FROM THE ASSESSOR, Jim Manske

During the dark and scary days when the COVID pandemic began to unfold, Jori and I moved our weekly practice group from our downstairs training room to Zoom. One gift that emerged from that decision was meeting and beginning to support Juliana in her journey to learn and integrate Nonviolent Communication. Now, more than four years later, Juliana is still a regular at the group, helps us to stay connected to the Indian candidate community, and she has offered several sessions when neither Jori nor I could facilitate the group, which typically has fifty or more participants.

Juliana first became a candidate with Katherine Singer, and soon after she began learning with us, she opened a dialog with Katherine and me, as at this time, Katherine Singer had informed her Certification Candidates in India, that for her Self-care reasons,  she would no longer be able to come to India. I’m inspired by Juliana’s seemingly unquenchable thirst to learn, practice, and support others in learning Nonviolent Communication. I wonder if she has received more NVC training than me! And attending training for her often means getting up very early or staying up very late as she lives in India.

I’m also inspired by the feedback Juliana asked for and received from many colleagues, including Aya Caspi and John Kinyon who both voiced their support for Juliana becoming a Certified Trainer. What I noticed about Juliana is that she hungers for feedback, and then she practices in order to strengthen her edges. For example, I once gave her the feedback that I noticed no pause between me asking her a question and her responding. I suggested she pause and self-connect before answering. The results of this simple intervention astonished me, and it seems like Juliana’s commitment to practicing self-connection became deeply integrated. 

I also appreciate Juliana’s ability to not only pause and reflect, but to be flexible when the unexpected arises. Her pre-assessment event included many surprising and disruptive technical issues, and yet Juliana stayed present, vulnerable, asked for and received support, and completed the event. Please join me in welcoming Juliana to our community of Certified Trainers.

From Juliana:

My first encounter with Nonviolent Communication happened at the NVC India Convention in January 2016, organised by Reena Ginwala and her team - and I remember feeling that I had finally found a way of being that resonated with my soul and spirit. Then at the same convention in September 2017, I met Jim Manske and Jori Manske. I was inspired by Jim's vision of sowing NVC seeds, so that one day the whole earth might be covered with a forest of NVC trees - and I requested Jim Manske to be my Assessor. I feel grateful to Jim for being an encouraging, respectful, and compassionate role model for me of living NVC, through his teachings, examples, and feedback along my certification journey.

I feel so grateful to Dr. Marshall Rosenberg for giving the world this compassionate consciousness - hearing his description of the divine energy quality of needs as "beloved divine energy" made me fall in love with this consciousness. I have chosen to live my life, "securely attached" to the source of this beloved divine energy in me - and I am also able to open my heart and connect to this energy in the needs of others, even though I may sometimes not agree with their strategies. I value this communication model of talking to myself and others using the language and more importantly the consciousness of observations, feelings, needs and requests. This dialogue model, helps me discern clearly and consciously choose my response in any given moment, and for this wisdom I feel very grateful to all my many NVC teachers, with whom I continue to learn and grow.

As an accredited T-Group Trainer, of the Indian Society for Applied Behavioural Science, I had some awareness around my thoughts and feelings, and now NVC gave me this new jewel of needs awareness - the needs that get expressed through my (and your) thoughts, feelings, and actions, and with this came so much more self-connection, clarity, self-empowerment, compassion and other-connection. Also, I am currently a student of John Kinyon's NVC-based Conflict Coaching and Mediation training certification program, and I see my passion for NVC find purpose in my using these skills and consciousness to bring peace within myself; peace within people; peace between People; and peace within community.

I finally want to acknowledge my Family - my dear husband and my three children - for their loving support, encouragement, and feedback on my NVC journey. In relating with them, I practise living NVC - in that, I care for and honour that just as my needs matter and I have choice, so also your needs matter and you have choice, and this is making life more wonderful for us, as we more fully love and are loved. Sending warm regards and gratitude to all of my co-travelers, as we journey together and walk each other home.

