The Superhero Companion: Trauma-Informed Decision Practice
Externalising is a well-established therapeutic move: it is far easier to advise a character than yourself. This companion uses a superhero frame so a child can think about a hard decision from outside their own shame — what would your hero notice, what is their power, what would they do first.
Why externalising works with children
Asking "what should you have done" invites defensiveness. Asking what the hero would do invites problem-solving. The content of the answer is usually identical; the accessibility is not.
Powers grounded in real strengths
The most useful hero powers here are real ones described larger: noticing details, remembering everything about a subject, staying loyal, being honest. Naming a genuine strength is more durable than inventing an imaginary one.
How to use this tool
- Choose or invent your hero and give them one power that is really yours.
- Describe the hard situation as something happening to the hero.
- Say what the hero notices first.
- Choose the hero's next action.
- Decide whether you can do that same thing this week, at a smaller size.
Common questions
- Why use a superhero frame in therapy?
- Externalising a problem onto a character reduces shame and defensiveness, which makes problem-solving accessible to children who freeze when asked about themselves directly.
- What ages is this for?
- All ages. It is written to be trauma-informed and works with younger children alongside an adult, and with teens who prefer an indirect route into a hard subject.
Where this fits
This companion is free psychoeducational self-help. It is not therapy, diagnosis, or crisis care, and it does not replace a licensed clinician. Everything you enter is stored locally in your own browser and is never transmitted to a server.
It lives inside FeelingsHelper Kids & Teens Mode, alongside more than sixty other free companions for autism, ADHD, PTSD, and trauma.
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