NVC and Habits

The Skills of Facilitated Conversation: Mediation the Nonviolent Communication Way

Are you ready for a new way of mediating? Are you longing for solutions to come easily? Do you find it exhausting dredging up the same details over and over?

“All it takes is a lot of patience, the willingness to establish a human connection, the intention to follow NVC principles until you reach a resolution, and trust that the process will work.” -Marshall Rosenberg, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life

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For six weeks we will explore mediation in community from the perspective of a Nonviolent Communication consciousness. Guiding us through this journey are two CNVC Certified Trainers, Karen Starz and Michael Dillo, who have a passion to connect people in a human way so that they can enjoy contributing to each other’s wellbeing.

In this process, when connection is valued rather than details, solutions tend to come easily. Learn how to connect using observations, feelings, needs, and (doable) requests. Walk away with the confidence that connection is always available and accessible with patience.

This is not your typical legal mediation style. Come with an open mind and a willingness to share and practice. We will be using real-life experiences as role-play. Tools will be offered in presentations from Karen, Michael & video-clips from Marshall B. Rosenberg. Participants will be able to practice individually in smaller groups in break out rooms.

Karen Starz MA, MAEC, and CNVC Certified Trainer

Karen is a consultant, coach, speaker, and facilitator. The connection with Marshall Rosenberg’s work and NVC came naturally and peaked further, ongoing exploration into the foundations of NVC. Her background spans many areas, from interpersonal relationships, to businesses, schools, and non-profit organizations. Other services she provides include mediation, conflict resolution, and curriculum writing. Her approach to NVC is based on embodying the whole of nonviolent consciousness to create an automatic, empathic, somatic response and awareness. Karen aims to bring social change through learning, and is particularly interested in the spiritual connection that NVC fosters. One way she embodies this aim by contributing as President of Houston NVC.

See more at www.karenstarz.com

Michael Dillo, Assessor and CNVC Certified Trainer

Michael in his “first” life was a professor for civil engineering. In his PhD thesis he specialized in underground constructions and tunneling in rock, what paved his way from his home country Germany to Switzerland in the early 1990’s. As much as he enjoyed living in this beautiful country, he started to feel increasingly dissatisfied with his job as an engineer and was disheartened dealing with technical questions all day. He struggled with with fear of change and a lot of messages like: I “have” to pay for my family, I “have” to finance my house, my insurances, my car, the vacation…

In 1997 he was inspired to attend a workshop with Marshall B. Rosenberg to find some answers to his questions and fears. During the first three day-seminar, he received some fundamental life-changing answers. However, it took him quite a while to understand the difference between intellectually understanding NVC and internalizing it. For many years he began to connect with feelings and needs as he had never done in life before – he began to empathize with himself and others.

In 2002 trust in himself had grown so much that he was able to quit his engineering profession without feelings of fear or guilt. Again and again, he was fascinated by and grateful for the experience that things, people, inspiration, and even money come “by chance“. He has been a CNVC Certified Trainer since 2004 and started to work worldwide. In 2013 he was asked to join the CNVC Assessors Team of the German-speaking part of Switzerland and the CALF Team in the USA. He is passionate about supporting certification candidates on their path to deeply integrating NVC while heading for certification.

See more at www.frei-raeume.ch

We will be meeting Fridays from November 6th through December 11th from 11 am – 1 pm CT/ 6 pm – 8 pm CET. Please note that the first session will be 2.5 hours with the same start time, and all subsequent sessions will be 2 hours. We ask that you plan accordingly.

The requested amount is $240 for the six-week series. We are committed to making our workshops accessible to all. To request tuition support, email Karen Starz.

To register: click here

NVC and The Religious Experience:
The Alignment of Needs Consciousness and Spirituality

The founder and author of Nonviolent Communication, the late Marshall Rosenberg, was deeply interested in the common thread found in the world’s great religions and wisdom traditions. Drawing from them, Rosenberg was able to language their essential beliefs, values, and character traits as universal needs: the heart of Nonviolent Communication. Despite this, the topic of religion- albeit messy- and its potentiality within the framework and paradigm of NVC remains largely unexplored in circles of learning and teaching of Nonviolent Communication.

