Beginning with the Need for Connection and Safety: Examining How Group Home Child and Youth Care Counsellors in Alberta Experience the Enactment of Trauma-Informed Care
Date
2021-04-08
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Abstract
Trauma-informed care (TIC), an organizational framework aimed at creating healing environments to counteract the effects of trauma, has become an increasingly popular approach within the field of human services. Despite existing research evaluating the effectiveness of TIC in youth group home settings, the direct perspectives of Child and Youth-Care (CYC) Counsellors with this approach remain limited. In the current study, 10 CYC Counsellors in Alberta were interviewed to better understand how they experience TIC in group homes, including barriers and facilitators to implementation. Using Constructivist Grounded Theory methodology in concert with Thematic Analysis, four major themes emerged from the data. Findings indicate that TIC is enacted by CYC Counsellors through a series of processes that begin with an overarching need for connection and safety at all levels of the organization (with leadership, their team, and youth). Only when connection and safety have been established can they then begin to acquire trauma-informed knowledge, develop the appropriate mindset, and perform the trauma-informed behaviours required to enact TIC completely. Recommendations include providing CYC Counsellors with opportunities to have their perspectives and experiences included in the development of organizational policies and practice procedures, structuring TIC training so that CYC Counsellors are guided by experienced professionals, and balancing expectations for care with sufficient resources to enact TIC.
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trauma-informed care, group home, Child and Youth-Care Counsellor, worker experiences
Citation
Schwickrath, Q. D. (2021). Beginning with the Need for Connection and Safety: Examining How Group Home Child and Youth Care Counsellors in Alberta Experience the Enactment of Trauma-Informed Care (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.