 Janina, welcome to the show. It is great to have you with us. Now, like any superhero, they all have origin stories that are quite compelling. So we would be remiss if we didn't get to hear your origin story. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks so much for asking that. You're right. I think not only does every superhero have an origin story, but I think every human being has an origin story. My own origin story started when I was about three years old. I was born and raised in Ukraine. And when I was a small child, there was a massive explosion, just about 180 miles from where we lived at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. And we were all affected. So what that meant for me was spending most of my childhood in and out of the hospital, not knowing if I'd ever make it to adulthood. What that meant is that to this day, whenever the weather changes, I go through severe migraines and sometimes seizures. And a part of my origin story also included facing persecution. Unfortunately, my family and I were targeted by anti-Semitic groups. We faced a lot of violence and had to flee in secret and were thankfully able to move to United States as refugees when I was 12 years old. So that was my origin story. And of course, when it comes to superheroes, they all have humble beginnings. What I would love to know is what drew your fascination to superheroes and pulling them into the work that you do. So I was about 16 years old when I was working in a movie theater, and we were all invited to the midnight screening of the X-Men. Now, at that point, I'd never really heard of the X-Men. I didn't know who they were. But from the moment the movie opens, you know, I felt like it was almost made for me. I mean, it starts with Eric's story. It starts with Magneto's story. And we learn about him living through World War II and him facing persecution and his family. And then we learn about all of the members of the X-Men, each of which had some kind of genetic mutation, some of them like Wolverine also being exposed to radiation and some of them like Storm having unique abilities, like being able to control the weather. And what was really interesting is my whole life, I felt alone. I felt like there was something different about me and I felt like I didn't quite fit in, you know? And I felt like the weather controlled me. But watching this movie, I was having all these epiphanies like that our origin stories don't get to define us. Like our origin stories are just the beginning of our story, but the rest is up to us. And I was thinking, if somebody made this movie, it probably means that there's at least one other person there that gets it, that understands what it's like to be alone. And if this completely sold out movie theater is so full of people that are so involved and engrossed in this film, then chances are most people here understand what it means to go through something like that. And it really hit me, you know, that we're all experienced that feeling of loneliness, but it's in that aloneness that we're actually connected. And so it was because of seeing this movie that I decided to study psychology as a way of using story to explain the mental health difficulties that we're facing, whether they're trauma, anxiety, or depression. And now that's my specialty. I incorporate stories from fandom, whether it's DC Marvel, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, or Star Wars into therapy to help people manage their mental health difficulties, especially when it comes to post-traumatic stress disorder. When it comes to being our own superhero, we often think of these stories as fantasy and others. But how can we actually become our own superhero on that journey to handle that stress, anxiety, loss of confidence? A lot of times when we're going through this kind of a loss, not only do we feel alone, but we might feel like no one's in our corner, no one has our back. So I often invite my clients to imagine some kind of a role model, a hero, could be maybe a grandparent, even if they're no longer around, or it could be a fictional hero, you know, like Batman or Black Widow, just somebody that we look up to. And I ask people to imagine that this person could be right there with them, holding their hand or sitting next to them. And this person already knows your origin story. You don't even have to explain yourself. This person gets it. And they have the most encouraging, most compassionate message for you. And so I ask people to write down or to think about what this hero might say to them. And oftentimes this hero might remind us that we've learned a lot from our pain, from our trauma, not that it's necessary for us to do the kind of things that we want to do, but sometimes in that pain, we unlock the superpowers that were maybe there in the first place, and maybe then can find our own meaning in terms of being there for other people, in terms of showing up for people who are just at the beginning of their heroic journey. And so for people who are struggling, I ask them to remember that every action that they take makes a difference. And their own story can empower other people who are just at the beginning of that same struggle that they'd already been through. Wow, that is absolutely beautiful to think about all of those people in our life that we've held the superheroes, unlocking it in ourselves as well. Yeah. Yeah. Now, many of us face difficult challenges. And when that stuff happens in our life, it can be hard to process and hard to make sense