Leaving well: an identity checklist
Use this alongside your official resettlement checklist, not instead of it. Work through it once, then again a few months later.
Awareness · Understanding · Identity
Before you go
- I can say out loud what I am losing, not only what I am gaining.
- I have written down what the role gave me beyond pay.
- I know which parts of my routine came from the job rather than from me.
- I have one person I can be honest with about the part that is not practical.
The first months
- I have kept one piece of structure in my week on purpose.
- I have noticed which situations leave me most unsettled and written them down.
- I have stopped introducing myself only by the role I used to hold.
- I have asked for the kind of support I actually want, not the kind on offer.
Later on, when the practical part is done
- I have checked whether the difficulty is about the job or about who I am now.
- I have named at least one thing I want that is mine rather than inherited.
- I know what settles me quickly and I use it before making decisions.
- I have reviewed this list again rather than assuming the first answers still hold.
If you are struggling
AURIS is education and structured self reflection. It is not therapy, medical treatment or crisis support. If you are in crisis, contact your GP, NHS 111, or the emergency services.
Where this comes from
This page is written by AURIS from our published framework and research. You can read the papers behind it:
AURIS Institute is education and structured self reflection. It is not therapy, medical treatment or crisis support. If you are in crisis, contact your GP, NHS 111, or the emergency services. aurisidentity.org
Want to go further? Introduction to AURIS is a free nine lesson course that covers this in more depth.