MutualHelp Community
What is a MutualHelp Community?
A MutualHelp Community (also rendered as a symbiotic community or co-living community in the academic literature) is Taiwan’s community-based care model for a super-aged society. Its core principle is that local organizations connect local resources to develop local services that meet local needs. Researched and advanced by the Community Welfare Lab (Kai-Lin Liang’s team) at National Chi Nan University, the model treats residents as both recipients of care and providers of resources.
In Chinese: 共生社區. Also rendered in the literature as a symbiotic community or co-living community.
Core Principles
The MutualHelp Community model holds that every community is an organism with different care needs and different resources. It therefore relies on a local intermediary organization that assesses local needs, then develops and matches local resources to build each community's own model of care. Rather than "the system delivering services," care becomes "the community sharing life together" — residents are both recipients of care and providers of resources.
Why Taiwan Needs It
Taiwan became a super-aged society in 2025, with over 4.5 million people aged 65+. Yet only about 17% use long-term care services; more than 80% of older adults live in their communities in healthy or sub-healthy states. The MutualHelp Community model addresses this gap by supporting older adults while they still have the capacity for independent living.