Hello! Wow. This is great. Thank you for coming to my talk! I’m Dr. Sonia Martinez. I’m a Doctor of Psychology, and I run a mental health practice in Phoenix, Arizona. And right now, some of you are thinking, “Why does she look so familiar?” Well, this might help.

[Dr. Martinez reaches into her coat, removes an orange and black face mask, and puts it on.]

You might know me as — [applause] — oh, thank you! Wow, thank you so much! So, I’m Gila! I’ve worked as a superhero since I was 17. I came here, to this city, a few years ago, when the Mantoid invasion hit. I was beating up bug aliens just a few blocks away, I think. [pause] Okay, I don’t know if I should, but… did I rescue anyone here? When I was… okay, I didn’t think — wait, really? No way! Oh, my goodness! Hmm? …from what? Oh, that big one! That hit the — yeah, that was a rough day. Thank — no, thank you for raising your hand! That made my day. Seriously. Wow.

Honestly, superhero work is so hard, but so great. It’s so worth it. You get to take people out of these incredibly dangerous situations to safety. You get to use your abilities to do real good, and it’s amazing. It’s the same reason that I decided to go back to school and become a therapist. In fact, it was superhero work that led me to that.

Maybe you’ve heard it, but superheroes have a saying: “Well, can’t punch that.” Because we come up against situations all the time that we can’t just beat up. The people we rescue may be physically safe, but a lot of them end up traumatized. They’re out of danger, but their brains don’t know that. That’s what trauma is. And I’m so glad there’s more awareness of it now, and people are getting the help they need. Organizations like The Restoration Alliance and After the Apocalypse are doing great work, connecting people with therapists and all kinds of other mental health resources.

But there’s another side of the story, though. Trauma happens in a lot of different ways. Something happens to you that hits you in a vulnerable place, whatever that vulnerability is. It’s not surprising if you get traumatized because your life is threatened by an army of bug aliens, or a psionic explosion, or whatever it is this week. But that’s not the only way to be vulnerable. Your life could feel threatened, or your health. Or your sense of self. Your identity. Or your core beliefs. Or your deepest values. Trauma can result from any of these being threatened. Our vulnerabilities aren’t just physical.

In that way, superheroes are just as vulnerable as anyone. [Dr. Martinez removes her mask.] It’s easy to forget that we’re just people, too. People with unique abilities, yes, but just people.

Let me ask you this. You don’t have to raise your hand or anything, but how many of you regularly feel the pressure to perform at a high level? Okay, well, that’s almost everybody. Now, how many of you believe there would be life-changing consequences if you made a mistake at your job? Yeah. A handful of us. Not really… a lot. We all feel pressure to do well, but most of us aren’t in the position to do real damage if we mess up. Now, okay, it doesn’t always feel like that, even if we know better, right? Most of us are pretty harsh with ourselves if we make a mistake. But we know it’s not actually the end of the world.

Well, then there’s superhero work. Sometimes, it’s the end of the world! Think about the pressure you feel to do a good job. Now imagine that if you mess up, a building full of people is going to collapse. Imagine me, in costume, holding up a slab of concrete as wounded people — as my friend over there is running by me, right? And the physical pressure is… whew. Yeah, like I said, it was a rough day. But the mental pressure, the emotional pressure, of knowing that if I slip, people die? That takes a toll. And I know, we all know of heroes that face even bigger stakes than that all the time, pressures I can’t even imagine. I know that takes a toll. I know because we talk about it when the crisis is over, when we’re back at the base.

But do you know how that conversation usually goes? It’s probably what a lot of you are thinking right now. “That’s the job! That’s what it means to be a superhero!” And that’s true! But it doesn’t make the vulnerability just go away. The fact is, all the superheroes I know don’t think they’re allowed to be vulnerable. We’re the strong ones, right? It’s our job to do the impossible! We can’t afford to be weak!

This poll came out earlier this year. It was right after that terrible accident with Hummingbird. They asked, “Do you believe that Hummingbird caused the plane crash on purpose?” 98% said no. Then they were asked, “What consequences should superheroes face when their actions accidentally cause injury?” 48% said they should be forced to retire.

And you know what? Any superhero could have told you that. We know that, right or wrong, we’re expected not to make mistakes. We know that. And we carry that expectation with us.

All of this really hit home for me during the meteor attack. I know, you’re like, “Why? Didn’t the Futurist just take care of that himself?” And you’re right, he did. But that’s the problem.

If you don’t know, my power suite is, I’ve got Class 7 invulnerability and Class 8 strength. And that’s… okay, I gotta share some personal growth. I just benched three tons for the first time last week! I’m so — thank you! I’ve been working toward that for so long, I just had to share. I’m so happy.

But yeah, even if I could push that kind of weight back then, it wouldn’t have helped. When the intergalactic god of vengeance throws space rocks at your planet, there’s nothing I can do! And people like me were freaking out about it! It was so weird! The public wasn’t worried at all. Everyone assumed the supers would figure it out. And in the end, the Futurist figured it out.

But at the beginning, we didn’t know what was going to happen. And I got so stressed out about it, and I didn’t know why! So I talked to Victory about it — she’s so sweet, you guys — and she said, “Just know that if something goes wrong and they blame you, it’s not your fault.”

And that was it. It didn’t make sense, but I knew it was true. Because I’m “a superhero,” it’s up to me to stop the meteors. And even though there’s nothing I can do about it, if someone else doesn’t figure it out, people will hate me. So I asked everyone else on the team, and they were all thinking the same thing. Veterans, new recruits, everyone.

Do you know that a lot of superheroes struggle with feeling powerless? [pause] It’s really common. Because it’s not about what we can actually do; it’s about what we’re expected to do.

So, when the pressure started really getting to me, I started looking for mental health resources for superheroes. And I found nothing. I started asking around for recommendations for therapists, and people looked at me like I was crazy. I asked people for years, and get this: I have never found anyone who has gone to therapy after becoming a superhero.

But as I was on my own journey, I started realizing why. It’s not just that we’re supposed to be the strong ones. There are some weird practical considerations that come up when you’re a superhero looking for a therapist. Like, I had a secret identity to maintain. Do I tell my therapist? I don’t want to be withholding, but I have security concerns, here. Do I go to her office as Gila or as Sonia? I can’t just walk through the front door in costume. What if Red Scorpion finds out? He’ll kidnap my therapist and try to get all my insecurities from her! All my secret weaknesses!

And remember, part of the problem is that it’s hard to empathize with superheroes! We’re supposed to be the strong ones, but also, we have some weird experiences, guys. How is a therapist supposed to relate? “I got forcibly body-swapped with Dissonance last week, so he was in my body, and I’m not sure what he did with it, and I spent a few days as a man made of sound waves. Should we talk about that?” I mean — [laughter] Right?

I realized that there was a gap. We needed therapists that were also superheroes. So I became one. I’ve had my practice now for just over a year and… well, I literally can’t talk about the details, but I can tell you, I’ve seen the impact already. I’ve seen, in new way, how great the need is.

But this talk isn’t just a commercial for my practice. I want to issue a challenge. If you’re a superhero, or if you’ve been one, and you’re passionate about mental health, about helping people with their inner struggles, go get your degree. Start down the path and see where it takes you. We need more superhero therapists.

And to all the heroes out there: I know you feel the pressure. I know you carry things with you that you think no one else will understand. Be vulnerable. Let someone in. Talk to a teammate. Come talk to me. Please, don’t keep bearing those burdens alone.

Thank you. Thank you all for coming. [applause]