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How intergenerational care is bridging barriers and championing connection
Tucked away in south London is Apples and Honey Nightingale – a setting quietly redefining what care can look like. It’s not just a care home, and it’s not just a nursery; it’s a place where generations meet, learn, and grow together. Here, toddlers and older residents share stories, bake bread, sing songs and build relationships that challenge the idea that age should divide us.
Founded by Dr Judith Ish-Horowicz MBE HonsDEd, this pioneering intergenerational centre is the first of its kind in the UK. It’s a living example of how care, education and community can be seamlessly woven together to create something deeply human and profoundly healing.
As part of our Why Should I Care? campaign, we spoke to Judith about the power of intergenerational practice – and why it could hold the key to a more connected, compassionate future.
Why is it so important for professionals working in intergenerational care to be properly trained and qualified?
Judith: “It is vitally important. My hope is that every educational setting – from early years right up to university level – and every care and social health organisation, not just care homes, would have a position of responsibility for intergenerational practice.
“That includes lunchtime clubs, supported living, community centres and youth groups. We need to develop social cohesion, which will help us to heal our fractured society.”
What are some of the benefits you’ve seen for both older and younger participants in your intergenerational programmes?
Judith: “We have some relatives of the residents here at the care home who specifically choose to come and visit when we’re having our intergenerational programme. They’re doing something together, something they can talk about and share.
“They see their loved ones participating, being stimulated – not just sitting and watching TV. It gives them something shared, and they don’t see their loved ones so motivated, so excited, so involved as they do when they’re coming together.
“It’s an opportunity for them to see their loved ones as part of society. They’re not being shut off into a care home. They’re having relationships that go beyond just physical health – they’re thriving, not just surviving.
“We had a gentleman who came every week to be with his wife, who’d had multiple strokes and wasn’t able to communicate. One day, we invited them to take part in a baking activity. She hadn’t been responsive, but when we handed her some dough to make bread for the Sabbath celebration, she suddenly opened her eyes. He said, ‘She hasn’t opened her eyes for two weeks.’ Tears came to his eyes. She was joining in, responding – it made such a difference.”
What skills do professionals need to work effectively in intergenerational settings?
Judith: “You need empathy. You need to know when to stand back, when to support rather than interfere. Volunteers especially need to realise they are enablers and empowerers, not there to do things for people.
“You need to be able to see what is a safe space, to have judgement about what is stimulating and what might disempower people. It’s all to do with relationships and empathy. You need to be a good listener and understand why you’re doing it. It needs to be well planned, in a safe space, and reviewed to see how the session went and how it can be even more impactful.”
How do you see the intergenerational model influencing the future of care and education? What message would you give to policymakers?
Judith: “I think it’s crucial. We live in a very dysfunctional, fractious society where people have lost the ability to empathise. We see each other as being in competition, when actually we should be a cohesive community working together for the benefit of each other.
“If we see ourselves in relationship with others, it can transform society and communities. We’re in partnership with each other – to heal the world and not be so fractured.
“Financially and economically, it makes so much sense. We’ve got evidence through research of how much you can save by working together and hearing each other. But you can only do that if you know the other. And how else are we going to know each other if we’re not going to be together, live together, learn together, play together, grieve together, support each other, celebrate together?”
Visit our intergenerational care hub to learn more
Watch: Learn how education and training is supporting intergenerational relationships to thrive at Apples and Honey Nightingale
Pictured: Dr Judith Ish-Horowicz MBE HonsDEd receiving an Honorary Doctorate in Education (honoris causa) by the University of Greenwich
Pictured: Children take part in an intergenerational play session with Nightingale resident Frankie Steuer