9-day residential retreat in Nonviolent Communication
Join us for this residential retreat in Montenegro (10-May to 19-May-2023) that will help you bring nonviolence and peace into all areas of your life. In this event, you can discover skills that will help you improve the quality of your relationships, deepen your inner peace, and increase your contribution to the world.
Watch this video to meet the team that is hosting this training including the primary organizer and four trainers:
This 9-day immersion experience into Nonviolent Communication (NVC) will offer learning sessions, home groups, coaching and feedback from skilled trainers, and a community environment where you can learn and practice the key skills of NVC.
Our team of Certified Trainers will share the core curriculum of NVC as developed by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, author of the bestselling book, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life (5 million copies sold worldwide). We expect a group of approximately 75 people from different countries, cultural backgrounds, professions, and walks of life.
People around the world are using Nonviolent Communication skills to transform conflict, create resiliency in their relationships, and build a world where everyone's needs matter and are met collaboratively.
We will create a dynamic learning laboratory that will show you how to create a more compassionate and peaceful culture in your life at home, at work, and in your community by learning how to:
- Speak from the heart
- Practice deep, non-judgmental listening
- Build self-empowerment from the inside out
| Basic Details |
Format: In-person, 9-day residential retreat
Language: English
Begins: Wednesday, 10-May-2023 (5:00 pm)
Ends: Friday, 19 May 2023 (1:00 pm)
Location: Princess Hotel Beach and Conference Resort (exact location in Google Maps)
Sponsor: Center for Nonviolent Communication
Organizer: Srdjan Vukčević, Certification Candidate with CNVC and CEO of Bluecoach
Register: Click this link
Note: We also encourage you to visit the website that the organizers of this training created for this event.
| Goals of this Training |
The purpose of this intensive training is to give you the opportunity to live the process of Nonviolent Communication in community over an extended period of time, in order to develop the mindsets and practical tools to help you in three areas:
1. Personal and Professional Relationships
- Increase connection and closeness with the people you love.
- Speak in a way that inspires compassion and understanding.
- Initiate difficult conversations with more ease and confidence.
- Remain centered and peaceful when receiving difficult messages.
- Express and receive anger fully, safely and respectfully... yet powerfully.
- Resolve long-standing conflicts and heal painful relationships.
- Parent children from the heart and move beyond power struggles into cooperation.
- Translate criticism, judgments and blame into life-serving messages.
2. Inner Transformation
- Shift patterns of thinking that lead to depression, guilt and shame and that perpetuate pain.
- Transform anger into self-understanding, thereby increasing inner peace.
- Enliven yourself by expressing and receiving gratitude.
- Learn to embody unconditional love.
3. Contribution to others and Social Change
- Share NVC in ways that transmit and model its power to transform and inspire others.
- Create educational systems where students love learning and teachers love teaching.
- Learn to engage in effective, lasting nonviolent social change in the tradition of Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
- Facilitate meetings and support group decision making in a power-sharing, collaborative, and consensus-based ways.
- Support holistic and human-based workplaces
- Engage with others at work and in the community to foster openness, trust and authenticity.
- Foster restoration and harmony by mediating conflicts and helping to resolve differences among others.
While we will prioritize these three areas in the curriculum, there is also room for co-creation. There will be opportunities for you to request specific topics and applications to support you in living and sharing NVC at work, home, and in the community as well as internally in how you relate to yourself.
| The Training Team |
Each member of the training team is a Certified Trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication.
Trainer and Assessor: Kathleen Macferran (United States)
Kathleen is a facilitator, author, Certified Trainer (since 2003), and Assessor (since 2010) for the Center for Nonviolent Communication and the owner of Strength of Connection. She holds a vision for a peaceful, just, and sustainable world. Kathleen is committed to co-creating a world where peace replaces violence, love replaces hate, equity replaces inequity, and all people live meaningful lives.
For 20 years, she served as a workshop facilitator for the Freedom Project in Seattle, WA, supporting healing and restoration inside and outside prisons through NVC, mindfulness, racial equity, and anti-oppression. Kathleen travels internationally offering facilitation, system building and conflict transformation using practical skills that lead to reconciliation with ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. She has worked with individuals, community groups, businesses, schools, colleges, faith-based communities, hospitals, families, prison inmates, and correctional and law enforcement employees.
