From identity to stability

Where the study has reached

Identity After the Uniform is a qualitative interview study with people who have left trained service roles, and with their families. The study plans 108 interviews in total.

Current progress: 44 transcribed and coded interviews, owner-reported as of 11 October 2026; target 108. This figure is reported by AURIS and is still being checked against the full interview register.

How the interviews are used

Each interview is transcribed and then coded, which means reading it closely and marking the themes people describe. Themes are compared across interviews to see what repeats.

We do not publish names, quotes or anything that could identify a participant.

The pattern we are seeing

In an earlier analysis of 22 interviews, one order of change kept appearing: Identity, then Community, then Purpose, then Stability. People who described feeling settled tended to first rebuild a sense of who they are, then find people to belong with, then a purpose, and only then a steady life.

This is an emerging pattern, not a proven finding. It comes from part of the planned sample and has not yet been tested across the full study. It may change as more interviews are coded.

What this means for the courses

The free AURIS courses start with identity for this reason. They are learning, not therapy or a crisis service.

Questions about the research

You can read more on the research pages. If you are a researcher, organisation or journalist, contact us.