Huis Perrekes exists since 1986. Until today, the project is considered an innovative project.

‘Innovare’ means to renew and for us it means every day anew is ‘new’.

This renewal develops and evolves in every detail that time and again is subject to study and communication with everyone involved on various levels, be it internal or external. It also implies a daily search for connection with every individual’s emotions in a rapidly changing society.

This philosophy, with as core concept Winnicott’s holding environment (1986), offers support.

It starts from the presence of the persons with dementia, respectful towards their inner experience in their environment (material and immaterial). Our focus is always on what there is, rather than on what is flawed or lost.

It does not start from predetermined models.

By searching and researching – by trial and error – we aim to attain a quality of life according to each individual’s needs.

We build upon the support, care and structure of people’s previous stages of life, in order to create a continuum with what ‘home’ and ‘dignity’ meant to each individual. As a relative once said: “It was as if Huis Perrekes had become an extension of our own home”.

Always bearing in mind our core concept, we acknowledge the importance of embedding in a greater entity , intertwined with the town’s structure. Our ambition is to actively take part in shaping the town’s identity in order to maximise everyone’s quality of life. “I need you” is therefore our favourite sentence.

We describe our attitude as being at once absent and present: accommodating that what is still possible and being there when it no longer is.