Prior to her work with nonviolence, Kathleen spent much of her life bringing harmony to communities through music, including two decades as a classical music conductor and leader of a nonprofit organization, and seven years as a public school music teacher.
Kathleen is co-author of Choice: A Field Guide for Navigating the Polarization of Our World and Living Interdependently. In addition, she is the author of the children’s books, How Giraffes Found their Hearts and, How Giraffes Got Their Ears, and conductor for Giraffe Tales, a children's CD setting those stories to music. Kathleen is the conductor on multiple Rainier Chamber Winds classical music recordings. Learn more about Kathleen.
Trainer: Ian Peatey (Romania)
Ian first met Marshall Rosenberg (the founder of Nonviolent Communication) in 2001 starting a personal transformation connecting with his deeper core and changing pretty much every aspect of his life. Originally from the United Kingdom, he currently lives in Romania where, together with his wife, he is building a thriving NVC community. He has been a Certified Trainer since 2008.
Introvert by nature, he is passionate about sharing NVC to build thriving and sustainable relationships in families and in organisations, drawing on his extensive experience as a parent (3 daughters) and a trainer and coach in the business world. He is a regular on IITs and loves the depth and immersion this experience brings as well as the rich multi-cultural quality of these events.
In 2012, he started the program Getting Started in NVC, a series of three courses designed to support those who want to integrate Nonviolent Communication in their personal life, and then share it with others. Later, this program was revised and today is under the name of Extraordinary Relationships, an intensive 6-month training in which participants learn by applying the principles of NVC in significant relationships in their lives. Learn more about Ian.
Trainer: Liv Larsson (Sweden)
Liv Larsson has been a certified Trainer with CNVC since 2002. She lives in the north of Sweden, leads training all over the world, and is the author of 22 books on communication both for adults and children. She also works as a mediator between the indigenous group of Sweden, the Sami, and the forest and mining companies.
Shame has become one of the mysteries of inner human life that Liv appreciates studying and sharing her knowledge about. Embracing shame means opening up possibilities to learning about human interaction and showing how to find dignity, acceptance, and belonging.
Liv is the author of ten books available in Swedish, English, and other languages including A Helping Hand, mediation with Nonviolent Communication, and Walk Your Talk: Tools and Theories to Help Share Nonviolent Communication.
Liv loves cross-country-skiing, writing, and enjoying life, preferably in nature. You can her find her lecture on shame here: Liv Larsson “Shame – friend or foe?” Learn more about Liv.
Trainer: Dmitriy Kopina (Slovenia)
I am eager to grasp different knowledge and I’m a restless explorer my entire life. Working as a leader, reading full libraries of books, and attending so many classes, training, and workshops, I perceived myself as an encyclopedia of various technical and formal knowledge. I was always keen on sharing his knowledge and fully dedicated to learning and sharing more, and more, and more. Until one day it was really too much and it all stopped, burned out, ending in the hospital.
Several years later, after changing my lifestyle upside down, learning yoga, and martial arts, connecting with nature, and finding my meaning, I met two of my today’s “best friends”: NVC – Nonviolent Communication and CI – Contact Improvisation. Attending a similar, multi-day retreat changed my life completely, beyond words to describe, meeting Life on another level. I’m still attending lots of training and have facilitated hundreds of my own workshops, individual coaching, and therapy sessions. I enjoy changing and supporting changes and transitions in the lives of people. Until this day, these several days of retreats are still my favorite events.
My life mission and purpose, working as a trainer, adviser, manager, father, and teacher involve activities that are supporting individuals in finding their authenticity, the fullness of life, and awareness; connecting people together, building “power with” communities based on equality of all needs and using forms of communication and full embodiment to support connecting individuals and groups into their essence, consciousness and spirituality. Learn more about Dmitriy.
Trainer in Memoriam: Robert Kržišnik (Slovenia-Portugal)
This training is dedicated to the memory of the recently deceased Robert Kržišnik (1966-2022), a member of the core team for this event starting in 2020.
