WhyTry in Schools

WhyTry in High Schools

The WhyTry Program was originally developed for adolescents, and most of the original data on WhyTry was collected in high schools.  Thousands of high schools use WhyTry to improve student retention, academic performance and school climate. 

The WhyTry Program is often added to an existing course—such as study skills or health--and meets for one period each week over a semester.  Struggling students are invited into the WhyTry course, where they receive some of the critical social and emotional skills everyone needs to succeed.   For students in grades 9 and 10, WhyTry can provide tools to help change patterns of failure and indifference and improve their high school career.  For students in grades 11 and 12, WhyTry can help provide motivation to put in the effort to graduate and lower the anxiety about their future that often leads to self-defeating behaviors.

WhyTry in Middle and Junior High Schools

The WhyTry Program has proven highly effective in grades 6 through 8 at impacting negative student behavior.   Developmentally, middle schoolers are in transition.  Anything that can be done to remediate and reinforce basic social and emotional skills at this developmental stage can pay dividends down the road. 

The WhyTry Program can incorporated into an existing course, added as a new course, used for advisory periods, or even incorporated into homeroom.   Whatever the implementation strategy, WhyTry is an engaging program that students look forward to and continue to talk about after the course ends.  

WhyTry in Elementary Schools

The WhyTry Program was originally developed for use with adolescents but over time our customers began taking the program materials and adapting them for use with younger children. (One of the benefits of the visual and hands on approach is that the program can be easily adapted for different developmental levels.) As a result, we decided to do our own elementary school pilot . From this pilot we created a set of simplified lesson plans and activities for using the program with elementary age children.

The program is now used in hundreds of elementary schools and continues to gain popularity as an early intervention for helping children deal with the increasing challenges they face. » Click to watch Videos

WhyTry in Mental Health

The WhyTry Program was originally developed for use in a mental health environment as a one on one counseling tool. The WhyTry Visual analogies provide a practical guide for discussing personal challenges and solutions to problems that youth face at home, at school, and with their peers.

The program utilizes a strength based approach to counseling and is infused with empirically sound theories and techniques including:

- Reality Therapy
- Solution Focused Brief Therapy
- Multiple Intelligence Theory

The program is now used by clinical social workers, psychologists, and other mental health clinicians in both group and one on one settings.

WhyTry in Corrections

Over the last three to four years we have seen a great deal of interest in using the WhyTry Program as a tool for helping adult inmates and youth wards to deal with the challenges they face while incarcerated and preparing them for the time that they will be released. The WhyTry Visual analogies provide a practical guide for understanding important decisions that they must make in order to stay clean once they return their families and society.

WhyTry is now used in youth corrections facilities as a group counseling tool. The program is often taught by counselors, detention center staff, teachers and probation officers. WhyTry is also used with adults in several prisons and jails across the country.