her husband, Claire valued Christine's take but she also knew there was some natural bias and a good reason family members didn't treat each other. She wanted to focus on the others for the time being.
"Rey's making great progress, and for many of them they've been through traumatic experiences before, so it is a base of patients who have past traumas being brought up while also dealing with a new one." Hell, it seemed like all 10 of them had been through something horrible before they got to Atlantis. "If Rey wants to talk about her meditation, she's welcome to.
"Wanda's been very quiet and I don't want to see her retreat into herself, that's been one of the major worries, but she's close to both Alicia and Clarke, and I get the impression the three of them have brushed on the subject together. Eponine often seems overwhelmed by Atlantis."
Sighing at the mention of Elle Spinnet, Claire nodded. "Alicia's focusing most of her energy on her sister rather than what happened while she was kidnapped. Alicia's one of the tougher patients right now. Did you know she spent an entire session telling me how to make different kinds of pasta?"
“Did she? I agree that she seems very focused on her sister and I know there’s a long story there but she needs to focus on herself. Sometimes that’s easier said than done though. I’m concerned about Lavender too, this is completely different from what happened to her before and she needs to keep an open mind. If she shuts herself off, that wouldn’t be good for her.” Christine sighed. “I hope that you’re right, that Wanda, Clarke and Alicia can help each other. Oliver Queen is Alicia and Wanda’s team leader and Clarke’s boyfriend so he might be a good influence too. He’s been through a great deal and I only know a few things from talk and what I’ve seen when he’s been hurt and we’ve treated him.”
Claire nodded, she was especially worried about the two from the Harry Potter world, they seemed to be some of the two more worrying. Each had their challenges but some were more open to working through their issues than others. “We’ll have to see how they do in group and potentially figure out some smaller groups that could potentially be worth it for them.”
“Good point. They might be more comfortable in a small group. Maybe the two of them might actually do well together since they come from the same world,” it made sense but there was also Alicia’s sister to take into consideration. Her arrival hadn’t helped any. “Have you spoken with Alicia’s sister at all? I was just curious.”
“We’ll start with the main group and reassess after the first meeting.” That was the best way to handle it, and they could see about getting Lavender and Alicia together for something, but she wasn’t sure if the two women knew each other well or not. “I’ve had a couple of sessions with her, she’s a con artist, not in the sense that say Neal Caffrey is, he’s aware of his actions affect on others.”
“From what little I’ve seen of her on the network and what little I know, Elle doesn’t seem to care about much that doesn’t directly affect herself,” Christine remembered how Alicia had been when she’d returned after running into her sister that day and she hadn’t been happy when she’d heard that Elle was staying. She liked Alicia a lot and she knew there would be enough involved in recovering and that her sister was the last thing she needed. “Well hopefully the group will help everyone. I hope so, it’s so much easier when you don’t feel all alone.”
Claire nodded, she agreed with Christine, Elle was very focused on herself, and Claire did worry about what might happen should Elle and Alicia face off. "Let's get through the group and see if that helps them, and if we need some smaller groups, we'll do them as well. How about a glass of wine? I don't know about you, but Atlantis sure can be full on."
“That sounds like a great idea,” Christine smiled. “I could use a glass of wine. Then I can go home and attempt to take a nice long bath. Which entirely depends on whether or not Lauren went down on time. Her father tends to indulge her a little more than me on nights when I work late.”
Standing up Claire gathered her things and swung her purse over her shoulder. “You know, somehow that doesn’t surprise me.” She said with a smile. “Let’s get to cava and I could use a cheese and meats plate too, and wine, of course.” She grinned holding the door for Christine.