What's Your State? Toolbag
What's My State?™ Toolbag — From £29.99
A hands-on way to understand behaviours and talk about feelings. Move along the track, match the cards, and find the words together. Understand the pressures causing nervous systems to collide without using speech.
Polyvagal-informed picture cards and a track board to help teens understand behaviours and talk about feelings. For parents, teachers and practitioners.
What practitioners say
When words are hard to find, the visuals lead us where we need to go.
Jill Holly, Neurodivergent Therapist
I use the cards to explore trauma states, like rage or shutdown, with clients who struggle with interoception. It’s a gentle way to start conversations about what’s happening in their bodies.
Jill Holly, Neurodivergent Therapist
The cards are more than just visuals. They provide a springboard for deep conversations about shame, trauma, and resilience, offering alternative words like ‘disagree,’ ‘guilt,’ or ‘remorse’ for the same emotion.
Jill Holly, Neurodivergent Therapist
Used these in a group session with some teens at school today. Very well received especially in small intimate groups where they feel they can be more open.
Amazon reviewer, Works with teens in school, Amazon review, 2024
Really love these cards super useful for working with my clients young people as well as adults. They are really well made, great clear illustrations and super durable.
K.R., Practitioner, Amazon review, 2024
These are great for restorative clinical supervision and come in handy when working in groups and starting conversations.
C., Practitioner, Amazon review, 2024
They help provide the stimulus and the vocabulary to be able to discuss feelings.
Amazon reviewer, Amazon review, 2024
What families say
Two weeks in and the kids are suggesting we use them… it’s helping my teenagers to open up, I am so grateful.
L.B., Parent, Amazon review, 2024
My daughter said it helped her to explain her emotions which helped me to understand how to help her with them.
Amazon reviewer, Parent, Amazon review, 2024
With the 12 year old I let her choose five… and I choose five. It seems to work.
Amazon reviewer, Amazon review, 2024
Overall a very good way to engage with someone who struggles with understanding their own emotions.
Amazon reviewer, Amazon review, 2024
What's in the box
- Fold-out Polyvagal Teen® Track board
- What's My State? card deck: 45 pictures, each in a matching pair (90 cards)
- Free UK postage
- Free monthly workshop on how to use the cards, exploring different behaviours and emotions. Bring your questions.
How to use it
One way to start. There are lots of ways to use these cards.
- Open the track — Lay the board flat. Yellow is safe and social. Red is mobilised, ready to fight or run. Blue is immobilised, shut down.
- Split the pairs — Every picture comes twice. Put the cards with a word in one pile and the cards with no word in another.
- Pick a picture — The young person picks a card with no word. Ask: what is happening here? How might they feel?
- Find its match — Find the same picture with the word on it. Was the guess close? There are no wrong answers.
- Turn them over — One card has body sensations on the back. Ask: where do you feel this? The other has more words for the same behaviour. Pick the one that fits.
- Place it on the track — Put the card, or a small figure, on the part of the track that matches. Then move it. What helps you get back to yellow?
Ideas for using the cards
- Why moving helps: a polyvagal-informed way for teens to talk about feelings — Ask a teenager how they feel and you might get a shrug. Moving a figure along a track can say what words can't. Here are five reasons it helps, and a simple…
- Emotion cards for teenagers: 7 ways to use feelings cards at home, school and in sessions — Most feelings cards are made for young children. Here are seven ways to use emotion cards with teenagers, at home, in school and in sessions.
- Polyvagal-informed activities for young people: using cards and movement in sessions — Practical, polyvagal-informed activities for counsellors, therapists, mentors and youth workers using picture cards and a track board.
- Zones of Regulation for teenagers? A nervous system approach that teens take seriously — Many teens feel too old for colour charts. Here is a nervous system approach that works for secondary students, at school and at home.
- Polyvagal theory in the classroom: supporting dysregulated students — A student who explodes, walks out or shuts down is often not choosing to. Here is how a polyvagal-informed classroom can help.
- Emotional dysregulation in teens: the signs and what helps — Big reactions, fast mood changes, or shutting down. Here is what emotional dysregulation in teens looks like, and what actually helps.
- Polyvagal parenting: how to help a dysregulated teenager — Slammed doors, silence, sudden tears. Polyvagal parenting helps you see what is going on underneath, and what to do first.
Questions about What's My State?™ Toolbag
Who is the What's Your State? Toolbag for?
Teenagers and the adults around them: parents, carers, teachers and practitioners. It suits neurodivergent young people too, as it lets them show how they feel, not just tell.
What age is it for?
It is made for teenagers. Younger children and adults can use it too. The adult can take out any cards that don't suit the age group.
Does it come with instructions?
Yes. The How to use it steps on this page take you through it, one step at a time. You can also drop in to our free monthly workshop for ideas and questions.
Do I need training to use it?
No. The How to use it steps on this page take you through it. To learn more about nervous system states, see the Finding My Steady programme. Drop in to our free monthly workshop for ideas, inspiration, scribbling and doodling.
Is it polyvagal-informed?
Yes. It is built on polyvagal theory. The track and cards show three nervous system states: safe and social (relaxed), mobilised (ready to fight or run) and immobilised (shut down). Seeing them helps young people understand that behaviour is often the body trying to feel safe.
What is on the back of the cards?
Every picture comes as a matching pair. One card has body sensations on the back. The other has more words for the same behaviour, to help find the word that fits.
Is it therapy?
No. It is a tool for talking and learning together. It does not replace support from a professional.
How much is postage?
Postage is free. We post in the UK only.
Can I get it free with a programme?
Yes. The What's My State? cards and track come free with pay in full on Finding My Steady for Families and Parents, and for Adulting and Intimate Relationships.