PROCEDURES AND STEPS: The structure that we provide

If you are reading this, you have already taken an important first step to gain clarity about your intention and to determine your interest in sharing Nonviolent Communication as a Certified Trainer. We would like interested individuals to be clear about their purpose before embarking on the journey towards certification.

This is why we strongly recommend that you read the Preparing for Certification process carefully and with a critical eye. From experience, we know that irritations and misunderstandings about the Certification Process can be avoided if you read this packet in-depth prior to contacting an Assessor.

Once you have reviewed this packet, you may decide to contact an Assessor of your choosing to explore a mutual agreement to work together. Here are some questions that you might ask yourself when you consider an Assessor:

• Are you willing to travel to a mutually agreed upon place if the Assessor lives in a different geographical area? (final assessments are often done in person).
• Does the Assessor share a common language with you?
• Would you prefer a group assessment or individual assessment?
• Would you like to go through the certification process with others in community, or would you prefer doing most of your journey from your home or through video conferencing?

We recommend that each person on this path reads this process thoroughly -- even if you have spoken to an Assessor and you have heard the guidelines from their perspective -- which we find supports clearer understanding between Certification Candidates and Assessors. We encourage you to have a meaningful and in-depth exchange with your potential Assessor to clarify your shared commitment on this path of certification. We predict that having a shared reality about the Certification Process will support more ease and connection between Assessor and Certification Candidate and maximize the likelihood of being a good match.

Finally, these exchanges will demonstrate whether there is a mutual desire to walk the path of certification together. There may also be reasons that either the Certification Candidate or Assessor choose to work with someone else, which may trigger feelings for either the Assessor or the Certification Candidate. If you are both unable to find a satisfying solution with the selection process, the ACC is open to support a dialogue. If as a Certification Candidate, you decide to contact another Assessor to explore working with them, please reveal this intention to both Assessors.

Register as a Certification Candidate

Once you have contacted an Assessor and you’ve come to a mutual decision to work together, please send the following items to your Assessor in order to register as a Certification Candidate:

1. Please include the following contact information as a heading on the first page:

• Your Name
• Mailing address
• Phone number(s), email address(es), other contact information
• Birth date, place of birth
• What gender do you identify as?
• Primary language and any other languages spoken

2. A list of Nonviolent Communication trainings you have attended including dates, locations, titles of trainings, number of days (6-8 hours = one day) and names of the Certified Trainers who taught the courses. Please document and total a minimum of 20 days of Nonviolent Communication training with Certified Trainers before requesting to be registered as a trainer Certification Candidate. Interactive Online training may be included up to 30% of the 20 days.

3. A statement of intent (1-2 pages) explaining why you wish to become a Certified Trainer, including the following four points:

• Your beginning thoughts about a social change focus;
• Spirituality as it applies to Nonviolent Communication;
• The Nonviolent Communication community to which you belong or are planning to create.
• What is the difference for you between sharing Nonviolent Communication as a Certified Trainer versus a non-Certified Trainer?

4. A recommendation with specific observations from at least one Certified Trainer who is familiar with your involvement in Nonviolent Communication. This might include examples of your willingness and ability to:

• Explore new ideas and concepts
• Actively participate in discussions and exercises
• Receive empathy
• Offer empathy
• Stay in the present moment
• Celebrate new awarenesses and learning new skills

5. A statement that you have:

• Read and agree to follow the Guidelines for non-Certified Trainers.
• Carefully read the entire Certification Preparation Packet, to guide you in your efforts toward certification. Made a list of questions to discuss with your Assessor.
• Read the Trainer Agreement and understand you will be asked to agree to its current version at the time of your pre-assessment. If you have any questions, now is the time to discuss them.