From his early teenage years, Robert has been inquiring into the questions of the meaning of life, the nature of existence, and the ways of meeting each other at the heart level. The journey led him through studying Psychology, working as a psychotherapist for 12 years, and working as a trainer, and facilitator for over 30 years, covering areas from spiritual retreats to business training.
Within the context of NVC, he was most passionate about its spiritual and embodied dimensions and about conflict mediation. He has been regularly serving as a trainer on IITs and has shared NVC in over 25 countries in Europe, Mideast, Asia, the USA, Australia.
For most of his life his permanent address was in Slovenia, which used to be a part of a country that does not exist anymore, but still resides in my heart as the place where I grew up — Yugoslavia. He had given two TEDx talks, connected with Nonviolent Communication one in 2012 on Global Citizenship, and the other in 2013 on Personal Growth. Learn more about Robert.
| The Organizing Team |
Organizer: Srdjan Vukčević (Montenegro)
Srdjan is a business and executive coach with international experience in leadership practices. He loves to work with competent business owners and leaders who are dedicated to learn, change and solve unique business challenges in order to propel their business, career and life in ways they never thought possible. In the process you learn and change together creating new habits in order to achieve your shared vision.
In his coaching, which is inspiring and encourages you to act, Srdjan skillfully uses dialog and stories from his own life and business experience as the best formula for permanent learning, challenging others to think and act. He believes that helping people is a life purpose and he lives by the Winston Churchill’s quote, "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
Srdjan comes into this area with over a decade of formal and intensive leadership and coaching training and a background in teaching and education. He is known as a pioneer of coaching industry in SEE region. With over 10 years of professional reputation and experience, Srdjan held several leading positions in various organizations in Montenegro. For the last years he has been working with executives, business owners and their teams to measurably improve their leadership and organizational effectiveness. He has trained and coached business owners, sports coaches and professional players, top executives, senior managers and directors, mainly in Europe for over 10 years. Learn more about Srdjan.
Organizer Assistants: Andjela Jušković (Montenegro) and
Katarina Sabeljic (Montenegro)
| Cost |
The cost of this training has two components: 1) Tuition; and 2) Room and Board (accommodations).
1. Tuition (USD): convert to your currency
- USD $1,989: Early Bird (through 11-Feb-2023) - convert to your currency
- USD $2,340: Standard (12-Feb-2023 and after) - convert to your currency
However, if you are a full-time resident of Montenegro or any of the countries listed below, your qualify for the regional tuition fee:
- Early Bird (through 11-Feb-2023): USD $1,295 (convert to your currency)
- Standard (12-Feb-2023 and after): USD $1,495 (convert to your currency)
The countries that this tuition fee applies to are:
- Albania
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Kosovo
- Macedonia
- Montenegro
- Romania
- Serbia
- Slovenia
Note: The regional tuition fee discount cannot be combined with any of the discounts listed below.
Discounts:
The following tuition discounts are available to people who do not qualify for the regional tuition fee described above (Note: you may apply only one of these discounts):
- 15% for registered Certification Candidates
- 10% if you participated in (and paid for) a previous intensive training with the Center for Nonviolent Communication
- 10% if you have been a Supporting Member of CNVC for 6 months or more.
Financial assistance:
After applying the available discounts, if you are not able to afford the tuition, you can request financial assistance to further reduce your tuition fee (Note: We do not offer assistance for Room and Board, which is a direct expense for us to the venue). We have a limited amount of financial assistance available and we prioritise people who meet one or more of the following criteria:
- Actively collaborating with others in the NVC network
- Can use what they learn in this training to make an impact such as in education, government, environmental sustainability, equity and inclusion, or with an NGO or community-based organization.
- From a region that has fewer in-person NVC trainings.
- Part of an economic system that offers less access to financial resources.