FROM THE ASSESSOR, Aga Rzewuska-Paca

We are delighted about Renata joining our community of Certified Trainers. She brings her strong spirit, loving heart, depth of insight and commitment to Nonviolence. Accompanying her was such an enriching experience. Her work with people in prisons, striving for them to be seen in their humanity, as well as, supporting children to be able to connect with their imprisoned parents, has touched us deeply. Her capacity to meet challenges on her path and surrender to life, while remaining joyous, has been an inspiration to many. Please join us in welcoming and cherishing Renata in our community.

From renata:

Nonviolent Communication came into my life thanks to my children. They are my teachers every day, and thanks to them, I learn a deeper connection with myself every day. I could also say that when I'm going deeper with what NVC is for me, I've discovered that I've known it for ages. From the dream of a world where there is a place for everyone grew the desire to spread NVC to disadvantaged and excluded groups.

I have been a team member of the Malopolska Probation Association for almost three years. I conduct workshops on communication-based on NVC for groups of women and men in Cracow prisons and for Moms with penitentiary experience. I learned a lot about myself there, and I dream of prisons being - (as Kathleen Macferran says) houses of healing. After a while, I found that I was finding it more and more difficult to talk about the different elements around NVC in prisons, and I started looking at the topic of privilege, which was also a big part of my assessment. As I glance back at my certification path, I am very grateful that I've started it. I view the post-research assessment itself as a threshold of sorts, but I feel that the path beyond it is already trodden in some way.

FROM THE ASSESSOR, Aga Rzewuska-Paca

It is with great joy that we welcome Vesna to the community of the Certified Trainers. Coming from and working in an intercultural environment, Vesna is capable of holding complexity of different perspectives. She combines passion and a strong spirit with the ability to be deeply vulnerable. During our journey together, she was willing to show her genuine humanity, go through struggles together and trust the process.

We value her willingness to speak up and capacity to strive for connection when challenged, not letting go of what is precious to her. She is a co-author of two books (together with Joanna Berendt, a Certified Trainer from Poland), Alphabet of Empathy – Nonviolent Communication in Practice (1st ed. 2019, 2nd ed. 2023), Conflict – Respect – Consent: Nonviolent Communication in Business Practice (2022), and co-authored Meet Me Halfway – A Practical Guide for Intercultural Couples (published in 4 languages, 2020). We trust that her spirit, creativity and compassion are a great gift to the world and we are grateful that she decided to express them through the practice of Nonviolent communication.

From vesna:

My journey with Nonviolent Communication (NVC) has spanned over a decade, but the past two years of pursuing certification have been especially transformative. While I had been engaging with NVC professionally for many years, this process allowed me to rediscover and deepen my relationship with its principles. It was a time marked by profound self-reflection, as I worked through personal challenges that I had not previously addressed, bringing NVC to a much more intimate level in my life.

The certification process was both rigorous and enlightening. It involved regular sparring with fellow practitioners, which sharpened my ability to apply NVC in diverse and complex situations. I was consistently pushed to examine my own reactions and judgments, leading to many breakthroughs in understanding both the theory and practice of NVC. Additionally, the personal discoveries I made throughout this period were sometimes deeply emotional and even therapeutic.

In retrospect, I can see how truly developmental this experience was. It wasn’t just about gaining a credential—it was a necessary process for me to evolve as both a practitioner and a person. Many of the insights I gained during this journey have only become clear now, as I look back and appreciate the growth that occurred. This certification process has allowed me to integrate NVC more fully into my life and work, enhancing my capacity to support others in their own communication journeys.

