Smart in one way but it did cause a lot of storytelling problems because they constantly had to come up with half baked excuses for why it wasn’t working this time when just using the transporter would solve a major problem without fuss.

Um, yes? Assuming I haven’t done anything that will get me in trouble, and that the society we’re in doesn’t punish wrongthink, then most definitely; a mind reader should be much better at counseling than anyone else.