HoustonNVC invites you to explore the intersection of religion with Nonviolent Communication in this first-of-its-kind course offered online this fall. The course will be led by two seasoned Facilitators/Trainers who have spent much of their adult lives in search of beauty and meaning and perhaps surprisingly, have therefore aligned their unique religious beliefs with the practice and spirit of Nonviolent Communication.

We ask that participants have some level of NVC in the form of having read Marshall’s book, having taken one of our Fundamentals of NVC workshops, or another equivalent. Please email us if you have any questions regarding this request.

Karen Starz MA, MAEC, and CNVC Certified Trainer

Karen is a consultant, coach, speaker, and facilitator. The connection with Marshall Rosenberg’s work and NVC came naturally and peaked further, ongoing exploration into the foundations of NVC. Her background spans many areas, from interpersonal relationships, to businesses, schools, and non-profit organizations. Other services she provides include mediation, conflict resolution, and curriculum writing. Her approach to NVC is based on embodying the whole of nonviolent consciousness to create an automatic, empathic, somatic response and awareness. Karen aims to bring social change through learning, and is particularly interested in the spiritual connection that NVC fosters.

See more at www.karenstarz.com

Jamil Popatia, CNVC Certification Candidate

Jamil struggled to find his purpose, identity and a sense of belonging while growing up in Western Canada with immigrant parents. Jamil now considers these struggles as opportunities to build resilience in an unpeaceful environment. It wasn’t until his 30s that he discovered what dignity, purpose and meaning would be for him. His response to his environment was to explore ways of nonviolently addressing interpersonal conflict. As a counselor, mediator and trainer his passion is balancing empathy with authenticity in all interactions. Jamil considers this use of nonviolent communication to be dignified dialogue in that it is true to compassion and connection. Jamil is particularly interested in the intersection of faith, spirituality and NVC as seen through the lenses of the religions of the world.

See more at www.DignifiedDialogue.ca

We welcome all religions and belief systems: faith-based or otherwise. Please come with curiosity and a willingness to explore the intersection of needs-based consciousness and spirituality.

We will meet Tuesdays from October 6 through November 24th, from 7-9 pm CT.

Register before 9/21 to take advantage of the early bird price of $290. Full price is $359.

Click here to register

We will be meeting on Mondays, October 5th – November 23rd, 7-9 pm CT.

An 8-week online learning community facilitated by Todd Porter, HoustonNVC Board Member

What is it? This is a highly interactive, discussion-based exploration of Marshall Rosenberg’s book “Nonviolent Communication: a Language of Life, 3rd Ed.” (Puddle Dancer Press, 2015). Together, we will form an online learning community in which we can apply what we’ve read about with real people in real conversation. Reading, reflection, and review homework provide participants with the opportunity to make the most of the weekly online interactions, which will focus on practice and application. This is an excellent foundational workshop for the beginner or a sound refresher for returning practitioners.

Who is it for? This course is for people who have occasion to communicate with people and want to be able to do so more effectively, especially in the conversations which are most important to us. The people who will get the most out of the experience are those who read along in advance of each week’s session and come ready and willing to risk trying the things they read about in a real conversation with a real person.

What is unique about this course? Rosenberg’s compassionate communication framework is a powerful tool we can use to make authentic, heart-to-heart connections. Being heard, understood, and accepted is one of the most powerful gifts we can offer one another. It is also a gift that those around us desperately need. This group provides an opportunity to create peace in the world by creating peace within ourselves, as well as between ourselves and all with whom we speak.

For more information or to register: click here


Join me, Bren Hardt, for an interactive course in the art of empathy, a true Superpower & the “glue” of our entire society.

                 ** First class is complimentary for everyone.**

So many of us and so many of our neighbors are trying to cope with multiple stressors… even trauma.    Trauma is unaccompanied overwhelm, so listening with our full hearts can heal that because our neural pathways are wired to have “accompaniment”.  Then we can thrive, not just survive.

DATES:  Saturdays, September 12, 19, 26 & October 3& 10.
Time:  10am – noon
Request:   $99 or sliding scale based on your needs/my needs.
Please email me with a suggested workable/ joy-based payment amount.  I want all people to develop our natural skills of empathy regardless of available funds at the moment.