6. Fees that you can expect to pay:

• Registration: USD $ 100 - 250 (paid to Assessor)
• Pre-assessment: USD $ 250 - 600 (paid to Assessor). Assessor(s) spend approximately one day reviewing pre-assessment files, and more time discussing it with you and deciding whether or not to schedule a final assessment session. Please include this fee payable to the Assessor by including it with your pre-assessment file. (if applicable, a Video critique is typically an additional $ 100 - 250)
• Assessment: USD $ 250 - 600 (paid to Assessor). Assessor(s) spend an average of 1 to 3 days meeting with you for the final assessment session. Please offer this fee directly to the Assessor at the time of your assessment.
• Certification: USD $ 250 (paid to CNVC)

NOTE: These amounts are based on USD. We consider economic conditions, standard of living, and exchange rates in all cultures to ensure that (1) Assessors receive fees that contribute to their sustainability; and (2) certification is accessible to people in all locations. Please discuss with your Assessor to mutually agree on the currency in which they wish to be paid and the equivalent amount.

If you and your Assessor mutually decide that the final assessment has been successful, please submit the certification fee, payable to CNVC, along with the required information as directed by the CNVC office in order to complete the certification process. If the pre-assessment is not followed by the assessment itself, the pre-assessment fee will still apply in consideration of the Assessors’ time. The Certification Candidate can re-apply after six months, and might be requested to pay a fee again for the additional Assessors’ time.

If you have difficulty in meeting these fees, please discuss alternative options with your Assessor such as: deferred payments, a payment plan, in-kind services, and/or resources for how to do one's own fundraising. If offered and received with willingness and joy, Assessors would like Certification Candidates to consider contributing even beyond this range, with awareness of the Assessors' efforts on their behalf, and also to support other Certification Candidates with less resource.

After receiving each of the items, the Assessor will review them and see if your information is complete and if they perceive that you stated intent is in alignment with CNVC's vision and mission.

If there are any questions about your application, the Assessor or Certification Coordinator will contact you for further discussion before proceeding further. When mutual agreement is reached for you to be registered as a Certification Candidate, the CNVC office will send you the final procedures for your registration, and to welcome you into the community of Certification Candidates.

If for any reason mutual agreement is not reached regarding your registration as a Certification Candidate, the Assessor will notify the Assessors Coordinating Circle (ACC) that you have not come to an agreement. If necessary, you may initiate a dialogue with the ACC as well.

NVC Training and Preparation

Before requesting a pre-assessment, we ask that Certification Candidates to:

• work through the steps in the Certification Preparation process
• teach Nonviolent Communication as a non-Certified Trainer for at least two years
• receive a significant amount of Nonviolent Communication training and mentoring from at least three Certified Trainers in order to experience a variety of learning styles
• keep recording training logs and personal journals to chart progress and learnings

Together, these things will demonstrate living Nonviolent Communication (personal growth), deepening of Nonviolent Communication skills, and teaching skills, all over a period of time.

If you live in a region with Certified Trainers, Certification Candidates are strongly encouraged, but not mandated, to work with them for mentoring, team teaching, volunteering, and working on projects, thus gathering feedback on training skills, and then writing about reactions and learning edges. If you do not have a community in your geographic area that you wish to join, we ask you to create your own Nonviolent Communication community to meet these same needs. You might also benefit from working with other Certified Trainers and organizing Nonviolent Communication work for them.

Personal Journal entries

We would like you to keep a regular record of your Nonviolent Communication learning, growth, and insights. Use journaling as a means to explore (question, reflect, and learn) rather than to simply record the internal and external events in your life. The purpose of this journal is twofold: 1) most importantly, for your own self-discovery, to chart and assess your own progress; 2) communicate to the Assessor your awareness and skills in living, knowing and teaching the Nonviolent Communication process in a way that is consistent with the integrity and spirit of Nonviolent Communication.

We are more interested in knowing that the journal format and timing supports your learning, which for us is the primary purpose. We also want to mutually agree to a format that gives us the information we are looking for and you the best way to express your personal experiences. Please type your journals if possible, and have the intent to be concise rather than tell long stories. As you write a regular journal of your learning please send them at least twice a year to your Assessor. You may try out the journal outline in part IV.D.3 to see if it supports you in charting your own learning progress over time. It’s up to you whether you report once a week, every two weeks, or an even longer gap "when life intervenes."

Your journal content might be: How I am using Nonviolent Communication in my everyday life: in relationships, at work, stuck places, inner jackal dialogues, celebrations, and cleaning up “messes” (all demonstrating Nonviolent Communication skills by conveying observations, feelings, needs, and requests)? For example, replay in writing using Nonviolent Communication:

1. Interactions in which you did not communicate or respond the way you wanted.
2. What you did to process the interaction internally, and
3. What you did differently as a result.

