Sarah Paisley

[Tom Harriman]

Long story short: I needed a couple of extra characters as part of the Hurucan and the Harrimans (why does that sound like an awesome idea for a sitcom?) story arc. One of them is Sarah Paisley.

For the most part, Sarah just pops up every so often in what I've planned out; and only being able to write a character once in a while sounds like a recipe for boredom, and is hardly worth the account / image claim.

So! What I'd like to do is find something in LA for her to do in between her poppings up. Given the kind of character she is, having her become a teacher at Steve Rogers High would make sense: perhaps taking over Greek Club, if people are still interested in that? And/or it might be interesting to have some sort of official/unofficial interaction between the House and the school as well - the equivalent of a teacher speaking to a kid's parents about their grades, etc.

I'm very much open to suggestions, though!

Sarah is for the most part an upstanding and well-educated English lady, who expects manners, honesty, and the correct use of language and grammar from everyone she meets. Think Clarice Willow from Caprica, only without the religious fundementalism and the bed full of sex-buddies.

[Alice Kelly]

:colbert

... this mean my new roommate who instantly ditched me in LA is coming back or you still amiss?

[Captain Untouchable]

He's back. He's just unemployed, and badass. :cool

I'll PM you later... Is there a good time to catch you on AIM?

[Emelie Shadowstar]

Uhh hard to say :( new job us not Internet friendly. Play PM tag though! We'll figure something out.

[Sarah Paisley]

I had a thought regarding this character, and I would appreciate some input. :)

One of the important things that Professor Xavier did for his students was effectively counselling. He helped them to understand the nature of their abilities, and to come to terms with it. His powers gave him the ability to read people; and for the most part, he was a very constructive influence.

I'm sure that Cullens has a similar effect on it's students, even without a mind-reading headmaster; but over in LA, things seem a bit less structured. I don't doubt that the House is a massive step in the right direction, as far as feeling accepted, equal, and "normal" is concerned, but I'm wondering if it might be helpful to have a more conventional counselling service available as well.

I don't know what capacity would be best - an on-staff counsellor at Steve Rogers High, a government-endorsed "It's okay to register!" scheme (given that there's a strong anti-registration campaign), or even something entirely voluntary/unofficial by an old friend of Anna's - but I was wondering:

Would seeing a shrink be helpful to any of your characters?

[Aidan Fox]

Think Clarice Willow from Caprica, only without the religious fundementalism and the bed full of sex-buddies.

I thought that was basically the whole character...

Anyway, I think it would be interesting for Paisley to periodically evaluate some of the House residents, or at least the ones that are there through either Child Protective Services or the Juvenile Detention System, to make sure they're making progress in their current environment. Alex would definitely be a good candidate for that kind of evaluation, since he's actually used his mutation violently (albeit accidentally).

[Lilaena De'Ville]

^^ I agree with this. Jamie would probably need evaluation as she's a foster kid, too. And Jen - Jen needs a lot of help. :lol

[Droo]

Jake and Mute need all kinds of psychiatric help, but they'd never agree to it. Jim's probably the sort who needs help but doesn't think he does. Regardless, I think it's a fascinating character angle, and I'd be quite interested to see what she chooses to do with this responsibility, and how she guides the kids.

[Saul Nielsen]

Remember.. that if you need true spiritual guidance, my doors are always open.

:)

[Sarah Paisley]

After chatting it over last night, I think I'm going to go with a generic "Social Services" angle, rather than naming a specific agency or authority that she works for. I figure the vagueness gives a little more scope - means we don't have any complications if she works for a specific agency, and the child she's working with doesn't fall under their mandate (why talk to a Juvie counsellor if you haven't committed any crimes, etc).

The other element that was chatted about last night was the "Why now?" element - why has a social worker not visited the House before now? I figure that Sarah's predecessor was a mutant-hating douchebag (or maybe just mutant-phobic), so avoided the place like the plague. In order to cover their asses now that there's more publicity around the registration issue, they've brought in a "friendlier face".

As for kids who wouldn't be up for it right off the bat... maybe if we start with one or two specific kids (Alex being a good example), and use that to turn her into a "familiar face" around the House? Once people start getting used to her being around, and once she's had a chance to win them over a bit, they might be less reluctant to talk to her, mayhaps?

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I would think that a social worker has visited the house before, to be honest. Its been around since 2005 and Anna has always been cooperative with the government agencies she deals with. Having a new social worker assigned is not a problem, but I don't think we need to get elaborate on the backstory, unless you want to.

As far as having a social worker hanging around the house all the time... she'd never be allowed in without Anna or Jake around. :) We're cooperative, but the House is not government run. That's not to be contrarian, I'm just trying to get a feel for what you're intending with the character. :)

What I thought you were thinking originally was more like this:
A house visit by an NPC social worker, followed with recommended head shrinking of certain residents (Anna sends them to Sarah who is an independent psychiatrist?) could lead to kids becoming familiar with her, and then she's their therapist, not a social worker for DHS, and would be more welcome in the House. Although probably still not a good idea to be there without adults around, but that's a professional issue. ;)

[Captain Untouchable]

I was simply intending to address the question of why - for example - it has been a year since Alex Kaine used his powers against his foster parents, and he has as yet not been getting regular sessions with some kind of psychiatrist. It was a question that he raised during our chat last night, which seemed relevant enough to mention to everybody.

