What this is
A values card sort, a written report about it, and a weekly follow-up called Bull’s Eye. The card sort is What Matters, designed by Dr. Martine J. RoBards, a neuropsychologist, and rebuilt for the web by her son, Michael RoBards, LCSW. It’s a tool for reflection and conversation: with yourself, with a partner, or with a therapist you already have.
What it isn’t
It isn’t therapy, counseling, medical advice, or a diagnosis of anything. It doesn’t measure mental health and can’t tell you whether you’re well or unwell. Using it doesn’t make you a client of Michael RoBards or The Human Equation, and nothing here replaces a clinician who knows you. It’s meant for adults 18 and over.
The reports are written by an AI
Every report on this site is generated by a language model from the placements you made: which cards went where, how you ranked them, how satisfied you said you were. The model has no other information about you, and it can be wrong, generic, or oddly confident. Read a report the way you’d read a horoscope written by someone who was actually paying attention: useful when it lands, ignorable when it doesn’t. The questions at the end are the most valuable part.
Couples
The comparison report describes where two people’s values overlap and where they’ll need to translate for each other. It never says whether two people are compatible, and you shouldn’t read one into it. It works best as the start of a conversation, not the end of one.
Bull’s Eye
Bull’s Eye is adapted from the Bull’s Eye Values Survey (Lundgren, Luoma, Dahl, Strosahl & Melin, 2012), a widely used exercise in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. This version uses your own top seven values instead of the original’s four life domains, so it’s the method, not the validated instrument, and it makes no claims to the original’s psychometrics. The weekly “moves” it suggests are written by an AI as examples; the move you commit to should be your own.
Check-ins
The check-ins are published questionnaires (the PHQ-9, GAD-7, WHO-5, the PTSD screens, AUDIT and others), reproduced under their authors’ terms and scored exactly as published. No AI touches them. A score is a screening snapshot, never a diagnosis; the bands are the ones clinicians use, shown in plain words. One question on the PHQ-9 asks about thoughts of death or self-harm. If you answer it with anything but “not at all,” your result page and email open with the crisis lines, and if you have shared your code with a therapist, that answer is flagged in their view. Nobody on this site follows up on any answer; the site isn’t monitored.
Your data
To write and send your report we store your first name if you gave one, your email address, your card placements, and the reports themselves, along with Bull’s Eye throws, barriers, and moves. It lives in a database on Cloudflare’s infrastructure. We use your email for exactly three things: sending your report, sending a link to your reports when you ask for one, and the weekly Bull’s Eye check-in, which you can turn off when you save a throw. No ads, no selling or sharing your address. This is a consumer self-help tool, not a medical record, so it isn’t covered by HIPAA. To delete everything under your email, reply to any email you received from us.
Codes
Every report has an eight-character code, and anyone who has the code can open the report, the comparison, and the Bull’s Eye pages. That’s what makes sharing with a partner or a therapist simple, and it means you should treat your code like a password. Report pages are hidden from search engines.
For clinicians
The clinician view shows what a client chose to share by giving you their code: their values, boards, barriers, and moves, without their email address. It’s the client’s own self-report, unverified, and it isn’t a clinical record or a substitute for your assessment. The list of clients you add is kept only in your own browser. There is a ten-minute orientation for clinicians covering how to introduce the tools, how to read the view, free text and safety, and records.
If you’re in crisis
If you’re in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 (US) or contact local emergency services. This site isn’t monitored by anyone.
Who made this
Michael RoBards, LCSW, of The Human Equation in Louisville, Kentucky, at toolkit.humanequation.live. Questions or deletion requests: reply to any email from What Matters.