FROM THE ASSESSOR, Valerie Lanctot-Bedard

[EN] When I met Béatrice, I immediately recognized and appreciated her sharp mindedness, her enthusiasm and her determination. Over the years, her sincere curiosity has carried her into ever greater depth, truth, and lucidity. I celebrate his enthusiasm for academic environments! As she herself knows intimately the sometimes arduous path of taking the necessary distance from the intellect in order to place it in the service of heart and relationship, she will be in a particularly relevant position to help others make a similar journey. With appreciation for the complicity with my co-assessor, Marcelle Bélanger.

[FR] Quand j’ai rencontré Béatrice, j’ai tout de suite reconnu et apprécié sa vivacité d’esprit, son enthousiasme et sa détermination. Au fil des années, sa sincère curiosité l’aura portée dans toujours plus de profondeur, de vérité et de lucidité. Je célèbre son élan envers les milieux universitaires! Comme elle-même connaît intimement le chemin parfois ardu de prendre la distance nécessaire de l’intellect afin de le placer au service du cœur et de la relation, elle sera dans une situation particulièrement pertinente pour en aider d’autres à faire le même chemin. Dans l’appréciation de la complicité avec ma co-certificatrice, Marcelle Bélanger.

From Béatrice:

My NVC process began in 2013 in Gangotri, deep in an Indian valley, just before the three days of walking that would take us, 14 students and a university professor, to Gomukh, to the source of the Ganges. This was the first step in a long journey, of which I honor a few markers here. First, learn to walk lightly, with an inner dialogue imbued with kindness and clarity; what a discovery! Then, dare to come forward in view of the Other, name me, and bring me in 100% authenticity and responsibility. Finally, to be in balance at each step with the other, in a fair listening, and not listening where I immersed myself and hid, without total awareness...

The path will continue, of course, to discover new horizons that I still don't know about. I am particularly sensitive to family and personal contexts which do not taste this refreshing water of fluid relationships and to university environments where listening to the heart and the interior could complement and even guide the intellectual prowess advocated. Workshops, conferences and courses are therefore on my way in this direction. I would like to express all my gratitude to all the trainers who took part in this journey, to all the expedition companions, and also to Marshall Rosenberg. This has nourished evolution and meaning in my life path!

FROM THE ASSESSOR, Johannes Henn

[EN] For Irina, her certification path was part of her way of dealing with her own traumas: it seemed to me to be a way out of dependency and into freedom and self responsibility. While in the beginning, as it seemed to me, she needed a lot of encouragement and "invitation or permission" from her Assessor to continue on her path, she found healing and trust in her own personal way of working with NVC in her own way. Her strength and passion lies above all, as she herself writes, in her individual work with psychologically traumatized people. I appreciate her way of being present and the balance of care and self-care expressed for me in a clear, calm and self-determined way.

[DE] Ihr Zertifizierungsweg war für Irina Teil ihres Weges, sich mit ihren eigenen Traumata auseinanderzusetzen: mir schien es ein Weg auch aus der Abhängigkeit in die Freiheit und Selbstverantwortung. Während sie am Anfang– so kam es mir vor, viel Anstoß und „Einladung bzw. Erlaubnis“ von ihrem Assessor brauchte, um ihren Weg weiterzugehen, fand sie unterwegs selbst Heilung und Vertrauen in ihren eigenen persönlichen Weg, mit GFK in ihrem Sinne zu arbeiten. Ihre Stärke und Leidenschaft liegt dabei vor allem– wie sie selbst schreibt– in der individuellen Arbeit mit psychisch traumatisierten Menschen. Heute– auch auf dem letzten MAT– schätze ich ihre Art, präsent zu sein und die für mich auf klare, ruhige und selbstbestimmte Weise ausgedrückte Balance von Fürsorge und Selbstfürsorge.

From irina:

[DE] Die GFK bringt mich zunehmend mehr zu mir selbst, schenkt mir inneren Frieden und verbindet mich mit Menschen, wie ich es zuvor noch nie in dieser Qualität erfahren habe. Auch der Zertifizierungsweg, so steinig er gewesen sein mag und ich oftmals überlegte ihn abzubrechen, lehrte mich vieles und schenkte mir noch mehr Klarheit über meine Werte und wie wichtig es ist für sie einzustehen.

