Moving Out of the Chaos

This final results chapter recounts the themes that explain desistance and recovery for the men who participated in this study. Key overarching themes include cycles of relapse, identity shifts, a lack of alternatives, new starts, difficult transitions (prison to community), the social nature of recovery and maintaining a new life. Throughout all of these themes was the necessity for a global life shift—the need to fully and comprehensively embrace a new life, an honest life in order to succeed long term. This shift was complicated by family relationships and peer networks and this chapter presents the findings on how this issue was navigated by the participants in this study. Finally, this chapter addresses the issue of the emergence and evolution of a new identity, how maturity is relevant for this process and how the men reflect on their journey to date.