Brain Teams
This brain part reacts fast and tries to protect you, even when there’s no danger.
Guard Dog Brain
You feel your heart beating fast and your legs want to run. What survival response is activated?
Flight (Tiger Brain)
You think, ‘Everyone is mad at me.’ Detective Brain would do what?
Check the facts to see if that's true.
You hear a loud noise and your body jumps before you even think. Which brain reacted first?
Guard Dog Brain
This coping skill slows your heart down by taking air in through your nose and out through your mouth.
Deep breathing
This animal brain gets big, loud, and ready to fight when you feel unsafe.
Tiger Brain
You suddenly feel stuck, quiet, or like you can’t move. What survival response is activated?
Freeze (Turtle Brain)
Detective Brain uses this skill to learn more instead of jumping to conclusions.
Asking questions
When your Guard Dog turns on, these physical clues show up in your body.
Fast heartbeat, stomach aches, sweaty palms, shaky legs, fast breathing
This coping skill helps you feel safe by naming things you can see, hear, and feel around you.
5-4-3-2-1 Grounding
This animal brain shuts down, hides, or freezes when things feel too overwhelming.
Turtle Brain
You feel hot, tense, and want to yell or push something away. What survival response is activated?
Fight (Tiger Brain)
Detective Brain helps you do this kind of thinking when something unexpected happens.
Flexible thinking
Your Guard Dog is really good at being fast, but not always good at this.
Accurate
This coping skill helps your body calm down by tightening and relaxing different muscles.
Progressive Muscle Relaxation
This animal brain is calm, wise, and helps you make good choices.
Owl Brain
Your muscles tighten, your eyebrows scrunch, and you feel ready to defend yourself. What survival response is activated?
Fight (Tiger Brain)
What tools might the Detective Brain use? Hint: there are 5
Asking questions, checking facts, slowing down, noticing clues, thinking of other explanations.
This is why your Guard Dog sometimes barks loudly even when you’re safe.
It tells your body to react before thinking because it would rather be safe than sorry.
This coping skill helps when your thoughts are going too fast and you need to slow them down.
Grounding
This brain part slows down and looks for clues or evidence so that you can think clearly before reacting.
Detective Brain
You feel nervous and want to escape the situation. What survival response is activated?
Flight (Tiger Brain)
What is Detective Brain’s main job?
To gather more information so you can make a logical choice about how to respond
Your Guard Dog is actually helpful in these kinds of situations.
Real danger or emergencies
This coping skill helps your Guard Dog calm down by making your breathing slow and steady.
Deep breathing