FROM THE ASSESSOR, Johannes Henn

[EN] In the more than four years that I have accompanied Christina, I have experienced a lot of joy and sometimes also tension. On the one hand, it was about combining her lightness and humor with depth. Another issue was to free her need for self-determination from the clutches of anger and rebellion. She found a lot of support on this path in our candidate community, in which we all have the wonderful experience again and again that conflicts can heal and lead to connection. It was really nice for me to experience her at the end in her truly inspiring and inviting power, which makes the spark jump over and awakens joy and enthusiasm for NVC.

[DE] In den über vier Jahren, die ich Christina begleitete, habe ich viel Freude und zwischendurch auch Anspannung erlebt. Es ging dabei einerseits darum, ihre Leichtigkeit und ihren Humor mit einer Tiefe zusammenzubringen. Ein weiteres Thema war es, ihr Bedürfnis nach Selbstbestimmung aus der Klammer von Wut und Rebellion zu befreien. Eine Menge Unterstützung auf diesem Weg hat sie in unserer Kandidat*innengemeinschaft gefunden, in der wir alle immer wieder die wunderbare Erfahrung machen, dass Konflikte heilen und zu Verbindung führen können. Es war total schön für mich, sie am Ende in ihrer wirklich inspirierenden und einladenden Kraft zu erleben, die den Funken überspringen lässt und Freude und Begeisterung für die GFK weckt.

From Christina:

[EN] I encountered Nonviolent Communication many years ago during another training, and I was immediately on fire with enthusiasm because of its simplicity, its depth, and the connection it can create between people — even in small steps. After two years of advanced training and a total of 10 years since my first contact with NVC, I decided to pursue certification and ended up with the Northeast assessor team.

The five MATs, various smaller trainings, an IIT, the empathy group, the peer group, people from the community, among others, have allowed me to further experience and deepen NVC in many different ways. The MATs, in particular, made me aware of aspects within myself that I hadn’t expected, and working through them has significantly advanced my personal actions, especially in how I experience conflicts and equality.

At the same time, during the certification process, I had already been using NVC in many seminars and supervisions to bring participants closer to the beauty of connecting with other people. Together, we were able to experience how effective, relieving, and clarifying the acknowledgment of feelings and needs can be. Experiencing NVC in both contexts — within the community and “in the wild” — has made me increasingly aware of my progress, my gain in confidence, but also my uncertainties and triggers. The friction with my Assessor, but also the perseverance, willingness, and openness to engage, and eventually reaching true acceptance, contributed greatly to this. The experience of resolving conflicts through NVC has left a deep and lasting impression on me.

[DE] Die GFK ist mir vor vielen Jahren im Zuge einer anderen Ausbildung begegnet und ich war sofort Feuer und Flamme wegen der Einfachheit und gleichzeitigen Tiefe und der Verbindung, die zwischen den Menschen hergestellt werden kann. Auch schon mit Teilschritten. Nach 2 Jahresfortbildungen und insgesamt 10 Jahren seit meinem ersten Kontakt zur GFK habe ich mich dann zur Zertifizierung entschlossen und bin beim Assessoren Team Nord-Ost ‚gelandet‘.

Die 5 MATs, diverse kleinere Fortbildungen, ein IIT, die Empathiegruppe, die Peergruppe, Menschen aus der Community u.a. haben mich die GFK auf unterschiedlichste Weise weiter erleben und vertiefen lassen. Insbesondere die MATs haben mich auf Anteile in mir aufmerksam gemacht, mit denen ich nicht gerechnet hätte, und die zu lösen mich in meinem persönlichen Handeln insbesondere im Erleben von Konflikten und Augenhöhe sehr viel weitergebracht haben.

