These cards are used by educators, coaches, therapists, educational psychologists, mentors, teachers, trainers, support workers and many others. They can be a useful tool for anyone who wants to improve their own sense of well-being and anyone who supports other people.

People resonate with these ideas regardless of their background because the ideas come from a fundamental and basic understanding of what it means to be human. Focusing on those things which we all share in common, our innate resources and our innate needs as living beings, helps to make the approach universal in its application.

The simplest way to use the cards is to begin with the blue “needs” cards. Stepping through each of the 12 cards and reflecting on how well that particular need is either met or unmet in your life right now will generate insights into what is causing you stress. You will gain insights into what is working well, and what areas of your life need more attention.

Once the blue cards have helped to clarify what needs to be addressed, stepping through the orange “resource” cards will help you identify which of your innate skills you are currently using, ignoring or abusing in order to get the missing need(s) better met. This is the simplest way to begin, but there are countless other ways to use the cards.

The cards can be considered “catalysts” to get conversations started. This can be incredibly useful in face to face meetings, as commonly experienced by therapists and coaches of all types. You can start using the cards straight away without any training. But if you want to benefit from the extensive experience of the many hundreds of people already using the cards, you may want to check out in8’s various training options.

You can start using the cards right away with absolutely no training! Just dive in and get started. When working face to face either with individuals or in a group setting, all you really need is to have confidence that something of value will emerge from discussions based around the card topics. In our experience, it always does!

The 80 page book which is included (as a PDF download) gives detailed instructions on how to get started and includes a reference section providing interpretations, keywords and stories for each of the 26 individual cards.

And if you want to take things further, in8 provide comprehensive training programmes, both online and in person.

Anxiety Freedom Cards are a practical tool for improving well-being. There is no magic behind the way that they work – even though the results frequently appear to be magical! Most people use the cards as conversation starters, but you can also pull one card at random in order to reflect on the topic that arises. The real value comes from the fact that each person will find their own meaning by reflecting on the (deliberately ambiguous) images.

The cards are used by thousands of people all over the world. We think that speaks for itself – but, OK, we get it. That’s only anecdotal evidence and you wanted the science. But let’s be frank, we are psychotherapists, not scientists so I’m not sure I’m going to be able to satisfy your request – yet.

Firstly, I would point out that recent cross cultural studies have endorsed the idea that human have basic needs (the original work of Abraham Maslow). Interestingly, these studies did not support that idea that there is always a hierarchy as in the well-known pyramid of needs that is in nearly every psychology textbook.

Secondly, the “needs model of well-being” is just one of the fundamental organising ideas that underpins the human givens approach – and they have real data from thousands of people showing that this is an effective approach to well-being.

Thirdly, a recent peer reviewed article: Developing a student led school mental health strategy by Cathy Atkinson and six others references the use of the in8 Cards as a creative tool used in their work.

But we acknowledge that none of this is in itself scientific proof that these ideas work. We have seen them work in our therapy practice, but we encourage you to consider the ideas and reflect on what they mean to you in order to obtain empirical evidence.