About Amiko®
What is Amiko®?
Amiko® is a set of 52 cards featuring simple, evidence-based ideas that help to support wellbeing. They’re friendly reminders of helpful things we may already know, but can easily forget - especially when we’re not feeling at our best.
The cards are divided into four suits:
Physical self-care - Spades
Connection - Hearts
Organisation - Diamonds
Feelings - Clubs
When we are busy, overwhelmed or unwell, it can become much harder to remember the things that usually help us. Amiko® is a simple reminder tool, making useful possibilities easier to notice, remember and act on.
The cards are intentionally simple. Each one uses straightforward language and a clear visual prompt, with more information and evidence available if you want to explore further.
You can use Amiko® on your own, with another person, or as part of work with groups, teams and communities.
Using Amiko® yourself
Whether or not you own a physical deck, you can explore all 52 ideas on this website.
Start by looking at the four suits and noticing which area feels most useful or interesting to you right now.
Then explore the cards in that suit.
Some ideas may immediately feel relevant. Others will not. There is no 'right answer'. The idea is simply to check in and notice how you feel and what you might need at that moment.
If you have a physical pack of cards, you could also choose a card at random and notice your response, or choose some cards you think it would be helpful to use in the week ahead and put them somewhere you’ll notice them often. Alternatively, you might like to identify something that you’ve never done but want to try. As they are genuine playing cards, you can use them for card games too.
Want to explore the cards? Start your online exploration here, or buy physical packs here.
Using Amiko® with other people
Amiko® can also provide a simple starting point for reflection and conversation.
People are currently using and exploring the cards in areas including:
coaching and facilitation
workplaces and teams
education and SEND
healthcare, counselling and therapeutic settings
community work
mentoring and peer support
multilingual settings
The simplicity of the cards can be particularly useful when people do not want - or are not in a position - to process lots of information.
They can help two people explore what might be useful without requiring one person to have the answers for the other, and without requiring the conversation to become therapeutic.
For practitioners, the cards can be used as prompts with clients, students, patients, colleagues or groups, while leaving space for each person to interpret an idea in a way that fits their own circumstances.
Interested in using Amiko® in your work? Get in touch to talk through ideas or find out more about available resources.
Amiko® in organisations
Amiko® can be used as part of workplace wellbeing, team development, events and organisational programmes.
Organisations can purchase standard decks or commission their own bespoke branded edition of Amiko®, accompanied by workshops or facilitated sessions.
A workshop might invite people to explore:
what they can do to support themselves
what they can do to support one another
what they need from the organisation in order to stay well and do good work
There is a limit to how much responsibility we can place on individuals if the conditions around them are making it difficult to be well. The cards can be used to help open up broader conversations about wellbeing that acknowledge the complexity of the systems we are working within.
We also offer supporting resources to help Amiko® remain useful after a workshop or campaign rather than simply becoming something people receive and put away.
Thinking about Amiko® for your organisation? Get in touch to find out about workshops, bulk card orders and bespoke branded editions.
Amiko® across languages
Amiko® has already been translated into 13 additional languages, allowing people with different first languages to work alongside one another using the same core set of ideas.
We are now gradually bringing these language editions online, including the supporting information, practical suggestions and evidence behind each card.
This creates possibilities in schools, healthcare, community work, volunteering and other multilingual settings. Two people can work with the same Amiko® card while each reading it in the language that works best for them.
The simple language and visual prompts may also be useful for people learning English. Dual-language editions can be produced on request, and on the website it is easy to switch between English and a second language, simply by clicking on the card itself.
If there is a particular language that would be useful in your work, we would love to hear from you.
Where did Amiko® come from?
Amiko® was created by Katie Elliott through her work at the Little Challenges project.
After working in behaviour change and wellbeing for a number of years, Katie noticed something curious. Even though she knew about many things that research suggested could help us feel and function better, when she was having a difficult day herself, she often couldn’t remember any of them.
So she started keeping a small stack of index cards on her desk, each featuring a different idea she knew might help. When she needed some inspiration, she looked through the cards.
The stack steadily grew. Eventually, the ideas became a pack of playing cards, with simple illustrations making each one easy to recognise and remember. Only ideas with strong supporting evidence were selected for the final deck. The first print run was successfully crowdfunded in 2019.
Since then, Amiko® has been used in schools, healthcare, universities, workplaces and community settings, including work involving the NHS, the British Red Cross, the University of Leicester and distribution through the UK Home Office. Companies including Mondi Group have commissioned their own branded editions of Amiko® and supported the development of new language editions. Mondi also funded the production of a dual-language Dari-English edition for use with Afghan refugees arriving in the UK.
Amiko® is now being developed further as a multilingual physical and digital resource for use by individuals, practitioners, groups, organisations and communities.
Why “Amiko”?
Amiko is the Esperanto word for friend.
The name reflects the original idea behind the cards: a friendly source of reminders and possibilities to turn to when you need one.
Explore Amiko® with us
We’re interested in hearing from people who use wellbeing resources in their work.
You might be an HR or people professional, teacher, coach, therapist, healthcare professional, facilitator or community worker - or working somewhere we haven’t thought of yet.
We’d particularly like to understand:
which languages would be useful in your setting
what kinds of supporting resources would make Amiko® easier to use
how you might use the cards with the people you work alongside
what would make Amiko® genuinely useful rather than simply appealing in principle
We also work with organisations interested in workshops, bespoke resources and their own branded editions of Amiko®.
If you’d like to explore what Amiko® could look like in your work or organisation, please get in touch.