What we value

Treating people with dignity and respect: We value every person and celebrate who they are. We do not just tolerate diversity, but actively embrace it in our communities. A key way we demonstrate dignity and respect is by being fully present to each other when we are together and listening deeply to one another.

Friendliness and welcome: We are deeply committed to building friendships together, which calls us to live life with a joyful and grateful spirit. A key way we demonstrate friendliness and welcome is by offering meaningful invitation and welcome to newcomers, and also to each other, on a daily basis.

Empathy: We are committed to understanding and sharing the feelings of one another. We prioritise the qualities of compassion, caring, and kindness to nurture empathy. A key way we demonstrate empathy is through the quality of the shared life we build together.

Integrity: We strive to have integrity in everything we do and in every relationship we build. We seek to be authentic and honest, trustworthy and open because to build meaningful relationships we need to reveal who we are. A key way we demonstrate integrity is through our willingness to be both vulnerable and courageous.

Commitment to community building: We choose to share life together rather than merely work together. Sharing life means we create mutual relationships with one another and also share responsibility for the life and wellbeing of the community as a whole. We practice forgiveness and celebration, and create places of belonging that are open to all who share our mission and values. A key way we demonstrate our commitment to community building is through our nurturing of our shared spirituality expressed through the community traditions and practices that shape our daily life together.

Openness to reflection, learning and growth: We are personally committed to growth and development in the dimensions of L’Arche identity and mission, and also support the growth of the whole community by nurturing the gifts of each person, creating a learning culture together and being attentive to our personal and communal spiritual life. A key way we demonstrate our commitment to learning is the frequency and quality of our personal and group reflective practices and processes.

Commitment to the vision and mission of L’Arche: We actively engage in all dimensions of the L’Arche mission and practice, both personally and communally. We demonstrate our commitment as people with and without learning disabilities sharing in life together through engaging in our local neighbourhoods, and the wider world, to shape a more human society.

For more information about applying to be an assistant, follow the links below:

Residential assistants

Non-residential assistants

Latest

Sam Wells on 'being with' and belonging in a time of loneliness

In November 2018, L'Arche UK hosted a public event at the Wellcome Collection in London, exploring the role of intentional communities like L'Arche in creating places of belonging in a time of loneliness.
National Leader (Chief Executive)

Full time, UK wide £52,000-£56,000
When I’m at L’Arche I like my body

and, because of that, I’m learning to love it when I’m not.
Jean Vanier: Belonging in an age of loneliness

‘So as you’re stripped away from all that is not the primal innocence, there is something then which is the only thing which is at the heart of the universe, is what brings everything together, and that is love.’

Residential vacancies

L'Arche live-in assistants live and work in our Communities with and alongside people with learning disabilities. 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 twelve L’Arche Communities based across the UK.
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.
Jean Vanier

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 has been, and remains, an inspiring teacher. His life is testament to a radically different way of living and being in the world.Jean’s awards include the French Legion of Honour, Companion of the Order of Canada, the Rabbi Gunther Plaut Humanitarian Award 2001, the International Paul VI Award, and the Templeton Prize.
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.
Jean Vanier interview: belonging in a time of loneliness.

We interviewed Jean Vanier, the founder of L'Arche, at his home in the L'Arche Trosly Community in France. Listen to Jean as he reflects on ageing and fragility, loss and loneliness, and the mystery that compels people to L'Arche.
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.
Shared living

Across our twelve Communities in the UK we offer a range of high quality, person-centred residential support to more than two hundred individuals with learning disabilities.
Support Assistant, L'Arche London

40 hours per week. Permanent contract. Immediate start - Spring 2018.