Head and Heart Communication: because we aim to work with both - inviting the practise of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) into our lives which has a simplicity and the power to bring wholeness and integrity to our lives.
Creating new ways of interacting that fulfil our longing for connection, support us to mediate, find peace with loved ones and ourselves. Finding acceptance of ourselves.
There will be practices to explore and practical skills to take back to your family, community and workplaces.
The time we spend together will be supportive and safe for you to explore at your own pace, using your own examples. The methods are experiential and built around the needs of the group.
No previous experience in NVC is required.
The purpose of NVC is to ensure everyone’s needs are valued equally and fulfilled in ways that contribute to connection, harmony and peace.
Nonviolent Communication develops people’s ability to listen to and transform blame, anger and criticism into respectful, constructive communication, and to resolve conflicts peacefully. moving from blame, shame and anger to win : win. Whether you want to change the way you communicate with your children or you have a social change project in mind NVC offers simple yet profound shifts in our ability to communicate. As a tool to support feedback It is essential in any organisation where conflict and pain around feedback can affect everyone.
It is helpful for people to read Marshall Rosenberg’s book Nonviolent Communication – A Language of Life before the workshop.
We will
• present the concepts and tools used in NVC
• introduce you to the steps of the NVC process for use in expressing yourself to others, listening to others and listening compassionately to yourself
• will give you sufficient information and practice to start using NVC in your daily life
• work in a experiential style working with examples from participants’ lives
We will use the NVC Dance Floors, no experience of dancing required! A visio-spatial set of mats which offer a powerful tool to support Nonviolent Communication. These Dance Floors cover topics such as Listening to our Anger, Guilt, Shame and Depression and how to be with others struggling with those emotions, Self Empathy, Making Life Serving Decisions and Transforming Regret.
Like learning a new dance, full fluency comes gradually, with practise. We will work to pull all the threads of communication together so you can lead with Head and Heart. All mistakes welcome too !
The training is designed to respond to different learning styles involving movement, whole group and small group work and essential integration time with and in nature.
Shona trained as a teacher, then an Educational Psychologist. As a psychologist she was lucky enough to have trained with some inspirational people and learnt many different approaches. All of which influence her pragmatic approach. These include, CBT, Coaching Psychology, Narrative Therapy, Solution Focussed Approaches, EMDR, Mindfulness and Nonviolent Communication. Shona first trained in Switzerland with Marshall Rosenberg in 2004. From that point on she underwent extensive training, with Marshall and other trainers including Gina Lawrie co creator of the Dance Floors, over many years.
She got her most significant training in how to make Nonviolent Communication sound 'real' with the countless hours she spent working with teenagers in schools. She was often the only person in the room using NVC and has seen first hand how this is sometimes the only thing needed- someone to chose to do something different. She is fascinated by the power of Empathy and during the first few months of the Pandemic has helped set up a global support line for Medics to have 24/7 access to an empathic listener.
Shona is now an assessor with the English Speaking European Assessor Team - who support others to integrate NVC into their lives and trainings.