of, to regain that confidence, to take a step forward. How can we reframe these difficult situations using superheroes in our own life to make an impact in our behavior and change? I like to think of challenges as kind of like dragons. You know, there's some people that just get up and go to work, right? But most people, they have to face like five dragons just to get out of bed. And by the time they're halfway done with their day, they face like a slew of dragons. And the thing is, if we're watching this amazing hero on television, who's fighting dragon after dragon, we think, man, that guy's awesome or that the person is amazing, right? And so I think that it's important to remember that you're not just doing your homework or your school report, you're facing dragons every moment and every day. And so if you're fighting like five dragons with one hand and typing up your report with another hand, then it makes sense that your report might take you a little bit longer to complete, right? And that it won't be quite as pristine as it otherwise would have been had you not been fighting all those dragons. And the idea here is this, every hero that we look up to faces obstacles over and over and over again. Every hero struggles to get out of bed in the morning. Every hero like thinks about what is all of this for? And yet they get up and they rise again because their sense of purpose is bigger than their challenge. And so I ask folks to think about first of all, how many dragons are you facing on a given basis? And second of all, to remind themselves that just you facing the day is already heroic. If you've gotten out of bed today, you've already did a really challenging thing. If you've faced depression today, you've already fought like four dragons. And if you reached out to a friend, then that's you being out there in the field fighting not only your dragons, but helping other people fight their own also. And that alone makes you heroic. Janina, this is what I really enjoy this idea. And it comes down to symbolism, ritual, and tradition and building these for yourself. It was last year around this time we did an interview with with Sasha. Was her last name, AJ? Sagan. And we discussed the importance of symbolism, ritual, and tradition. And it's easy to make fun of people who are able to think in those terms and make things and turn them into their own important narrative. Because well, it's, it's your own thoughts, you're using your imagination, and it's easy to puncture those. But the reality is, the human condition, we're not only attracted to those very things, but we also thrive with them. And to be able to build our own narratives through symbolism, ritual, and tradition allows us to thrive in a world that the odds are stacked against stuff just in nature in and itself. None of us get out of here alive. And the only thing that we can do is wake up every day and fight. And in order to be able to do that, you're going to have to produce a wonderful story that gets you out of bed. So if it's fighting dragons is, is going to get you up and fired up, well, then so be it. But it is important to be able to understand the importance of those three things and then also allow yourself to create this narrative that will give you so much power. Exactly. Exactly. And that's the thing is that stories have existed for thousands of years, right? And people have used narrative as a way of conveying important messages about grief, about loss, about trauma. Theater of War has been putting on plays about two, three thousand year old poems and books, you know, from Odyssey to the Iliad and veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq, and even Vietnam War veterans watching these plays often find themselves saying, I related to this character. For example, a lot of veterans might find themselves saying I related to Ajax. I also understand what trauma is like after a war. I might not have fought in the Trojan War. I might have fought in Afghanistan. But I understand what it's like to consider suicide. I understand what it's like to feel like I have nothing to live for. And it's because of these narratives, because of these plays that people are then able to share not just with mental health professionals, but with their spouses, with their friends, and with with other civilians about what they're going through. Because for a lot of veterans, it's very hard to talk about their experience with civilians, right? They might only relate to other veterans. But fiction gives us a window into our human suffering that otherwise might be unavailable to us. We have this unfortunate narrative in our society that to be quote unquote strong, we have to essentially dehumanize ourselves and follow the script of hi, how are you and fine, how are you. And if we wear off that script and we are considered weak. If we watch any like sci-fi movies or television shows like let's say Star Trek Next Generation, we learn about data, right? So data for anyone that hasn't seen it is this lovable android who wants nothing more than to be human. And so he keeps on trying to learn human emotions. And in one of the movies he's even implanted with the human trip just to understand what it means to feel sad and angry and frustrated and scared. So if science fiction depicts these androids that are trying to understand humanity, why is it that we as humans are trying to constantly turn off the very trait that makes us human? Why are we trying to be robots? We're meant to feel. We're meant to be sad. We're meant to