Skills Guide
Teaching: Positive Relationships
Positive Relationships
Why This Skill Matters
Positive relationships are a powerful protective factor for resilience. Students who experience supportive, healthy relationships are more likely to engage, seek help, and persist through challenges. Without positive relationships, students may feel isolated, disconnected, or drawn to unhealthy peer influence. Teaching relationship skills helps students build connection, trust, and belonging.
Student Challenges This Skill Helps Address
- Social isolation
- Peer conflict
- Negative peer influence
- Difficulty trusting others
How WhyTry Builds This Skill
WhyTry builds positive relationships through Peer Influence & Positive Relationships, where students explore how choices affect relationships and group dynamics. Support Systems & Relationship Building reinforces this work by helping students identify trusted supports and strengthen connections. Facilitators guide students to practice communication, empathy, and trust-building behaviors that support resilience through connection.
Peer Influence & Positive Relationships
(“Climbing Out”)
In Peer Influence & Positive Relationships, students examine how choices affect relationships and group dynamics. Facilitators guide processing around communication, respect, boundaries, and influence. This unit helps students build resilience by strengthening their ability to form healthy, supportive peer connections.
Support Systems & Relationship Building
(“Plugging In”)
Support Systems & Relationship Building reinforces positive relationships by helping students identify trusted people and strengthen supportive connections. Facilitators emphasize that healthy relationships provide emotional safety, encouragement, and accountability—key protective factors for resilience.