Look Ahead customer makes Tenant of the Year Finals!

Joakim, who lives at our Islington Mental Health Service was shortlisted for the Tenant of the Year (South and Midlands) category, which recognises the exemplary contributions of tenants who have supported other residents and the wider community. Also shortlisted for an award at the event was Look Ahead’s Redbridge-based crisis service, Well House which was nominated for the Best company health and wellbeing initiative category.

For his part, Joakim has been actively involved at Look Ahead since June 2025. He has provided a customer voice on organisational panels, at co-production meetings, and during interviews for prospective Look Ahead staff.

After completing volunteer onboarding, Joakim joined the Lambeth Mental Health Service team as a peer support volunteer, where he now works closely with both the staff and customers.

Joakim has also engaged in community‑building activities with his fellow residents in Islington as a founding member of the service’s customer-led co-production group. The group organises events at the service for customers to enjoy while also offering an open environment to collect feedback on service improvement. The co-production group has already been recognised as an example of best practice by Islington Council.

Joakim who attended the Housing Heroes Awards ceremony in Manchester on 22 June said: “I think being shortlisted is an accomplishment and reflects my effort and dedication to Look Ahead over the past 12 months. It’s been a thrilling year, and I felt that the three-course dinner was well deserved!”

Look Ahead’s Head of Co-production and Customer Insight, Kate Mahoney who accompanied Joakim on the night said: “Reaching the finals is well-deserved recognition for Joakim who has put in so much time and effort to support people not only in his own service but also across Look Ahead. It’s great to have his achievements recognised in this way, and we are very grateful to have him as part of our co-production community here at Look Ahead. We look forward to what I’m sure will be plenty of successes in the future.”

While Joakim did not win this time around, we here at Look Ahead are proud of his fantastic achievements, and confident that he will go on to have many more going forward. Well done Joakim!