OUR CURRICULUM

• Increase clarity of what empathy is and is not
• Enhance your skills for empathic connection  
• Explore “touching the dream” in empathy
• Find out what prevents you from listening with empathy and learn ways to access choice in moments when you are triggered
• Explore different styles of empathy to fit a variety of situations
• Explore natural expressions of empathy
• Learn the benefits of empathy to brain and body

For more information and to register click here

  Whole-Hearted-Communication.com;  bbhardt@gmail.com

Susan Wildin MD, CPC invites you to Relating to Your Adult “Children”

Do you see the oxymoron in the title? We will explore this and more in three 2-hour online workshop sessions October 10, 17, and 24, 2020 from 1:30-3:30pm Central time in which we will mourn the loss of childhood, celebrate the growth of the adult, find purpose for ourselves, and creatively transform our relationships with our offspring. We will also practice dialogues around real life issues or concerns.

Registration Link

Join Susan Wildin MD, CPC, for an opportunity to practice Nonviolent Communication at home in community with others, exploring the curriculum in The Ongo Book: Everyday Nonviolence – Daily practices in Mindfulness, Nonviolent Communication and More, for individuals, couples, and groups by Catherine Cadden and Jesse Wiens.

Ongo will be offered starting June 7, 2020 and meeting weekly on Sunday through August 16, 2020 from 1-3 pm CT. The program consists of group sessions weekly, led in turn by each group participant using the scripts in the book, weekly empathy buddy sessions (buddies change monthly), and daily solo practices.

Susan requests $20 per participant for the entire 12-week session to support her time and work in organizing and doing the tech work, as well as the cost of the Zoom program. She is open to dialogue if this amount is a problem for anyone. You will also need to purchase The Ongo Book.

To register or for more information click the links.

Do you think of money as a need? Want to be a part of a collective experiment on money? Do you have some belief systems getting you down, or some thoughts about money that bring up anxiety and fear?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, this workshop is for you. With facilitation by Karen Starz, CNVC Certified Trainer, we will explore a new paradigm of giving and receiving, within the context of a nonviolent consciousness.

The aim is to honor all the energy we expend while dancing out the door with joy. This is a 5-week course and the more people who come, the more we will have to work within our collective energy pile.

To express interest in scheduling this workshop with a group, email Karen Starz

Join Susan Wildin MD, CPC for Heart Centered Parenting. Heart Centered Parenting is for
parents of children of all ages (even adult children), grandparents, educators and anyone else
who has contact with children. Using principals of Nonviolent Communication, we will explore
connecting with children in our lives in ways that are nourishing to everyone. The sessions are
designed to build on one another, and you can come in at any time. The format will be 1 hour of
topical teaching and practice and one hour of role play with real life issues in each session.

Susan is a retired developmental behavioral pediatrician and a transformational life coach with
12 years of experience in Nonviolent Communication.

Finding Common Ground in Challenging Times with David Weinstock

• Learn how to speak your truth with confidence
• Increase your ability to live with inner and outer harmony
• Discover new tools for creating and deepening connections
• Expand your capacity for holding others with compassion
• Click here for details

The “Let’s Work Collaboratively” Coaching Program with Dian Killian

• Bring NVC to work in radical game-changing ways
• Enjoy greater collaboration with your colleagues
• Expand your team’s effectiveness
• Experience more empowerment and ease with your boss
• Click here for details

Taste of Compassionate Leadership Free Video Conference with Jim & Jori Manske

• FREE program that meets on the fourth Saturday of most months
• Experience a taste of living within an empathic community
• Enjoy short yet powerful training/practice sessions with our trainers
• Learn concrete skills and steps for practicing compassion and leadership
• Click here for details

Would you like to bring Compassionate Communication to your group? Whether it is a school, a professional group, a gathering of friends or a spiritual based organization, we have a diverse group of NVC trainers in our area ready to create workshops or presentations to address your group’s specific needs.

Email us at info@HoustonNVC.org to learn how our highly qualified trainers can support you and your group.