In the section, "Some Things I Might Do..." you will find more suggestions on journaling. If you want to protect the identity of certain people, either use initials or another name. Your journal is considered to be confidential -- it will not be shared outside of the people involved in your assessment. It will be returned to you at the end of the pre-assessment session.

Video recordings

If it is not possible for your Assessor to see your training in person, you may mutually decide that you will video record one of your trainings and send the video to your Assessor. Hereafter, you find some suggestions about the contents of such a video recording. We would also like you to send your own feedback of your training, so the Assessor can recognize what you have learned from the recording and where you are in agreement.

This video averages 60-90 minutes and you present a Nonviolent Communication workshop that includes:

1. Interactions with participants, showing how you apply Nonviolent Communication in real time; and
2. Teaching where you present and illustrate Nonviolent Communication concepts.

The video can be a compilation of various segments. The camera can be placed at a certain distance from the Certification Candidate in order to catch some of the participants (as long as there is no sacrifice of sound). Please provide your Assessor with the following information about the video:

• The type of event and length of event (examples: daylong introductory workshop; 2-hour practice group).
• Number of participants who were present and who they were (examples: general public; group of teachers from one school).
• Amount of experience the participants had with Nonviolent Communication and how well you knew them personally.
• Date each segment was taken.
• Length of each segment.

We all make mistakes -- we do and say things during trainings that we wish we had done differently. We do not expect your video to be “perfect,” nor do we wish to see you edit out the segments of the training that you are dissatisfied with.

Instead, we ask that you offer your own critique (either written or also recorded) of the segments you have chosen: what you found satisfying, what worked, what didn’t work, what you would do differently, your learning edges, and the support you would find helpful.

Feedback Forms

We would like to receive a minimum of ten Feedback forms (called Feedback Form for CNVC Trainers and other community members – see Appendix 3) from at least three Certified Trainers, Nonviolent Communication mentors, and other members of the Nonviolent Communication community with whom you have worked. In addition, we would like to receive a minimum of ten “Participant Feedback forms” (Appendix 3) from trainings you have led, co-led, or assisted with.

Please attach a page to all forms to describe what you learned from that particular feedback and what you do differently as a result. In selecting feedback forms to send, please choose those from which you learned something about yourself or that demonstrate how participants' needs were met. Please duplicate as many forms as you need from Appendix 3.

IIT or Equivalent

We strongly recommend that you attend a 9-day International Intensive Training (IIT) before becoming certified, but this is not a requirement. You can also fulfill this requirement with other programs if they fulfill the following criteria:

• Multi-day, in-depth, residential training
• International Nonviolent Communication experience
• Areas fully experienced: Nonviolent Communication community (ongoing peer support), spirituality, and social change
• Significant Nonviolent Communication experience with multiple Certified Trainers and mentors
• Established a connection to CNVC, have a clear priority to support CNVC's mission, willing and able to renew annual certification

Certification Candidates who did not participate in an IIT before certification would pay tuition for their first IIT as a Certified Trainer.

Prepare and Ready Yourself Before Pre-Assessment

Transfering to a Different Assessor

On the path of certification, for a variety of reasons, a Certification Candidate might wish to work with a different Assessor than was originally mutually decided. If this is the case, please follow this procedure:

1. Certification Candidate completes any unfinished dialogues with the original Assessor, to a mutually satisfying conclusion.
2. Original Assessor and the new Assessor dialogue to find mutual agreement for the transfer, with reasons understood and agreed on.
3. Original Assessor and Certification Candidate transfer all of their notes to the new Assessor.
4. Certification Candidate and new Assessor dialogue to create mutual understanding about their relationship, and how they will work together.

When you are confident about your level of preparation and have assembled all of your pre-assessment materials, reach out to your Assessor to request your pre-assessment. We suggest contacting your Assessor 2-3 months before you would like to schedule the pre-assessment session to allow plenty of time for scheduling.

Please read thoroughly the Trainer Agreement. If you have any concerns that would prevent you from signing it, contact your Assessor for further dialogue on the subject before sending any pre-assessment materials.