be scared. We're meant to be happy. We're meant to feel a full rainbow of emotions because that is the foundation of what makes us human. And these emotions work as an all or none bag. If we turn off one of them, if we try to turn off our anxiety or grief, we turn off everything and that includes joy and purpose. Every one of those heroes that we love watching and reading about or reading the comics, they all experience all of those emotions. They're not just happy go lucky characters. And I love that dragon analogy for two reasons. Number one is you can then associate these problems, these difficulties with something that is beatable. That's something you can overcome. It doesn't have to be this crazy weight on your shoulder, but it's something that you deserve credit for slaying and taking on each and every day. And the second reason I love it is because it allows you to express empathy for others who are slaying their own dragons. We're all slaying our own dragons, as you said, just to get out of bed. And if we can look at others in a light of, well, what dragons did they slay today and how did they show up? We can develop that empathy to really relate and connect with one another. Exactly. Exactly. Thank you so much for bringing that up. And actually, there's a little piece of scientific data I wanted to share with you about why so many of us struggle to get out of bed. Why do all of us face so many dragons in the morning? So in case some of you are not familiar with this hormone, we have this hormone in our body called cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone, and it's released when we're facing, let's say a dragon or when we're in conflict with somebody we care about or when we're facing a job interview. Now cortisol cycles shift, right? They start out as being really high in the morning and then over time cortisol gets lower and lower in the evening, making it easier for us to go to bed at night. Now we just said the cortisol amounts are highest in the morning. And we said cortisol is a stress hormone. So what does it mean? It means that getting out of bed is literally the most stressful thing you're going to do all day. So if you've already done it today, congratulations, you've done the most stressful thing you're going to do, you already slayed your dragon, that's amazing. And if you didn't, if you need a little bit of extra time, if you need an extra hour, an extra day, even an extra week, you're not being weak. You're being strong and you're being wise because sometimes that's exactly what we need to do to recharge our energy so that we can get right back there in that battlefield. And as I mentioned before, not only fight our own dragons, but then help other people fight their own too. It's such an important lesson to realize just how stressful getting out of bed is on us. And many of us discount that or again, we look to social media and others who have no problems with getting up in the morning and we feel even worse about ourselves. But instead realizing that that is scientifically the most stress you're going to be under, it's a great way to reframe that. Another point that I want to touch on is how many hero stories that we read where the hero doesn't even realize they're the hero. And I think that's what also makes them so relatable. It's not that we're trying to be someone we're not or that we have to pretend that we're this heroic character because many of the heroes that we love don't even realize they're heroes as they're going through the journey. A hundred percent, anybody that we look at, whether it's Luke Skywalker or Harry Potter, right majority of these characters might even present with what we might call the imposter syndrome. They might say, wait, me? No, you're mistaken. There's somebody else that you need to ask to be your hero because the truth is most of us often discount our own abilities, but often recognize and praise other people's abilities. One of the reasons why is because when we're too zoomed in, let's say too zoomed into a painting, when we're this close to a painting, we fail to see the bigger picture. But from the outside, when we're looking at someone else, when we're looking at a fictional character or a real life friend, we can see the full context of everything this person is facing has been through and has been able to do. And maybe sometimes we can apply the same kind of zoom out strategy to ourselves where we can think about ourselves as a different person, where we can imagine watching a movie about someone like ourselves on television and thinking, huh, if somebody was going through all of these things, I imagine I would be very sympathetic toward them and probably very encouraging toward that character. Absolutely. And allowing yourself to take a bigger perspective of what's going on and not get so zoned in on what you don't have, realize that everyone else is struggling with those exact same thoughts and feelings, but it's easier to recognize than others. It allows us to take a deep breath and realize just how accomplished we truly are already. Now, some of my favorite superheroes have sidekicks and have people supporting them in a supporting cast. How can we not only take the superhero therapy to ourselves and our own lives, but attract other people to support us on our journey to create that fantastic story in our life? Not only do all heroes have sidekicks, but all heroes have vulnerabilities too. Even Superman, right? He's vulnerable to kryptonite. And even Superman doesn't face his challenges