Join us as an assistant

Whatever your stage of life, and whatever your background and experience, L'Arche has something to offer - and so do you.

In a divided world, there is something so powerful in finding a sense of community, togetherness, and mutual respect. L'Arche Communities are places where people can take time to explore who they are, not just what they can do. They are places of welcome where people are transformed by the experience of community, relationship, disability and difference.

"I think L’Arche is one of those places where you can change the world and changing the world starts with changing yourself."

larche community highland inverness

Live-in assistants

As a live-in assistant, you will commit to spending a year in one of our 10 UK communities. You will experience community life and build deep relationships with people with learning disabilities.

Along with other assistants, you will most likely live with a small number of people with learning disabilities in their own home. Working hours are determined by rota.

You will receive board and lodgings, and a small allowance. But you will gain so much more.

Dominic explains just why L’Arche is so special in this very short clip:

Still want to know more? Click the link below for some first-hand stories from our assistants.

More assistants' stories

Apply to be a live-in assistant

Live-out assistants

We have a number of non-residential vacancies for assistants, both full and part-time. On occasion, we also have vacancies for other roles within communities. You can view our current vacancies by clicking the button below.

Live-out assistants and other vacancies

Latest

L’Arche Advent Retreat: The Sacrament of the Encounter
Regional Leader, L'Arche UK

We seek a new Regional Leader to be responsible for four Communities, and to support the development of L’Arche in Scotland.
Live – In Assistant (Residential Care Worker)

L'Arche live-in assistants live and work in our Communities with and alongside people with learning disabilities. They provide them care and support.
Rebound Books: A Community adapting through Covid

L'Arche Brecon's project 'Rebound Books' has been creating beautiful items from discarded books for the past decade. When Covid-19 hit, they decided to adapt the way they work. Read about how they gave back through the global pandemic.

Donate now

L'Arche is a collaboration of gifts, expertise, resources and time. We bring people together who are not prepared to accept the status quo but instead are inspired to want more for people with learning disabilities, and for society. Please help us to transform lives today by donating here.

Live-in assistants

L'Arche live-in assistants live and work in our Communities with and alongside people with learning disabilities. They provide them care and support. Apply here.
Join us as an assistant

Spend a year as an assistant and we will give you an experience of difference that will change your life.
L'Arche in the UK

There are eleven L’Arche Communities based across the UK, where persons with and without learning disabilities live together. Volunteers and care workers are providing support. They try to promote Jean Vanier philosophy. All faiths are welcomed.
What we do

In a world that values winning, L’Arche Communities are places where people with and without learning disabilities can discover who they are and not just what they can do.
Statement from L'Arche, following the verdict at the inquest into the death of Joe Ulleri

Speaking outside the Coroner’s Court in Manchester, Kevin Coogan, Community Leader of L’Arche Manchester, read out the following statement on behalf of L’Arche.
Jean Vanier: Biography

Jean Vanier founded L'Arche in 1964, after becoming aware of the plight of thousands of people with learning disabilities who were institutionalised in France. He was an inspiring teacher whose life was testament to a radically different way of living and being in the world. He created a Community where people with and without learning disabilities were living together.
Summer in the Forest

Summer in the Forest is a full-length feature film about our founder Jean Vanier and the L’Arche communities in Trosly, France and Bethlehem. It tells how two L’Arche communities, though quite different from those in the UK, share our common values, and shows how people with learning disabilities and assistants / care workers that support them are living together.
L’Arche statement following the recent BBC Panorama documentary and the release of the CQC report into the detainment of people with learning disabilities

The Panorama programme aired by the BBC on Wednesday 22nd May showing the abuse of people with learning disabilities, and the recently published CQC report revealing the detainment of people with learning disabilities and autism in ATUs (Assessment and Treatment Units), once again reveals the appalling mistreatment and abuse experienced by some of society’s most vulnerable people.
Supported living

While some individuals wish to live in a home with other people, others prefer to be supported to live independently. At L’Arche we help people to choose a way of life that feels right for them, and for their families.
Support Assistant, L'Arche London

40 hours per week. Permanent contract.