Former Humanitas Chief Happiness Officer Peter Daniels discusses how community, trust and connection can help reshape dementia care.
In this Q&A, Peter Daniels reflects on the ideas that inspired Humanitas Deventer, a pioneering residential care home in the Netherlands where older people live alongside university students. He also explains how those ideas helped shape the Only Connect! network.
As former Chief Happiness Officer at Humanitas and co chair of Only Connect!, Peter shares his perspective on community, inclusion and the power of meaningful relationships.
Read on to discover how acts of trust can grow into thriving communities and challenge traditional approaches to dementia care.
Humanitas Deventer is a residential care home in the Netherlands that became known around the world for a simple but radical idea. University students live alongside older residents free of charge, and in return they are simply asked to be good neighbours.
I met Ellie Robinson-Carter when she first visited Humanitas. She later returned as an artist in residence, and that's how our relationship began. At the time, we were still building this community and exploring new ways of bringing generations together.
The idea itself came from a practical problem. Humanitas had several small unused rooms that could not be rented out. Our CEO, Gea Sijpkes, realised they could become homes for students instead.
We did not want to create formal care roles or complicated agreements. The students received free accommodation and, in return, we asked them to be good neighbours.
That did not mean providing care because professional staff were there for that. It meant sharing everyday life. They would chat with residents, go for walks together and simply spend time with one another.
Living together made all the difference. Family members might visit occasionally, but neighbours are there every day. The students became part of the community, and the residents became part of theirs.
One of my favourite memories is the first complaint we ever received. It was not from an older resident about a student. It was from a student complaining that his elderly neighbour was watching the television too loudly. That was when we realised we had created a genuine neighbourhood rather than simply a care home.
As more students joined, the whole atmosphere changed. They organised pancake evenings, shared meals and brought new energy into the building. Soon, visitors from around the world came to see what we were doing.
Schools became involved, international students came to stay, and we eventually wrote a book explaining the principles behind building this kind of community.
Find out more about the latest Only Connect! symposium.
People were drawn to Humanitas because it was an experiment in doing things differently. Ellie visited while working with Sensory Trust and later invited us to the first Only Connect! conference in Cornwall in 2019.
The conference brought together people who were exploring new approaches to community, dementia and inclusion. It was an opportunity to share experiences and learn from one another.
Afterwards, Ellie invited me to become co chair of Only Connect!, and together we have continued to bring together people from around the world who are challenging traditional ways of thinking. We look for social experiments and for people doing things that may seem unconventional but make a real difference to people's lives.
What makes these communities work is not that someone tells everyone what to do. It is that people are trusted to contribute in their own way. You invite people to take part, give them the freedom to be themselves and see what grows from that.
That is how communities develop. They grow organically through relationships, trust and a shared willingness to support one another. To me, that is where a good society begins.
Peter's reflections highlight the power of relationships, shared experiences, and community-led thinking. His approach encourages us to look beyond services and focus on human connection. These ideas are closely aligned with the values of the University of Hull's MSc Dementia.
As a student, you'll explore innovative approaches to dementia support while learning from research, practice, and lived experience.