I always thought her character was the weakest aspect of the show. Being able to sense their emotions from another starship was harder to accept than the introduction of Q.
If her scope was limited to the room I wouldn't have minded.
This might be my biggest TNG complaint. The character and the actor are good (or at least decent if we're being picky), but almost every time the focus is on her, the writing is absolutely awful.
I feel like she would have been better if she was a diplomat instead of a councilor. There are tons of episodes where having a diplomat on the bridge would have been very useful, even if she was just an attaché advising Picard.
It would also give the show an excuse to keep her out of a uniform since she would likely be a civilian.