Trusting Recovery and Desistance

The social processes which underpin and shape our lives have the power to significantly transform the trajectories of people experiencing recovery from addiction and desistance from crime. Recovery from addiction and desistance from crime are processes which are often experienced and supported in the same physical spaces and are also frequently experienced by the same people. This book therefore synthesises and presents research on the social influences of recovery and desistance. This book presents the social component model of recovery from addiction and desistance from crime: a strength-based approach presenting case studies to better understand the social factors of both recovery from addiction and desistance from crime and therefore a step towards enhancing evidence-based policy and practice. The social components that have emerged and will be discussed within this book include relationships and social bonds; social identity, group membership, and social networks; and social capital. Compiled based on observations, interviews, and social identity mapping methods, this work combines and presents theory and research to enhance and strengthen the evidence available for people who are already teaching about, supporting, and experiencing both desistance from crime and recovery from addiction in practice.

Lauren Hall is an Assistant Professor in criminology at the University of Nottingham. Her research seeks to better understand recovery from addiction and desistance from crime, with a view to increasing strength-based approaches in practice that are supported by evidence. She has also engaged in broader criminal justice related research, for example exploring experiences of desistance from partner perspectives; gendered social mechanisms of recovery; the health and well-being of prison governors; and the implementation of prison (re)settlement programmes.

1. Introduction 2. Theorising Recovery and Desistance 3. Methods, Contexts, and Trajectories into Offending and Addiction 4. The Relational Component 5. The Identity Component 6. The Social Capital Component 7. Trusting and Guiding Recovery and Desistance: The Radius of Trust and The Lead Component 8. A Social Component Model Case Study 9. A Social Component Model Approach to Building Trust in Recovery and Desistance