What changes
Military service builds identity through training, deployment, uniform, rank, unit and shared mission. On leaving, all of these can change at once.
Resettlement support typically focuses on housing, employment and benefits. These matter, but they do not, on their own, rebuild identity.
Where AURIS fits
AURIS adds the identity layer that traditional resettlement does not reach: awareness of what is happening, understanding why, regulation skills, identity reconstruction, and stability.
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Related research papers
- Identity in Occupational Transition: Evidence, Research and Future Directions for UK PolicyGardner, G. (2025). AURIS.
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Military families carry the identity work of service alongside the serving person. Their transitions deserve the same care.
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- White Papers · 2 min readWhite Paper 0, From Transition to Service Provider Identity Adaptation
A conceptual position paper reframing the Identity After the Uniform research programme: transition is the trigger, but the phenomenon under study is identity adaptation after a trained, high-pressure service role.
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Occupational transition is the structured change of a person's primary role, leaving the military, the NHS, emergency services, elite sport or another high-identity occupation.
About the author
Gemma Gardner
Founder and Research Lead, AURIS Institute
Gemma Gardner leads the AURIS research programme on identity and occupational transition. Her work builds the evidence base behind the AURIS Framework and the Identity System, drawing on interviews with service leavers, families and the organisations that support them.
- Lead author, Identity Performance Psychology white paper series
- Principal investigator, AURIS identity adaptation interview programme
- Author of AURIS submissions on identity in occupational transition
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