Puppy
The Enthusiast
Reaches toward connection when the Drop fires.
Feel First · Affect Relational Theory
Discover Your Relationship Animal
Eight innate patterns. One shared purpose: relational safety. Find out which animal you become when connection feels uncertain, and what that pattern is trying to protect.
Click to enlargeHow it works
Three steps to your pattern
Take the assessment
Thirty statements, about ten minutes. Answer honestly, not how you wish you were.
Meet your animal
See your primary and secondary archetype, your full profile, and who you tend to match with.
Go deeper
Read the Primer, join a workshop, or bring your pattern into a group built around exactly this work.
The ecosystem
Meet the eight archetypes
Each one is a learned strategy for managing the Drop, the pre-cognitive signal that fires when connection feels uncertain. Most people carry two or three in significant measure.
Cat
The Independent
Manages exposure through evaluation and distance.
Sheepdog
The Protector
Routes the Drop into protective action.
Hawk
The Strategist
Routes the Drop outward into clarity and defense.
Horse
The Steadfast
Runs at high amplitude in both directions.
Sea Turtle
The Slow-to-Trust
Manages the Drop through preemptive distance.
Hummingbird
The Adapter
Moves fast enough to outrun the Drop.
Hedgehog
The Self-Preserver
Manages the Drop through containment.
The foundation
What is the Drop?
Something happens in a relationship and your body responds before your mind catches up. A signal. A split-second drop in felt safety your nervous system registers before you have language for it.
Each archetype is a characteristic response to that signal, not a personality type. Your archetype is revealed most clearly by what you do after the Drop: reach, withdraw, take charge, scan, ground, shift, armor, or slow down.
Awareness creates choice. Choice creates change. Change builds relational safety.
Click to enlargeGo deeper
The Relational Animal Archetype Primer
An extended guide to your eight patterns, by Dr. Scott Conkright. $9.99.
The free brochure gives you the outline. The Primer is the full guide: every archetype explored in depth, the theory behind the Drop, and a practical path for working with your own pattern instead of being run by it.
- A full chapter on each of the eight archetypes, including yours and the ones you love
- The complete theory behind the Drop and why it fires the way it does
- The Notice, Name, Choose framework for working with your pattern in real time
- Guided reflection prompts for understanding your primary and secondary archetype together
- How archetypes pair, clash, and complement each other in real relationships
Continue the work
Build the four ingredients
Every thriving relationship needs relational safety, growth, purpose, and joy. These offerings use your archetype as the starting point for building all four, with yourself and with the people you love.
Click to enlargeWorkshops
Half-day and full-day in-person sessions built around the archetype framework. Learn your pattern, learn the patterns of the people closest to you, and practice the Notice, Name, Choose framework live.
Webinars
Live online sessions for people who want the depth of a workshop without the travel. Smaller, focused topics: one archetype, one dynamic, one skill at a time.
Therapy Groups
Ongoing clinical groups for people ready to do real work on their relational pattern, with Dr. Conkright and a small group of others doing the same. Archetype-informed, affect-first, and confidential.
Learn About Groups →Start with your pattern.
Thirty questions. Eight archetypes. One honest look at how you manage closeness, distance, and everything in between.