Lieutenant Noelle Bennett

Character Information

Gender

Female

Physical Appearance

Height		5'6"
Weight		125 lbs.
Hair Color		Auburn
Eye Color		Blue
Physical Description		Noelle is healthy, if a bit on the lean side, and prefers to swim to keep in shape. Her height and her schooling lead her to carry herself somewhat regally, which people sometimes mistake for snobbery. She is not what most would consider "stunning" but she is attractive, especially when she smiles.

Family

Spouse		None
Children		None
Father		Tyler Bennett, Merchant
Mother		Holly Bennett, RN, Nurse-Midwife, Royal London Hospital
Brother(s)		None
Sister(s)		None
Other Family		None

Personality & Traits

General Overview		Noelle possesses the maturity and poise one might expect of someone her age and with her education, but none of the arrogance. While she always appreciated her parents' love and devotion, she will often do things the hard way just to avoid giving others the impression she feels a sense of entitlement, as her background might at first suggest. In many ways, she is still finding her way after living such a sheltered and privileged life, and this is perhaps why she is able to empathize with her troubled patients. She has quite a maternal streak, and it often leads her to speak her mind no matter the personal consequences. She is outgoing and funny, and far more sarcastic than people expect.
Strengths & Weaknesses		Noelle is a skilled clinician who is good at anticipating problems and intervening before they become a major concern. She takes her duties as a Starfleet psychiatrist very seriously and enjoys the challenges the role presents that are unlike any she might encounter in private practice. Because she did not come from a Starfleet family, Noelle can more easily relate to people who aren't interested in rank or titles. She is a physician first and an officer second, and unless pertaining or relevant to patient care, she is not a stickler for rules and regulations. As she has progressed in her career, others have frowned on her for this, so it's something she is working on.
Ambitions		Although it was never her primary goal in life, Noelle would love to be married and a mother someday. She knows she will likely counsel others for a long time, but she hasn't given up on the idea of becoming an obstetrician full time. Above all, she wants to be a well-respected healer who achieves goals she feels are worthy.
Hobbies & Interests		Mystery holo-novels, forensic psychiatry, and classical music.