alone. He has the justice league. And what that means is that having sidekicks is not only not a weakness, but a strength, but also that it's wise because everybody has their own strengths. Everyone has their own superpowers that they can contribute. And so reaching out to a friend is not only recruiting a wonderful sidekick to your own journey, but actually by letting your friend know that you might need them, you might be also inviting them to talk about what they're going through. And so in a lot of ways, when we share our own story with other people, we're making a really profound statement. We're saying, I'm not alone. This is what I'm going through. What are you going through? And let's support each other on this journey. And so I encourage all of you to actually not only reach out to other people, but to welcome story sharing, because I think that's how a lot of those doors become open and a lot of those masks fall off and we can really see one another. I know I love calling out Johnny's superpowers and recognizing those and others when we can't recognize them in ourselves as well. And we call that giving value when we can appreciate those around us and recognize maybe the superhero powers that they have that they don't see in themselves. We can work together and not only create a great relationship, but to really support one another when we need it. Along with our compatriots to be able to talk to help us out, to remind us of what our superpowers are, there's certainly things that we can do in our own home, setting up rituals and tradition and decor that would enhance this idea or to trigger to remind us of the dragons that we must face each and every day. And you mentioned the Hall of Justice. I don't know. I could just look at your screen here, Janina, and see the decorations. And I don't know if you call it the Hall of Justice or what your name for it is, but could you speak to some of the traditions or decorations that one might be able to put together to reinforce these ideas and give them the strength to fight these dragons on a daily basis? I call mine the nerd layer, by the way. Sorry, I didn't mean to make you do a spittick. But I think for so many of us, these symbols, they serve as a powerful reminder of who we are and where we derive our strength. For example, one of my rings here says Felix Felices. It's from Harry Potter, and it's a good luck charm. And so it's something that reminds me not only of magic from Harry Potter that I really resonate with, but also of having like a little luck charm that you can take with you at all times. And I have little pieces of me and all of these decorations from, you know, let's say the Adams family up there to different kinds of fairies to Harry Potter figurines to Joker and Harley. And for me, it's a reminder of different parts of me. And I think for so many of us having some kind of a symbol with us, whether it's something we wear on our person, something we have in our room or something we have as our screensaver, for example, or background picture, it's a reminder of not only who we are, but also where we derive our strength. So for example, having a Batman picture can remind us that just like Batman, we might have been through something painful. And just like Batman, we might be facing our fears on a daily basis, right? Batman had a phobia, Bruce Wayne had a phobia of bats. And he chose the bad as a symbol so that he could wrap himself in his fear, so that he could face it on a daily basis and help other people face their own fears as well. I did an episode for our YouTube channel a while ago. I'm going to probably do an updated one, but it was about sensory cues and making sure that there was things that were relayed this message, maybe it was through scented candles to smell them, the pictures, a tattoo, a playlist that fires you up. I mean, you are able to activate this through so many different channels. And I find it fun and it's always amusing and interesting to me to see the uniqueness of how everybody incorporates these type of things in their own lives. And it certainly comes with its own self-expression. And some people are very open to self-expression and love self-expression. And some people are very private about self-expression. So when you get a glimpse of those private people and their own rituals and traditions, to me it's always a peek behind the curtain to see how they operate because they're not so loud about it in public. Absolutely, absolutely. And I love that you're talking about sensory properties because there's nothing more powerful at pulling up that associate of memory than a sensory memory. So when we can either hear a music tone or smell some kind of a scent that reminds us of someone or something, it's as if we're there. It automatically pulls up all the files in our brain that are related to that particular sensory property. And we're almost watching a movie of this story. And so if we can watch this movie of a happy memory, for example, it actually causes our body to go through that same emotion in a similar way as a sad memory can make us feel sad all over again. And so having a reminder of something really meaningful can actually not only make us feel good in the moment but can actually power us up in that moment when we really, really need it. To add to that, there's also a place where our pathways are very opened up, especially where we're wrapped up and we're in a very emotional state. And for example, last March, well, I could say for the beginning of last year, as the pandemic