It’s April! That means Spring, flowers and Sexual Assault and Abuse Awareness Month. This week I spent all of Monday in New York City with my good friend, Theresa. We met at APSAC last June following my presentation of Heroes, Villains, and Healing. Afterward, she took a card and said she wanted me to come to New York to speak to her office. She told me she would be in contact, disappeared into the crowd of people, and I honestly never expected to see or hear from her again. Not because I did not genuinely believe she wanted me to come to New York and present about how superheroes can be used to help survivors understand their childhood trauma and begin the process of healing. Instead, it’s that many people who say they would like to connect after a conference get so caught up in life and helping those they care for heal that scheduling time for an individual presentation is too time consuming and may not achieve the most possible good in the least amount of time. However, seeing as how Theresa is a diehard Saints fan, she knows how to overcome extraordinary odds to achieve the impossible.

For nearly six months, Theresa and myself exchanged emails and phone calls determining the best possible date to schedule the presentation, creating flyers to distribute throughout the different Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) offices in New York, while also coordinating travel and lodging arrangements. By time I say Theresa in the hotel lobby Monday morning she felt a mixture of excitement, exhaustion, nervousness, and anxiety as she anticipated the day to come to an end and all the planning to finally be over.
 
Luckily, the day went off without a hitch (mostly). We did have some technical difficulties getting the conference call to work for those working remotely and in other offices throughout the boroughs, but eventually everything worked its self out.
 
My presentation, Heroes, Villains, and Healing offered mental health professionals and advocates the opportunity to understand the effects of hypervigilance using Batman; Superman to understand the manager, exile, and firefighter of internal family systems using the Clark Kent, Superman, and Kal-el facades; and Wonder Woman to understand the negative impacts of burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatic stress to help ensure they practiced self-care and mindfulness while helping those they care for heal from their trauma. Afterward, I signed some donated books that participants could either purchase or take for free while Theresa took the time to finally breathe a sigh of relief.

To celebrate the completion of the event we had lunch at the famous Katz restaurant (made memorable in the movie When Harry Met Sally the line “I’ll have what she’s having), visited the immersive Arte Museum at Pier 16, and enjoyed a parting beverage at Penn Station before boarding the train to return to Baltimore. It was a great day and I can’t wait to see her again at APSAC in June!
 
Thank you, Theresa for an amazing, well planned, and thoughtful trip! I truly hope the ACS offices of New York were able to benefit from my presentation and had some fun along the way.
 
All the best,
Kenneth Rogers, Jr.