Personal History		Noelle was born on Christmas Eve to Tyler and Holly Bennett in London, England. Holly is a registered nurse-midwife at Royal London Hospital, and Tyler is a merchant who dropped out of school at the age of fifteen to join the family business, dabbling in legal and not so legal trade. Consequently, Holly has been the only consistent bread-winner for their family, and this has always been a point of contention in their relationship, which began when both were just sixteen years old. When Holly was seventeen, she became pregnant. Tyler was ecstatic and wished to marry Holly, but Holly, fearful of bringing a child into such a dangerous and unstable way of life, refused. Angered and hurt by the rejection, Tyler ended their relationship, and left Holly, a devout Catholic, to explain her unplanned pregnancy to her very traditional family. The stress of her secret and having to face the possibility that she would be kicked out of her home proved to be too much, and Holly miscarried. The loss bonded Holly and Tyler, and it was their shared grief that brought them back together a year later. They married at the age of eighteen, and enjoyed a passionate, but forever rocky romance. The loss of their first child was the defining moment in Holly and Tyler's lives, but it was Holly who struggled the most. She devoted her life to helping others have the children she always dreamed of, but she was still prone to bouts of deep depression, which were exacerbated by the stresses of being married to a man who never knew whether he'd be able to support his family from one moment to the next. All of that seemed to be forgotten when Holly found out she was pregnant with Noelle. From the very first sonogram, Noelle became the very center of her parents lives. While they weren't rich, Noelle never knew just how hard Tyler and Holly fought to give her the best education and upbringing they could afford. Noelle constantly heard education was the means to achieve her dreams, and growing up, she felt obligated to make her parents' sacrifices count for something, especially when she learned her mother could have no more children and as she watched her mother slip in and out of depressive states. It wasn't something Tyler or Holly ever took the time to explain, and as a young child, Noelle had come to blame herself. Her mother's ambitions became her own: Noelle set her sights on medical school and on a career in obstetrics, hoping to find a cure for her mother's sterility, and in so doing, make her mother proud of her always. However, their daughter's education proved to be a double-edged sword for the Bennetts. The more educated Noelle became, the more independence she wanted. Her parents' dreams for her, marriage and a family in London, seemed too confining. Noelle loved her parents, but she began to see their attempts to chart her life as controlling rather than well-meaning. She did well in medical school, but life at Oxford gave her an opportunity to explore other paths, and gave her a taste of freedom. Away from her mother's black moods, she began to see them as abnormal and all-consuming, and it sparked a natural curiosity in mental health. That spark of curiosity eventually turned into a more focused desire to counsel others. Not wanting to start over (and perhaps more importantly, not wanting to disappoint her parents), Noelle decided to take on an additional specialty in psychiatry. She continued her coursework in obstetrics as well, in part because she loved it, but also in part because the only child thought it a fair compromise for her ailing mother. It was a move that ultimately surprised and disappointed her parents, who by then felt they had "lost control" of their only child. Any and all attempts to understand her mother's illness or to question her father's chosen life were seen as a sign of disloyalty and ungratefulness, and the last year at home proved to be unbearable. Noelle's parents became virtual strangers to her, isolating themselves from her most of the time, or offering a cold formality at best. As difficult as it was for her to understand, Noelle dealt with it by withdrawing into her work. She had become a competent clinician, but was so rattled by her parents' seeming rejection of her that it became much easier to investigate and speculate on the personalities of others from her world and worlds they had not yet encountered rather than devote her life to counseling others, as she had dreamed. As things worsened for her at home, her desire to escape it grew. Although one of Noelle's most desired alternate career paths included going into Starfleet, she had convinced herself it was a mere pipe dream. After all, by the time she decided it was where she wanted to be, she was a fully trained psychiatrist. The prospect of starting over yet again with eighteen year olds seemed preposterous. However, it appeared Fate had other plans. When several of her papers discussing the potential psychological impact of long-term space exploration on crewmembers got the attention of Starfleet (thanks to the help of a cherished professor), Noelle was approached by a Starfleet Medical recruiter. Encouraged by the news she could complete basic training in two years and post-graduate training in specialties she was interested in but never really thought to pursue before, she decided to make the leap. Leaving her parents was the hardest thing she has ever had to do in her life thus far, but Noelle knew she had to get some distance between herself and her family if she was ever going to become truly independent. Noelle threw herself into her work and proved herself to be a capable leader and a fierce advocate for those under her charge. She particularly found herself drawn to helping those affected by crime and violence, something she encountered more often than she expected in the kinder, gentler Starfleet. Her desire to understand and make a difference in these lives led her to pursue additional studies in trauma and forensic psychiatry, which taught her how to assess and analyze behavior for the benefit of those in the legal system as well as within the field of intelligence. Eager to cut her teeth on behalf of Starfleet, Noelle spent the early years of her career aboard Tesla Station and Obsidian Colony. Initially, Noelle was concerned she hadn’t been posted aboard a ship of the line, but she quickly learned the opportunities for people with her skillset were within the postings with the largest populations. She enjoyed putting down roots during each assignment and these early roles honed her leadership and clinical skills even further. At times, she was a family doctor, a therapist, a behavior analyst, a diplomat, and an expert witness. Each assignment built on the last and prepared her for the next chapter in her life. While serving as a senior counselor and physician with Starfleet Medical awaiting her next post, she asked to serve as a clinician and advisor for Leto Colony. The brass believed Noelle’s prior experience as a physician and mental health professional within a colony setting made her the perfect person to provide medical and counseling support and guidance to the medical and counseling staff there, and Noelle had been forewarned her ability to wear various hats at the same time would be tested. Leto Colony provided Noelle with many diverse professional opportunities outside the standard base or ship assignments. Not only did Bennett enjoy the benefits and challenges of working in a planetary based hospital, she was regularly called upon to provide medical and psychological expertise for law enforcement and intelligence investigations because unfortunately, Leto had proven to be quite the hotbed of unsavory activity. All the while, the crew was expected to smooth collaboration with the civilian population and surrounding local government. Noelle’s successful efforts with Leto Colony caught the attention of the Starfleet Command brass and she was asked to lend her expertise to Deep Space 5, which had an even larger crime problem and was a fairly robust intelligence hub. Bennett earned a reputation for being a trusted consultant-analyst who could also be counted on to help some of the most isolated intel operatives cope with the psychological impact of their frequently messy, and very often unsung, actions. It was no surprise to anyone when she was selected to serve aboard Faltan Station as its Chief Counselor and a forensic psychiatric consultant for its law enforcement and intelligence teams.
Service Record		2369-2372: Pre-Medicine Studies, Oxford University, London, England 2372-2376: Obstetrics and Gynecology/Psychiatry, Oxford University, London, England 2376- 2378: Starfleet Basic Training, Starfleet Academy, San Francisco 2378-2380: Post Graduate Studies, Clinical Psychiatry, Starfleet Medical Academy, San Francisco 2380 – 2382: Post Graduate Studies, Forensic Psychiatry/Behavior Analysis, Starfleet Medical Academy, San Francisco 2382-2383: Counselor, Tesla Station 2384-2386 Assistant Chief Counselor, Obsidian Colony 2386 – 2388: Chief Counselor, Leto Colony 2388 – 2389: Chief Counselor, Deep Space 5 Present: Chief Counselor/Forensic Psychiatrist, Faltan Station