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I first joined Look Ahead as a support worker. I first learned about Look Ahead as they had a big service near my home in London. Before then, I had worked in the care and support sector for roughly 20 years, before that I had worked for the National Probation Service.
I liked that Look Ahead offered opportunities for training, and career progression, and I took full advantage of these, that’s why they’re there after all! It’s wonderful that managers here encourage you to move on and explore different areas where you feel you may benefit. That’s what I did, and before long, I took on a contract manager role.
I work with a 20-person team covering five hostels in Kensington and Chelsea. We support adults aged 18 and over who have experienced rough sleeping; outreach workers from our partner organisations refer them to us directly from the streets.
We offer people a clear path to greater independence from day one when they move into our assessment centre. This is when we look at a person’s needs – which can be quite complex at times – and get the right support in place for them, this could be tying in with substance and alcohol misuse specialist partners for example.
Then comes our second and third stage accommodation services, which support people to step down into lower-level support and independent living in the community.
It’s really exciting to see our customers move forward positively with their lives after such adverse experiences. People who I’ve supported have seen me in the street and greeted me with a smile and a high five and told me how well they are doing later in life because of Look Ahead.
It’s not only the customers who I love seeing progress either. I've had a lot of very talented staff work in my services. Some I’ve been able to redirect within the organisation to look at where their next career steps could be. Some of my staff have now moved into new roles as managers and team leaders, and I’ve even helped someone to move into our IT Team.
You never know where Look Ahead may take you!