About Les Amis

Les Amis Incorporated
La Grande Route de St Martin
St Saviour
Jersey
JE2 7JA
Channel Islands

T: (01534) 850600
F: (01534) 519956

Les Amis was first opened in 1975. Originally known as Maison Variety, it has many houses and flats in the Island of Jersey, offering support to groups of people living independently. Staffing levels vary depending on the needs of the groups and individual residents. In 2007 a major restructuring of the various projects was undertaken to reflect the rapid growth of Les Amis.

Les Amis is a rapidly expanding organisation that grows to meet the needs of those with learning disabilities in Jersey. As at the time of writing, there is a total of 150 staff employed by us, full or part-time. The vast majority, well over 100, are support staff working directly with residents.

Les Amis provides accommodation for the entire range of learning disabilies including those with dual-diagnosis mental health issues, those with physical disabilities or sensory impairments in addition to a learning disability, those who present with behaviours that challenge the service, those who have autistic spectrum disorders in addition to a learning disability through to highly independent married couples who rent their own flats and need only the lowest level of support.

In addition to permanent accommodation we also provide three respite services, including one to children, known as Maison Allo, managed on behalf of Jersey Mencap, and a range of day services such as Life Skills.

Staff Support and Training - great emphasis is placed on support and training of staff at Les Amis. Specialist 'in-house' expertise is available in the fields of Sexual Health and Relationships, Manual Handling, Diet and Nutrition, Epilepsy, Mental Health and Challenging Behaviour. Over 30 topics are offered on an annual basis and a more appropriate qualification than NVQS has been identified; an ASET distance learning course specific to learning disability was piloted successfully to a group of 10 staff in 2007, with two further groups of 10 enrolling in 2008.

Community Opportunities Guaranteed Service (COGS) - a day service that has grown substantially since its creation. COGS provides daytime opportunities in small groups or on an individual basis for those for whom work or other day services are not an option. COGS aims to be community based, accessing facilities within ordinary settings on a daily basis, encouraging the development of life-skills and creating meaningful opportunities that lead to greater independence.

The organisation now consists of the following Projects: Les Amis Project (at Five Oaks), Town Project, St. Saviour Project, Respite Project, Life Skills.