started to creep in, we kept hearing about it, kept hearing about it. Oh, it's nothing. Oh, it's not a big deal. Oh, it's not human to human transmission. Oh, it's never going to come over here. Oh, no. And it just we kept watching this creep in. And then it was March, I believe, that week, second week of March, where things started to get a little bit odd. And the news and the, the, the scaremongering that was going around it had all of us in a highly emotional state. And now there was a record that I had gotten and I was playing during that time of when I wasn't sure what was going on. And I was a bit nervous and wasn't really sure what we were going to be facing. And what this death count was going to be and all this stuff, that record now, if I hear any note of it, it takes me to the fear and, and nervousness that I had in that, in that week of, of March, so much to the point, sometimes where I want to hear it, I go, I don't want to, it, I mean, it rapidly, drastically takes me to that place. And I have to take a moment to be like, wow, how crazy was everything back then? And, and how those songs to do that. And I'm sure everyone here has smelled a scent walking into the mall or somewhere. We're like, Oh my God, that's grandma's kitchen, where you are transported to a place. And I mean, that's how strong your sensory cues are. For a lot of people, there might be certain songs they can't listen to right now, some movies they can't watch, right? Because they might be really overstimulating right now. And it's okay to take a break. Well, certainly everyone has songs that they can't listen to because it goes back to an X. It goes to a bad breakup. And you'll hear that on a radio, like turn that off. Yeah, absolutely. And I also think that for many people, at the same time, music can be so healing, right, in terms of reminding us of, you know, of a powerful memory or maybe giving us the permission to feel something. And so, and I know you're a musician, Johnny, and I think I imagine that there's probably a lot of the music that you make that is really transformative for a lot of people. It all has a specific time in my life. There's certainly waves of music that I listen to in certain times of my life that even a theme or a sound can drag me back. And probably just the way I was raised and how important music is to me, it's probably one of the most powerful sensory cues that definitely has a way with my emotions. Johnny and I are huge fans of Acceptance Commitment Therapy and, you know, listening to your origin story and recognizing and accepting yourself through reading and watching other superheroes origin stories, you know, that was really heartwarming. And I want to talk a bit more about the commitment side of things. And I know on the show here, we always preach core values. We talk about finding your core values, how important that is to a filling life. And for many in our audience, that's a tricky one. They write back, how did you do it? How do you figure out your core values? And for myself, I've gone through the process a few times now to really determine mine. And they do change as you grow and change as well. And currently mine are our adventure acts of service and loyalty. How can we use superheroes to get to a place of understanding our own core values and create that commitment to take the next step to take action and grow? I like to go at it from like a playful side and encourage folks to think about to imagine that there is maybe a graphic novel or a movie made about you at the end of your life as kind of your legacy project. And so this graphic novel or this movie depicts your life in a way that will then be inspirational for everyone who reads it and watches it. So the question is, what would you want people to take away from this? Maybe they would see the kind of superhero that has been through so many obstacles and so much trauma and yet was because of it or as a part of it, maybe was able to help so many other people in helping them to understand that they're not alone, for instance, or somebody that was able to use their talent for art or music or storytelling to then encourage other people to maybe share their creativity or to learn that they're not alone. And so I encourage people to actually write out maybe a brief outline for this graphic novel or a movie or maybe even draw a few comic book panels. And then to think about what are the most important things that you see here? Maybe this is a character that is giving maybe their compassionate, maybe there's somebody that no matter what they're going through remembers what they want to give back, for example. And then so from these core values, we can then create certain actions. For example, what is something I can do today to be this kind of superhero to put on this either metaphorical or maybe real cape and to do something that's helpful, whether it's maybe I'll make a post on social media about what it's like to live with PTSD, for example, or a specific challenge that you're facing so that other people know that they're not alone or maybe something helpful that you've learned that has been helping you along the way so that maybe can benefit someone else. And when we can look at this big picture at the kind of graphic novel, at the kind of book, at the kind of legacy that we want to live behind, it can help us to map out certain steps that we can start taking today to make that possible. I love that exercise, and I think it's a helpful one if you're listening and you're struggling to nail down those