<p>Social support theory contends that support is the key to crime, yet few studies trace how perceived help evolves across the life course or differs by social location. This study advances the core dimensions of Cullen’s (1994) thesis through an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design using the Roads to Desistance (ROADS) dataset. Quantitative analyses draw on five survey waves of 1,044 recordholders, including both therapeutic community participants and a comparison group, spanning the first five years after release from prison to model longitudinal change in perceived help across seven life domains. Multilevel models reveal that perceived support declines sharply after incarceration and continues to decline over time, with initial differences by race and gender but largely parallel downward trajectories thereafter. To contextualize these patterns, qualitative analyses of 82 in-depth interviews in the sixth wave explore how recordholders narrate help and abandonment upon release from prison. Participants described dense but short-lived formal aid that gave way to distrust and isolation as mandates ended. Informal, expressive ties were often viewed as more credible than formal assistance, whose conditional and punitive character undermined trust. Integrating these strands shows that support is not only unequal but fleeting; its temporal instability and unequal distribution across intersectional social locations illuminate when and for whom help is most likely to erode. The findings refine social support theory by indicating that the dependability and credibility of aid, rather than its mere presence, are key features of support that are central to how it is experienced across time and social location in the reentry process.</p>