Well, she could double as a Counselor as a side-job with her real position on the ship being more of a Xeno-Diplomatic Specialist. Emotions are Universal, so having an Empath as a Xeno-Specialist would work in studying them and in diplomatic negotiations/first contact missions. For example she'd be charged with studying the personal character of the representative in question they'd be meeting for negotiations as a preparation or for the race/culture in question in eventual first contact situations.
AFAIK, in the Titan series, that's exactly what she does.
Really? I've never read any Trek novels before so I didn't know.