core values or you think of so many it can become overwhelming. But if you really think about the stories that you gravitate to the heroes that you really enjoy and look up to, you can start to take those little pieces to now commit to taking action in your life that's meaningful. Now, many have heard the phrase, fake it till you make it. We think of superhero characters at times putting on costumes and becoming someone completely different. What is your thought process behind that idea of fake it till you make it? Do we need to wear capes to become the superhero or are there ways that we can do it from the inside? You know, the opinion on capes is, you know, is one up for debate, you know, Edna from The Incredible says no capes. I'm a big fan of capes. But I think really it's up to you, real capes or metaphorical ones. But I think really it's just about remembering what you stand for and remembering that about 70% of the world experiences something called the imposter syndrome. The imposter syndrome is when we feel like we're the imposter, like we don't quite fit in, like we're not good enough. And the truth is, I don't think it's about waiting until we're good enough or expert enough to do something. I think it's about knowing why we're doing something right to help people, for example, and showing up even if you're feeling terrified and overwhelmed and frustrated and insecure, because I actually think that's the biggest part of the journey. It's not showing up when you're feeling brave and confident. It's showing up regardless of how you feel and trusting yourself to follow your core value. It reminds me of Spider-Man with all the iterations of his costume or Iron Man constantly adding to his ensemble. It's that same journey that really matters and committing to it and not waiting for some magical moment, the perfect cape, the perfect outfit. A lot of people might not know this, but in the comic books, Spider-Man struggles with anxiety a lot. So I would love to actually get to know him a little bit more. In my understanding, I think Peter Parker's version of Spider-Man anyway, might struggle with generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety. He's constantly worrying about what people are thinking about him. He's perfectionistic. He's constantly worried about making a mistake. And yet, it doesn't stop him from being Spider-Man. So maybe we can all learn from Peter Parker or Miles Morales or Gwen Stacy or whoever's your favorite, right? And we can all show up in that way in terms of we can be afraid and we can still be Spider-Man or whoever's your favorite superhero anyway. I think it's interesting that for a lot of boys, they're superheroes when they were not in their cape or in their costume, they were afraid to talk to girls. You have Clark Kent, who's always stumbling and bumbling around, but yet Lois loves Superman. And if he could just figure out somehow to let her know. Well, and you know, I also think that maybe I'm biased, but in my opinion, I think that the depiction of the way people who are confident and people who are quote unquote, like shy or nerdy has changed, right? Like I think that currently, like geek is the new sexy, right? And so I think for a lot of folks, it's not about pretending to be confident. I think it's actually allowing ourselves to display our insecurity, our inner geekiness, our vulnerabilities that actually allows people to feel even more connected to us. And I actually think is a lot more endearing. Yeah, it's that authenticity that I think about in these superheroes that we really gravitate to. It's not them hiding something about themselves, but it's them actually owning that thing about themselves, that passion, that interest or even that fear owning it and stepping into it. Exactly. So what are the superheroes that you're binging on currently? Well, I'm loving WandaVision so far. I think it's really, really well done. I'm actually watching some anime right now. So I'm watching Naruto for the first time. And gosh, I just recently finished Cobra Kai and the Mandalorian, both of which were incredible. I definitely agree on the Mandalorian. That kept my attention through the pandemic here both seasons. So you have a project Dark Agents. Can you tell us a little bit about what that is? Dark Agents is a graphic novel about a witch with PTSD. So actually, here it is right here. Yes. Violet. Violet, that's right. So I wanted to create a work of fiction to help folks to learn about how to manage PTSD through kind of a fictional character. And so the idea here is, is that Violet decides to join Hades' underworld intelligence agency to become what's called a Dark Agent. That's somebody that kind of finds intelligence to keep peace and balance between the overworld and the underworld. But before she can fight supernatural forces, Violet has to learn to fight the monsters of her own past. She has to learn to face and accept her own trauma through doing certain lessons in mindfulness and acceptance and identify her own core values. So fiction is something that I'm gravitating a lot toward now in terms of writing fictional stories so that folks can maybe accidentally or on purpose learn some acceptance and commitment therapy skills as they're reading something maybe initially to escape, but hopefully finding themselves connecting to these characters as well. I love that. And I would love to talk just a little bit about PTSD because I think many of us have a lot of misconceptions around it. And there may even be some in our audience