Gleichzeitig habe ich während des Zertifizierungsprozesses die GFK bereits in vielen Seminaren und Supervisionen genutzt um den Teilnehmenden die Schönheit in der Verbindung mit anderen Menschen nahezubringen. Zusammen durften wir erleben, wie wirksam und entlastend und klärend das Anerkennen von Gefühlen und Bedürfnissen ist. Das Erleben der GFK in beiden Kontexten – in der Community und in der ‚freien Wildbahn‘ – haben mir meine Fortschritte und den Zugewinn an Souveränität aber auch meine Unsicherheiten und Triggerpunkte wechselseitig immer wieder bewusst gemacht. Die Reibung mit meinem Assessor, aber eben auch das Dranbleiben und die Bereitschaft und Offenheit zur Auseinandersetzung und am Ende echte Akzeptanz haben sehr dazu beigetragen. Das Erleben der Auflösung von Konflikten durch die GFK hat beeindruckt mich nachhaltig tief.

FROM THE ASSESSOR, Johannes Henn

[EN] Connection and healing are two basic needs that are at the forefront of Katrin's work with NVC, but also in her work as a trainer. Over the more than three years that I have accompanied her, she has given me a lot of this, and in her contact with seminar participants, in which I was allowed to participate, I have seen a lot of it fulfilled: through eye contact, attentive posture, repetitive words and a calm voice, she conveyed to me how seriously she took the participants and their questions. There was no right and wrong, no trying to convince, she shared her experiences and her point of view openly and generously.

For her, NVC is another channel alongside the Alexander Technique in which connection can flow and healing can take place. I am delighted to welcome her to our growing community of trainers!

[DE] Verbindung und Heilung sind zwei Grundbedürfnisse, die für Katrin bei der Beschäftigung mit der GFK, aber auch in der Trainertätigkeit im Vordergrund stehen. Im Verlauf der über drei Jahre, die ich sie begleitet habe, hat sie mir viel davon geschenkt, und in ihrem Kontakt mit Seminarteilnehmenden, an dem ich teilhaben durfte, habe ich viel davon erfüllt gesehen: durch Blickkontakt, zugewandte Körperhaltung, wiederholende Worte und ruhige Stimme hat sie mir vermittelt, wie ernst sie die Teilnehmenden und ihre Fragen nahm. Da gab es kein richtig und falsch, kein überzeugenwollen, sie teilte freimütig und großzügig ihre Erfahrungen und ihre Sichtweise.

So ist für sie GFK neben der Alexandertechnik ein weiterer Kanal, in dem Verbindung fließen und Heilung stattfinden kann. Ich freue mich, sie in unserer wachsenden Trainer*innengemeinschaft begrüßen zu können!

From katrin:

[EN] When Nonviolent Communication came into my life in 2014 through my partner and love, it was the missing puzzle piece on my life’s journey that I had been searching for so long. As an actress, I had finally found my own voice in “real” life! I am full of gratitude for the many words NVC gave me with my first lists of feelings and needs — words I had never heard in that way before. With NVC, I found a way to express what is alive within me and gained the opportunity to connect deeply. NVC has shown me: understanding can be learned! I can understand myself, and we can understand each other. Before I knew NVC, I was a loner, and NVC brought me in touch with my deep longing for community — one of my key experiences in my certification process.

[DE] Als die GFK 2014 durch meinen Lebenspartner und die Liebe in mein Leben gekommen ist, war es für mich das fehlende Puzzlestück auf meinem Lebensweg, nach dem ich schon so lange gesucht hatte. Als Schauspielerin hatte ich im „echten“ Leben endlich meine eigene Stimme gefunden! Ich bin voller Dankbarkeit über die vielen Worte, die mir die GFK mit meinen ersten Gefühls- und Bedürfnis-Listen geschenkt hat – Worte, die ich vorher so noch nie gehört hatte.