Once you understand and are prepared to follow the Trainer Agreement, the next step is to send your Assessor your pre-assessment portfolio including the following items:

1. Statement of purpose: Please describe your motivation to become a Certified Trainer, and your self-assessment of your development as you have evolved in the process.
2. Journal entries: Summarize and reflect your learning from keeping a personal journal over the period of 3-5 years and celebrate your accomplishment.
3. Feedback forms: Provide 10 or more feedback forms from participants in your trainings, and 10 or more feedback forms from Certified Trainers and/or colleagues in your Nonviolent Communication community. These feedback forms should include your reaction to the feedback and new learnings, to demonstrate progress over time. Also, include an overall report citing specific examples on what you have learned and what you do differently now as a result of the feedback.
4. Trainings you have attended:

• Training with Certified Trainers:

List all of your trainings, both those you originally noted and any additional trainings since beginning the certification process. Please provide the dates, locations, titles of the training, number of days, names of the Certified Trainers names, and the total number of training days. The minimum required for certification is 50 full days of training, and it is strongly recommended that this includes at least one International Intensive Training (IIT). This is a minimum; most Certification Candidates attend more days than the minimum before they are confident about their Nonviolent Communication skills.

• Candidate credit for training with Non-Certified Trainers:

20% of the required 50 days of training is accepted if your Assessor has a personal relationship or knows and respects the non-Certified Trainer and trusts that you are receiving training in harmony with Nonviolent Communication values. Whether or not a specific non-Certified Trainer is acceptable to your Assessor is mutually decided upon by the Certification Candidate and their Assessor.

• Online Trainings:

Many Certification Candidates have requested credit for training days for participating in online trainings in addition to traditional in-person workshops and training programs. We would like to support Certification Candidates to receive credit for some Nonviolent Communication training that is effective, low-cost, and accessible. As a Certification Candidate, you can receive credit for previous training, if it fits within the following guidelines:

1. Certified Trainers have led the trainings
2. The training is interactive and participatory
3. The training offers opportunities for giving and receiving feedback
4. Specific record-keeping: name of trainer, date, exact hour(s) of training, topic, site.
5. For each training experience, a written summary of main points learned (1-2 paragraphs).
   

Up to 30% of the total training may be accumulated prior to the assessment process. (NOTE: We relax the requirement for in-person training to become a Certification Candidate (but keep requirement for live, interactive trainings), but still keep the requirement for 70% in-person trainings to become certified.

5. Training log (see Appendix 3.A) of Nonviolent Communication trainings you have offered or at which you have assisted, including practice groups, introductory presentations, longer workshops and courses, with your reactions and new learnings over time to support self-awareness and growth.
   

6. NVC concepts and key distinctions: Add in written, audio, or video form your best understanding of some or all (Certification Candidate and Assessor mutually choose how many of them) of the Nonviolent Communication concepts and key distinctions listed under chapter IV.A (Knowing Nonviolent Communication – Theory, Concepts and Processes). Explain the distinctions between the domination paradigm and the partnership concept for each of the key distinctions. Please describe them as you would teach them in your trainings.
   

7. The pre-assessment fee - payable to the Assessor (more information about fees).

Contact your Assessor to confirm that the fee and all materials you sent have been received. When your Assessor receives your materials, they will let you know how much time they need to review the materials. In this period of time, the Assessor will also ask for feedback from those who know the Certification Candidate in both the trainer community and from the Assessor team. After reviewing the materials, the Assessor will contact the Certification Candidate.

Both mutually decide the Certification Candidate’s readiness for the pre-assessment and agree on a date for the pre-assessment session. If the Assessor does not have sufficient knowledge or experience of your teaching skills to feel comfortable moving ahead to the pre-assessment, they may ask for more information in order to feel more confident about your readiness.

The purpose of the pre-assessment is to explore learning edges and to arrive at a mutual agreement — either to go ahead with the final assessment, or postpone it in favor of further practice and study. The pre-assessment process supports the completion of the final assessment. We want the final assessment to be a celebration of your accomplishment.

When the pre-assessment session has been completed and there is a mutual decision to go ahead, request an assessment session with your Assessor. If the decision is not to move ahead, request clarification from the Assessor regarding further preparation that would support your readiness for certification.