who are struggling with it and not realizing it. So what are those misconceptions that the general population has around that? And what are the signs that it may actually be something that we are struggling with? To this day, a lot of folks think that PTSD is something that only service members struggle with. So people in the military or veterans, but actually PTSD is something that can occur in anybody. So anyone who's been through something traumatic, I personally don't know anyone who hasn't, might develop PTSD, but not everyone who's been through something traumatic does. In fact, about 10 to 20% of people who've experienced trauma might develop PTSD and other people might not. PTSD typically happens when people have a hard time functioning after a traumatic event for at least one month or longer. They might have nightmares, flashbacks or kind of intrusive memories or reminders of the event, their mood might change suddenly. They might become very angry or frustrated or irritable. They might be very impatient. All of a sudden, they might be jumpy, easily startled. And most important one of all is that folks are more likely to avoid reminders of the trauma and to avoid talking about what happened to them. Unfortunately, it's the avoidance piece that actually maintains the trauma for a long period of time. Now for some folks, trauma could be one event, for example, a car accident or one incident of sexual assault. And for other people, it might be more complex where there might be years of ongoing trauma, for example, ongoing abuse or experiences of ongoing racism, prejudice and intergenerational trauma can also lead to somebody developing trauma like symptoms too. And is there situations where it may come that we recognize this years after that trauma, where we may have repressed it and not realize that we actually suffered a trauma? Absolutely, yes. Thank you for asking that. A lot of folks think that if we were affected by something, we would experience symptoms right away. But in fact, a lot of times we might be in survival mode shortly after a trauma. So we might be just focusing on maintaining our life and keeping safe. And it might be years later when either we can hold this trauma no longer or when something reminds us of it or maybe when we're finally in a safe enough space to where we can process it, that we might suddenly start having symptoms. So not everyone experiences symptoms right away. Some people might experience symptoms decades after the initial trauma occurred. Yeah, and that was an important lesson for me. I did not know that. And that's why I wanted to share that with our audience, that number one, yes, think of servicemen, think of men as only having it and not realizing that you can have PTSD from a trauma you suffered in your childhood, years and decades after the fact. Absolutely. I've seen folks who had witnessed horrific things, including witnessing homicide, for example, as children or experiencing childhood sexual assault had no symptoms until the age of, you know, 40 or 50. And then suddenly something reminded them of it. And then they started having full on PTSD symptoms that they've never experienced before. Whichever way your symptoms manifest and whatever trauma you witnessed or experienced, your symptoms are valid, your trauma is valid. There's no degrees of trauma, meaning there's no trauma that's more validating, right, that no one is here to say that if you didn't experience X, Y and Z, then your trauma isn't valid. Your trauma is your trauma, your feelings are valid and help is available. There are therapists that specialize in trauma focused therapy that can be very helpful. And so I do highly recommend therapy that focuses on trauma for anyone that's struggling. Thank you for sharing that with our audience. We love asking one last question of every guest. What is your X factor or your superpower to talk about superheroes? What has allowed you to achieve success in your life? I think honestly, it's my creativity. It's, you know, since I was really small, I always loved writing and creating stories, which has allowed me to, as uncomfortable as it might be sometimes, to step outside of the box and try something new. Even though I was always terrified that somebody would say, oh, you can't do that, nobody else is doing that. But because of my creativity, I think it gave me the willingness to try something that other people haven't and to ask, well, why not? And, you know, and can we combine, you know, Batman and therapy together and see if that can work. And we put Harry Potter and therapy all in one context and see if that will work. And so for me personally, that's allowed me to be more fulfilled in my work and hopefully to be more tuned in with my clients. Well, Johnny and I are so grateful that you survived that childhood trauma in Ukraine and were able to rewrite not only your story, but your client's stories to unlock superheroes in themselves. And when it comes to acceptance, commitment therapy and utilizing story to get people to accept themselves and commit to change, it's so powerful. And we're so thankful that you shared this experience with us and with our audience. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor. Thank you. And where can our audience find out more about you, Dr. Gina? Thank you. So I have a website superhero dash therapy.com. My partner and I have a few podcasts superhero therapy, Harry Potter therapy, supernatural therapy. So if you're interested in learning more, you can always check those out.