Drawing on ACT and CBT, this guide incorporates popular culture into evidence-based therapy, offering a unique approach for mental health professionals to better support clients dealing with anxiety and trauma. With fun and engaging activities and downloadable worksheets, it aims to alleviate the shame and stigma surrounding mental health, empowering clients to discover their origin story and reframe their experiences to become real life superheroes.


Covering topics such as building resilience, identifying and overcoming key challenges, and mindfulness, this book introduces familiar superheroes as characters to identify with, aiming to validate clients' experiences and encourage deeper understanding and reflection during sessions. It provides a range of activities and worksheets to use in a variety of settings with children aged 7+, teens and adults.


An increasingly popular approach, this guide is an invaluable and timely resource for all mental health professionals working with those experiencing anxiety and trauma.

Janina Scarlet inspires therapists to tap into their own superhero powers to enact effective change in others. In this practical guide, she masterfully demonstrates how to utilize therapy interventions in a context that is powerful and meaningful to clients. -- Lanaya L. Ethington, Ph.D., co-founder of Thrive Behavioral Health

Janina Scarlet is a Clinical Psychologist and Lead Trauma Specialist at the Centre for Stress and Anxiety Management in San Diego. She is the developer of Superhero Therapy and has been awarded the United Nations Association Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award for her work on the approach.

Dean Rankine is a Ledger and Stanley Award winning comic book artist and illustrator best known for his work on Simpsons Comics. His other credits include Futurama, Rick and Morty, Invader Zim, Underdog, Hellboy and Oggy and the Cockroaches.