If your Assessor would like to gain more knowledge of your teaching skills, they may request a video recording of you teaching before agreeing to a pre-assessment session. The Assessor may ask for a range of fees (or equivalent) for this review.

After a mutual review of the video, if the Assessor or Certification Candidate is not comfortable moving ahead to pre-assessment, the Assessor and Certification Candidate will give feedback to each other on the video and mutually agree on where more work could be done before the Certification Candidate moves ahead for another pre-assessment session.

If there is no mutual agreement for pre-assessment, another option could be to submit another video (or alternative) in six months. There will be a range of fees payable to the Assessor each time. Candidates may apply for pre-assessment as many times as they wish (with a minimum six months gap between submissions).

The following notes about the assessment session do not take into account groups of Assessors working together or providing group assessments, or providing group trainings for Certification Candidates. These notes are focused on a one-to-one relationship between Certification Candidate and Assessor. The information can still be used as a guide for a range of assessment procedures, leading to a consistent outcome of new Certified Trainers who know Nonviolent Communication, can teach Nonviolent Communication, and can demonstrate they are "living" Nonviolent Communication.

We expect the assessment session, which will consist of a series of activities interspersed with feedback and followed by evaluation, to take a minimum of 1-3 days. This block of time will include preliminary remarks, assessment activities, mutual ongoing feedback, learning edges for both Certification Candidate and Assessor, and discussion of next steps to take.

The intention of the assessment process is to demonstrate competency in knowing, living and sharing Nonviolent Communication. Living Nonviolent Communication in the assessment process includes self- awareness and self-assessment of both the Certification Candidate and the Assessor. We are looking for self-awareness rather than mastery. We want to know that if you lose connection with Nonviolent Communication consciousness, you are able to find your way back. At any time during the assessment session, if either the Certification Candidate or the Assessor is not comfortable with the present situation, either may ask for a “stop” in order to dialogue around this issue.

Through this process, hopefully, both Certification Candidate and Assessor will gain clarity in the level of preparedness of the Certification Candidate. There will be an opportunity for feedback for all throughout this experience.

If there is a mutual decision at the end of the session that the assessment was completed and both Certification Candidate and Assessor were satisfied, Certification Candidate and Assessor will explore learning edges for future growth, review final steps for certification, and the Assessor will announce the completion of the assessment to the Educational Services team.

If the mutual decision is to postpone certification, Assessor and Certification Candidate discuss strategies for further preparation. If a mutual decision to postpone certification is not reached in a reasonable time frame for either party, then the Assessor notifies the Certification Candidate of the appeals process as the next step.

Your Assessor will be looking for your understanding of Nonviolent Communication concepts and processes, including key differentiations and frequently asked questions, which can be found in Knowing Nonviolent Communication – Theory, Concepts and Processes. We focus on the following areas:

1. Your verbal explanation of concepts and processes. We would like to see easy recall, clarity, and the use of examples to illustrate each concept or process.
   
   
2. Your demonstration through role-play of how these concepts and processes are applied. In role-plays, we are looking for your ability to remain in Nonviolent Communication consciousness, to make choices about when to empathize or express, and to remain connected to feelings and needs. These role-plays are divided into three categories:

• General interpersonal situations involving family members, partners, friends, colleagues, and neighbors.
• Nonviolent Communication "leader" situations where you are leading or hosting Nonviolent Communication events.
• Social change situations where you are wanting to contribute to or effect change in organizations, institutions, or other groups of people.

3. Your integration of the concepts in real-life interactions with yourself and the Assessor. During the assessment session, you may be asked to:

• set up a role-play of a situation of your own choosing
• make a mock presentation on an aspect of Nonviolent Communication
• respond to questions regarding Nonviolent Communication concepts and processes
• demonstrate or describe how you empathize with yourself in specific situations, such as when you have an internal conflict
• respond to your Assessor's feedback (including possibly uncomfortable feedback)
• describe an unresolved conflict you have with someone. A "conflict" may be any situation where your heart shuts down to any degree to another person
• offer self-evaluation, both generally and for this assessment process
• evaluate the assessment process.