A community where everyone belongs: Volunteers want L'Arche in N.L.

A group of volunteers in St. John's wants to help change the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, and they believe that establishing a L'Arche community is the way to do that.

For the past four years, the Cornerstone Housing Society has been working with L'Arche, an international network of communities where people with and without intellectual disabilities live and work side-by-side, to educate people about the benefits of the program.

What people really need is a friend, and for us, if you're not making friends you're not doing it right.- Jenn Power

Jenn Power, regional director of L'Arche in Atlantic Canada, said what sets the organization apart is its focus on relationships.

"Yes, people need a good doctor, they need a good psychologist, they need good medication, they need good therapy," said Power.

"But what people really need is a friend, and for us, if you're not making friends you're not doing it right."

L'Arche is set up as a family environment, where people who have intellectual disabilities live with those who assist them and share life and daytime activities.

They share in decision-making and each person contributes as much as they can in order to live full, meaningful lives, said Power.  

"It's based on revealing the dignity of each person and through doing that, changing the way the world sees not only folks with disabilities, but people who are vulnerable or people who are often marginalized," Power told CBC's St. John's Morning Show.

'We can reveal something really beautiful'

Besides the live-in programs, L'Arche also offers daily workshops, like art and gardening, to those who just want to drop in.

L'Arche has nearly 200 homes throughout Canada. Currently, Power said the only two provinces that don't have the program are Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.

But Power said the Cornerstone Housing Society is well on its way to making L'Arche a reality here.

"Many of them are parents of adult children with disabilities, many of them are passionate about their communities and about social change," she said.

"By bringing people of different abilities and disabilities together we can reveal something really beautiful."