Understanding the resistance to trauma-informed care: The emotional, relational and ideological challenges of shifting power dynamics in child and youth residential care

BackgroundTrauma-informed care (TIC) is a relational approach emphasizing safety, attunement, and collaboration. In child and youth residential care, this orientation sits in tension with longstanding compliance-oriented approaches that rely on rigid systems of incentives and consequences to guide behaviour.ObjectiveThis study examines how residential care staff experience the challenges of shifting power dynamics during the transition from compliance-oriented approaches toward relational practice during TIC implementation.Participants and SettingThe study was conducted in a large urban child and youth residential care agency in Québec, Canada. Participants included staff across roles and organizational levels.MethodsUsing a constructivist grounded theory design, data were generated through 17 in-depth interviews with staff, 45 hours of participant observation of trainings, clinical support sessions, and leadership meetings, and analysis of institutional and implementation documents.ResultsAnalysis produced five interrelated theoretical categories characterizing the challenges experienced during TIC implementation: (1) perceptions of TIC as “too permissive,” (2) destabilization associated with relinquishing punishment without concrete alternatives, (3) the emotional and relational challenge of “looking inward” through self-regulation and accountability, (4) an unspoken taboo around naming power, control, and compliance, and (5) a gap between intellectual buy-in and embodied practice under pressure.ConclusionsStaff resistance to TIC reflected fear, destabilization, and unresolved power dynamics rather than opposition. Letting go of punitive control without clear relational alternatives left staff feeling unsafe and unprepared. Meaningful TIC implementation requires confronting authoritarian assumptions, supporting deep self-reflection, and investing in experiential learning, supervision, and organizational conditions that sustain relational practice.