Background Being ‘at risk’ puts an individual in danger of future negative outcomes. Conducting qualitative research such as narrative inquiry with at-risk individuals may result in challenges for participants and researchers.

Aim To present an overview of several challenges that arose when conducting narrative research with at-risk young people.

Discussion The main challenges were disclosure of trauma, existing relationships, insider and outsider perspectives, power relationships, and the emotional safety of participants and researchers.

Conclusions It is imperative to identify potential challenges before beginning research and make plans to address them.

Implication for practice Researchers can use this article to help plan for challenges that may arise with this kind of research with vulnerable participants.