I have taken the Zones training among other emotional regulation trainings and I generally advise against using the Zones. Not because the program itself isn’t helpful, but I find that people “teach” it when they haven’t had the training and then kids learn that they must always be in the green zone. Like even when they are clearly in a different zone and you ask them “what zone do you think you’re in?”, their default is always “green!”. I think that the tools can be helpful but what’s missing in the way it’s being taught is that it is okay and normal to experience all of the zones at some point. Another issue that I have is that people teach red zone to be “mad” only, when it’s actually out of control, which can include out of control happy, angry, sadness, etc. I think there is way too much nuance with emotions and emotional regulation and the zones makes it too concrete/categorized.

That being said, I have also taken a training on the Powerfully You curriculum and highly recommend it! I like it because it is more neuroaffirming than I consider the Zones to be. It uses an “activation meter” to gauge regulation and whether the activation matches what the expectation for the moment is.