To me, the "therapist" versus "social worker" issue is just a matter of semantics. Either way, she's going to be providing therapy to the kids, on behalf of social services. I don't see how your suggestion is any different from what's already been put forward? :huh

I don't know what you're insinuating relating to adults not being around, either. Are you suggesting that an adult should be present during their sessions, or just that one should be "in the house"?

If a social worker showed up and Anna / Jake / an adult wasn't around... isn't that going to get you shut down for not providing proper supervision? I should hope that there is always adult supervision about the place... o_O

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Whatever you and Andrew talked about is fine.

[Captain Untouchable]

...okay? :huh

[Sarah Paisley]

Name: Sarah Paisley
Age:
Power: Sarah has the ability to heal herself and others.
Current Situation: Currently, Sarah is a licensed psychotherapist in Los Angeles. She runs a small private practice, but spends most of her ime doing "house calls". She works with California social services to provide therapy to foster children, youth offenders, and most recently to newly registered mutants.

I tried to sum the character up in a few sentences, taking into account the input from Andrew and Holly. Does this seem workable / vague enough?

[José Luis Flores]

Well hello there. I think I need some mental 'work' done too. ;)

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Looks good to me :)

Aimee is a likely subject for therapy as well. I think she's the only registered mutant at the House, at the moment, too.

[Sarah Paisley]

Would anyone like to volunteer to be my first patient?

If anyone would like to visit Sarah at her practice / office / whatever the proper term for it is, feel free to start a thread, show up, and point me at it; if you'd rather I started, or came to find you at the House / somewhere else, just let me know. :)

[Droo]

Just a thought: maybe Sarah could become the resident psychiatrist at the Jozua Clinic, there's plenty of traffic going through there, and while she wouldn't have to be tied down to working with the clinic exclusively, it would certainly open up other opportunities for her, such as getting to work with creepy Klaus Heidegger and the lovely Julie Moon, and then there's the rehabilitation of mutant criminals to consider...

[Andrea Kaine]

The healer of minds slips into the dragon's cave to hear the whispers of the dead and the not-yet born. They speak of riddles. Riddles in the dark.*

*Translation: If you want a challenge, Andrea's game! :)

[Sarah Paisley]

I really like the idea... but I'm concerned about the implications it would have for Sarah as a character. Jericho gets up to some pretty shady stuff: is she complicit with it, or is she too naive to realise?

Would working for Jericho make some of the kids from the House reluctant to work with her?

[Droo]

The only thing I think you'd have to worry about is earning the kid's trust, which may be difficult. There is a somewhat naive perspective that the Jericho Foundation and the Jozua Clinic itself are totally evil and this just isn't feasible. In order for the organisation to be able to operate, it must have at least a perfectly believeable facade of a well-meaning medical institution, otherwise it would be investigated and closed promptly on the grounds of malpractice(as well as God knows what else).

I don't for a second believe that even half of its employees are aware of the sinister things that happen behind the scenes. That would imply that every doctor hired by the organisation is screened for a distinct lack of morals, and these are doctors after all. This is one of the reasons why I introduced Julie Moon, she is a good doctor with her ethics truly intact, and aside from a few reservations about Heidegger and the application of drugs in treating a handful of patients, she has seen nothing to suggest there is serious foul play afoot. I wanted her to dispell somewhat the misgivings of the Redención House crew in her role at the clinic, it's no easy task, but for the sake of pure verisimilitude, I think it's essential.

Short answer: No, Sarah would not be required to betray her ethics and would be kept in the dark on all the wicked things going on behind the scenes. Of course, in the future, Klaus may approach her and ask for her assistance in one of his more unsavoury ventures, and how you choose for her to deal with that, should the time come, is entirely up to you. But it certainly opens up a world of opportunities for Sarah, in terms of potential story-telling. The only downside is that some mutants may react unfavourably when they learn of her employer.

[Peter McCoy]

Would working for Jericho make some of the kids from the House reluctant to work with her?

I'm still catching up on the situation before getting involved with my character, Uncanny, but I would have thought this'd be the case.


The only thing I think you'd have to worry about is earning the kid's trust...........

..........The only downside is that some mutants may react unfavourably when they learn of her employer.

There you go!

[Sarah Paisley]

I agree with you to a certain extent Droo; but I think there's too much collective negative opinion of Jericho at the House (Jaime, et al) for it to work with Sarah. She's already got a lot of work to do earning the kids' trust without the Jericho obstacle on top.

For once, I think I'm actually gonna try to avoid over-complicating things. :ohno

Appreciate the suggestion, though. :)