Offerings
For all of the offerings we make, we can do these sessions as a team, or individually, depending on what you want. Feedback has indicated that when we work together, the people we work with have found both our individual paces and personalities supportive of the differences between them. For example, some will relate more to one of us than the other, and seeing our real-life interactions can model a connecting way that very different people can relate.
Sharing NVC through:
• Private sessions with couples & families
In private sessions, via phone, Skype or in person, we support dialogue between those involved by helping to slow things down, to stay in the moment and to ensure that each can hear what is most important to the other, the needs underlying the stories and strategies that may be hindering connection. We welcome being with all forms of couples & families (same gender, blended, co-parents, etc.).
In our own lives, we have found dedicated empathy time to be tremendously supportive and key to our resilience in facing what life brings. In these personal empathy sessions we will offer our presence and deep listening to allow you to connect with what is profoundly important to you. From this sense of spaciousness within yourself you may find clarity naturally arising about what you want to do next. This spaciousness allows you to be in real choice, rather than reactivity.
• Mediation in both personal and professional settings
People in conflict often have a sense of hopelessness that the situation can be any different. Through pre-mediation sessions with each party separately, mediation between the different parties together, use of the process of dissolving enemy images, and lots and lots of empathy, we support people who perceive themselves on different sides of a conflict to be able to recognize the underlying needs of themselves and the other. From this place of shared understanding, they have more chance of collaboratively creating solutions and strategies that can hold all of their needs with care.
• Workshops and series tailored to specific groups
We offer 3, 4, 6, and 8 week series (one meeting per week), half-day, day-long, and weekend workshops, on specific aspects of NVC such as the basic foundations; deepening skills; empathy; mediation; and more. We have tailored our approach to groups such as yoga studios, schools, sanghas, and practice groups, and welcome working with specific populations such as couples, parents, parents of adult children, teens, etc.
• Organizational support for non-profits, particularly those working for social change
Too often, we have seen people devoted to social change work unaware that there could be a different way of relating. Not having the skills or awareness to see the alternative, they continue the modes of interaction which led to the situations they are working to change. For example, in our experience in humanitarian aid work, usually decisions were made in the same power-over, non-participatory ways that contributed to the conflict in the first place. We are especially interested in supporting social change organizations to really explore what it means, as Gandhi stated, to be the change they want to see in the world.
Anywhere from 2-4 hours, these introductions to NVC serve to whet the appetite, to give people enough information so they will know if they are curious enough to pursue learning NVC. With fun, interactive activities, role plays, and real life examples, participants will get a first taste of the transformative power of NVC.
• Group and meeting facilitation
Whether weekly staff meetings, monthly NVC practice group meetings, or quarterly board meetings, balancing efficiency, connection, inclusion, learning, and fun is something many people long for yet do not know how to make a reality. Bringing our experience as managers facilitating meetings in various settings overseas together with our NVC training, we can help you and your organization to have meetings that people will look forward to.
Notes on:
• Our approach to sustainability
We have a sliding scale of set hourly rates we would enjoy receiving for the support we offer. And, we want everyone to get the support they need to live the lives they long to live, regardless of ability to pay for such services. As we recognize that money is simply a strategy, we welcome discussions of other strategies during which we can come to a mutual agreement. In the world we envision, we would love to operate on a gift economy, where goods and services are given without any explicit expectation for immediate reciprocation. We are open to exchanges of services and goods, trusting that our needs will be met in the long run. We want whatever people contribute to us to be given joyfully from the heart, motivated by care, appreciation, and valuing what has been offered.
We welcome invitations to share NVC in your town. We also provide support over the phone and/or via Skype.