As counselors, many of us were trained to associate play therapy tools with children. Yet some of the most powerful therapeutic conversations I have witnessed with adults have emerged from a simple image card laid on a table.
Projective and metaphor-based card decks offer adults a way to access emotions, memories, values, and life stories that can be difficult to reach through traditional questioning alone. Research and clinical experience suggest that visual metaphor can help clients bypass cognitive defenses, engage emotional processing, construct personal narratives, and explore identity in a deeper way.
At Brave Play, one of the questions I am asked most often is: “What card decks should I buy?”
If you are building your therapy toolbox, here are the decks I recommend most frequently for adult counseling sessions.
Why Card Decks Work With Adults
Many adults can tell you what they think but struggle to identify what they feel.
Image-based interventions create a bridge between cognition and emotion. Rather than asking a client, “How are you feeling?” you can ask, “Which image represents what this experience feels like?” The difference is often profound.
Projective cards can:
- Facilitate emotional expression
- Support meaning making
- Help clients identify values and beliefs
- Encourage narrative reconstruction
- Promote insight through metaphor
- Increase engagement with resistant clients
- Provide a nonverbal language for complex experiences
These tools are particularly useful when working with grief, trauma, identity development, life transitions, attachment concerns, and values clarification.
My Top Recommended Decks for Counselors
1. The River Cards
If I could only own one projective card deck for adults, this would be near the top of my list.
The River Deck was specifically created for therapeutic work and contains images that visually connect together, allowing clients to build a life narrative through a sequence of cards. The images naturally lend themselves to discussions about transitions, obstacles, growth, resilience, relationships, and future direction.
Clinical Uses:
- Life journey mapping
- Trauma narratives
- Post traumatic growth
- Career transitions
- Divorce recovery
- Identity development
- Meaning making
Purchase: https://www.storyandtherapy.com/the-river
One of my favorite directives involves asking clients to select cards representing their past, present, and future. The visual sequence often reveals themes and insights that might never emerge through conversation alone.
2. OH Cards
OH Cards are among the most widely recognized therapeutic card systems.
What makes them unique is their dual layer design. Clients combine image cards with word cards, creating thousands of possible combinations. This creates rich opportunities for projection, association, and storytelling.
Clinical Uses:
- Exploring beliefs
- Cognitive restructuring
- Narrative therapy
- Family therapy
- Group counseling
- Supervision
Purchase Directly: https://oh-cards.com
Purchase from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=OH+Cards
These are particularly useful when clients become stuck in rigid thinking patterns and need help generating alternative perspectives.
3. Dixit Cards
Technically, Dixit is a storytelling board game rather than a therapy product. However, many therapists have adopted the cards because of their beautiful, surreal imagery.
The images invite metaphor, imagination, and symbolic thinking. Clients often connect with Dixit cards in ways that feel less clinical and more creative.
Clinical Uses:
- Creative clients
- Young adults
- Identity exploration
- Relationship dynamics
- Internal parts work
- Values exploration
Purchase: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Dixit+Cards
I often recommend Dixit for therapists who want a highly engaging deck that feels less intimidating than traditional therapeutic tools.
4. COPE Cards
COPE Cards are designed to support emotional identification and regulation.
For clients who struggle to recognize, label, or discuss emotions, these cards provide concrete visual representations that can help create emotional vocabulary. Research suggests that emotion focused cards can reliably evoke emotional responses and facilitate emotional awareness.
Clinical Uses:
- Emotional regulation
- Trauma treatment
- Anxiety
- Alexithymia
- Emotional literacy
- DBT informed work
Purchase: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=COPE+Cards+therapy
These are often a great starting point for clients who have difficulty identifying what they are experiencing internally.
5. Animal Spirit Cards
Animal Spirit Cards are one of my personal favorites because they naturally invite metaphor.
Clients often find it easier to discuss difficult topics when speaking through the lens of an animal. The symbolism creates psychological distance while still allowing deep exploration.
Clinical Uses:
- Strengths identification
- Identity exploration
- Attachment work
- Resilience building
- Parts work
Purchase: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Animal+Spirit+Cards
Questions I frequently ask include:
- Which animal represents you right now?
- Which animal represents the version of yourself you are becoming?
- Which animal represents the part of you that feels afraid?
The answers are often surprisingly rich.
6. Tarot Decks for Metaphor Work
Many counselors avoid tarot because they associate it with fortune-telling. However, when used ethically and transparently, tarot imagery can serve as a powerful projective tool.
The focus is not prediction. The focus is metaphor.
The rich symbolism often helps clients explore themes related to growth, challenge, identity, power, relationships, and transformation.
Clinical Uses:
- Narrative therapy
- Jungian work
- Shadow exploration
- Life transitions
- Values clarification
Purchase: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Rider+Waite+Tarot
Important note: Always consider client beliefs, culture, spirituality, and comfort level before introducing tarot imagery.
A Favorite Directive: Rewriting the Message
One of the simplest and most effective exercises from my trainings is called Rewriting the Message.
Invite the client to select:
- One card representing an old message or belief they have internalized
- One card representing what they want to believe instead
Processing questions include:
- What message have you carried that is no longer serving you?
- Where did it come from?
- How has it shaped your life?
- What new message feels more aligned with who you are becoming?
- What would change if you lived from that message every day?
This exercise works beautifully with almost any card deck.
Best Practices When Using Card Decks
When introducing projective cards into adult counseling, several principles are important:
The client is always the expert on their own imagery. Avoid telling clients what a card means. Instead, help them explore what it means to them.
Use cards as an enhancement to evidence based treatment rather than as a standalone intervention. They integrate particularly well with CBT, Narrative Therapy, Solution Focused Brief Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and trauma focused approaches.
Maintain clear treatment goals, informed consent, and cognitive integration. Adults benefit from reflecting on the meaning of the experience rather than simply engaging in the activity itself.
Want More Adult Play Therapy Directives?
If you enjoyed these ideas, this is exactly the kind of work we teach through Brave Play.
Our trainings help counselors move beyond traditional talk therapy and learn how to use experiential, play therapy informed interventions with adolescents and adults in ways that are ethical, engaging, and clinically effective.
Topics include:
- Play Therapy with Adults
- Presence and Attunement in the Counseling Relationship
- Trauma Informed Experiential Interventions
- Neuroscience and Play Based Approaches
- Ethical Use of Creative and Experiential Techniques
- Interactive Directives Using Card Decks
Whether you are new to experiential work or looking to expand your therapeutic toolbox, our trainings provide practical interventions you can begin using immediately.
Learn more about upcoming trainings and workshops at braveplayconsulting.com/ce-trainings-library.
You do not need to become a registered play therapist to begin incorporating metaphor, symbolism, and experiential learning into your work with adults. Sometimes a single image card can open a conversation that months of traditional questioning could not reach.
Written By: Dr. Ashley Garrett – PhD, LPC-S, RPT-S, NCC & Founder
Dr. Garrett holds a PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision from Walden University. She also has an Education Specialist degree and a Master’s in Agency Counseling from Jacksonville State University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor (#0856), National Certified Counselor, Registered Play Therapist–Supervisor, and CCE Approved Clinical Supervisor (ACS #4357). Since 2009, she has worked full-time in private practice, specializing in counseling for children, adolescents, families, and adults facing challenges such as trauma, anxiety, and grief. She also leads trainings, seminars, and supervision programs across the U.S. and internationally.
