Wellbeing


From activities to ownership: Creating a care community with residents at its heart


Claire Richardson explains how adaptable spaces and thoughtful facilities can turn care-home activities into shared community life that offers genuine choice for residents.


A thriving care home community is not created by filling an activities calendar. A full programme may look impressive on paper, but the more important question is whether the people living in the home and taking part in the activities feel they have helped shape what’s on the menu. Are they being invited to participate in someone else’s plans, or do they have genuine influence over the rhythms, relationships and experiences that make up daily life? Resident involvement can take many


forms. It might mean choosing the destination for an outing, helping to plan a seasonal event, sharing a skill with others, suggesting a new group or deciding how a communal room should be used. Some people may want to take an active organising role; others may contribute through conversation, encouragement or simply by


being present. All these forms of involvement matter.


They help ensure that life in a home is not something delivered to people living there, but something created with them. However, good intentions are not enough. For residents to participate meaningfully, the environment needs to feel welcoming, familiar and comfortable, somewhere people feel confident helping themselves and getting involved. To achieve this, rooms need to be


accessible and adaptable, equipment must be easy to find, and gardens must be inviting and navigable. Even transport arrangements, storage, lighting, acoustics and the position of furniture can determine whether someone joins in or remains on the edge of an activity. Creating community therefore requires


care teams, managers, designers and facilities professionals to think about social life and the built environment together. When someone moves into a care home,


it is important to learn more than their care needs, including: n What roles have they held during their life?


n What gives them satisfaction? n Are they happiest in a large group,


around a table with a few others or engaged in something independently?


n Do they enjoy organising, making, gardening, cooking, performing, teaching or helping?


These conversations should continue after admission as preferences can change, while confidence and interests may emerge gradually as a person becomes more settled.


October 2026 www.thecarehomeenvironment.com 45


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60