- Come from a disadvantaged group (race, ethnicity, origin, religion, gender identity, class)
- Willing to search for other sources of financial support such as their workplace, family, or organizations they are involved in (in order to be in partnership with us about finding the resources to host this training while including as many people as possible)
2. Accommodation (Room and Board) (EUR): convert to your currency
Room and Board prices include your room and all meals throughout the event beginning with dinner the first day and ending with lunch the final day. Some room types are limited and are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Room options include (prices are per person, not per room):
- 997€ - Single room (private to you)
- 779€ - Double room (share the room with 1 person)
- 551€ - Commuter (stay off-site and eat lunch and dinner at the training; breakfast on your own)
Finally, before this training begins, we will ask you to make several agreements to create an environment that is safe and supportive for everyone, and that supports you in making choices for your own well being. To preview these agreements, go to this page.
| Location |
Venue:
Princess Hotel Beach and Conference Resort
Address: Jovana Tomasevica 21, 85000 Bar, Montenegro (exact location in Google Maps)
Hotel Princess is located at the most attractive part of Bar, nearby the promenade along the sea shore, and is surrounded by lush vegetation, museum complex and sport terraines.
Rooms and apartments are comfortable and contemporarily designed, with exceptional views of the marina, beach and sea, palace and mountains at the town's hinterland.
The hotel has 135 rooms, which offer modern comfort: mini bar, air conditioner, satellite & cable TV, safety deposit box, as well as all necessary accessories and room service.
If you have any questions about the venue or special requests, please, contact our organizing team ([email protected]) and not the hotel directly -- our team has more information and more ability to help you.
| Travel |
We recommend that you wait until we officially confirm your registration before booking non-refundable travel. We will not reimburse you for travel expenses if this training does not occur.
Air:
If you are traveling by air, there are two international airports in Montenegro:
- Podgorica Airport (TGD): 58 km from the venue (directions in Google Maps)
- Tivat Airport (TIV): 48 km from the venue (directions in Google Maps)
If you arrive at one of these airports and want public transport to the venue, you first have to get to the central bus station by taxi and then take a bus to Igalo. We will organize a spreadsheet where you can find people arriving at the same airport and sharing a taxi to the venue. If there will be more of you, we can also organize a van directly to the venue (price upon request).
Maritime:
Port of Bar and ferryboat lines to Italy, Albania and Greece
Railway:
Beograd – Bar railway
Car:
Here is the location of the venue in Google Maps.
| Covid-19 |
We care for your health and safety, while also valuing choice and freedom. So we are doing our best to form a clear and inclusive health and safety policy and measures, doing anything in our power to organize this safe and legal, live, in-person event. The Organizer will research and stay up-to-date on any Covid-related regulations and protocols for Montenegro, if applicable.
CNVC and the Organizer will create Covid-related policies and protocols within 4 weeks of the start date for what happens if anyone at the event tests positive for Covid and/or exhibits Covid-related symptoms.
Learn more about current regulations and recommendations about Covid from the Institute of Public Health in Montenegro.
| Registration |
If you would like to join us, please do the following:
STEP 1: Fill out the registration form to provide us with your basic information.
STEP 2: Make your payment for tuition to the Center for Nonviolent Communication. Notes:
- Tuition amounts are listed in USD (convert to another currency).
- Your space in this training is saved only once you make the payment for tuition.
- If you qualify for a discount or if you have been granted financial assistance, email us for a coupon code ([email protected]) that you can use on the payment page.
STEP 3: The Organizers in Montenegro will send you an invoice for your Accommodation payment (room and board). Notes:
- Accommodation costs are listed in EUR (convert to another currency)
STEP 4: About 3 weeks prior to the training, we will reach out to learn your dietary preferences, see if you have any special needs, and make sure that we have all of the information that we need to make your experience as comfortable and successful as possible.
Cancellation and refund policy for tuition:
Refunds will be issued within 2 weeks after the cancellation.
A. If we cancel:
If we cancel this training, you receive a 100% refund (or if you prefer, you can apply your payment to another CNVC intensive training within 2 years).
B. If you cancel:
Through 19-April-2023, you have two options:
- Transfer 100% of your payment to a future CNVC intensive training within 2 years; or
- Receive a refund minus a nonrefundable $150 tuition deposit
Between 20-April-2023 and 6-May-2023, you have two options:
- Transfer 75% of your payment to a future CNVC training (we retain 25%); or
- Receive a 50% refund (we retain 50%).
Beginning 7-May-2023 no refunds or transfers are available.
Regarding Cancellation and Refund policy of room & board, please contact the local organizers.