Mit der GFK habe ich einen Weg gefunden, das auszudrücken, was in mir lebendig ist und habe so die Chance bekommen, in der Tiefe in Verbindung zu kommen. Die GFK hat mir gezeigt: sich verstehen kann man lernen! Ich mich selbst und wir miteinander. Bevor ich die GFK kannte, war ich eine Einzelgängerin und die GFK hat mich mit meiner tiefen Sehnsucht nach Gemeinschaft in Kontakt gebracht – eine meiner Schlüsselerfahrungen in meinem Zertifizierungsprozess.

from the assessors, LAURENCE BRUSCHWEILER & LAURE GALVEZ

We note her great confidence in the process, which leads her to intervene with agility in tense professional situations. In these situations, she develops her ability to listen to suffering and anger, drawing on her skills in mediation, training and facilitation. Coming from the world of culture, she also took it upon herself to train in work psychology, to better understand what goes on in professional groups. She enjoys working to disseminate NVC in a wide variety of settings including parenting, prisons, healthcare and in businesses.

from estelle:

After more than 25 years in positions of responsibility in the arts and popular education, I discovered Nonviolent Communication in 2015. This powerful process has had a truly transformative impact on my life. It invited me to an inner change by developing a posture of empathy and understanding based on taking mutual needs into account. This process has transformed the way I support professional teams, as well as my personal and family relationships.

The practice of NVC helps me on a daily basis to better welcome my emotions and connect with what's alive inside me by cultivating a more conscious response. I observe myself moving from reaction to relationship; a deeper, more enriching connection with myself and with others. I experience every day that the NVC process is first and foremost an Art of Living, which enables me to take responsibility for what I experience and regain the power to act. It also teaches me how to release tension and welcome conflict as an opportunity to enhance relationships. Today, I put my energy into transmitting this relational quality in the field of professional organizations and education.

from the assessors, LAURENCE BRUSCHWEILER & LAURE GALVEZ

We particularly appreciate Alexia's authenticity, her path of awareness, notably in slowing down her pace, to better experience the connection to oneself and to others. This is also evident in her transmission, where she trusts the process, letting go of the goal of wanting to say everything. She is particularly interested in working in the fields of ecology and the social economy, as well as the business world, which she knows well.

from Alexia:

Journeying with NVC is a great experience. When I discovered it in 2012, I found out that I had needs and that I was responsible for them. Since then, I've grown in awareness and acceptance and put in place changes aligned with the world I long for: a world at peace, respectful of each one of us and living beings around us, organised around fulfilling all needs and socially just. I also met many friends and a strong and diverse support community.

Transmitting NVC and mediating conflicts also invited me to deepen my knowledge around trauma with Relational Intelligence. What I like in NVC, along with enriched relationships, is the empowerment it gives me and the support it can be for both personal and social change. I've grown much stronger understanding around power-over relationships and systemic oppressions which hamper wellbeing and peace for all, and I also see NVC as a powerful support to overcome them. Today, I like supporting all kinds of people and groups as I believe better connection to oneself and each other in all social areas is another step towards peace. NVC, more than a tool or a process, is for me a way of life.

from the Assessors, LAURENCE BRUSCHWEILER & LAURE GALVEZ

Claire referees recognize her qualities of humility, delicacy, and determination. Claire integrated NVC into her classroom when she was a primary school teacher, and now that she's retired, she's keen to share with teachers what NVC has brought her. She also enjoys meeting people who don't usually have access to NVC, such as the "Maison Lazare”, which takes in, among others, people living on the streets. Claire is a mediator and likes to pass on this approach, for example at the university.

from Claire:

[EN] I discovered NVC (Nonviolent Communication) about fifteen years ago while reading M.R.'s book "Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life" (original French title: "Les mots sont des fenêtres ou bien ce sont des murs"). At a time when I was doing everything to please everyone, I discovered the concept of needs, both my own and those of others. This discovery deeply moved me, and I continued my training. I later trained in mediation as well. As a primary school teacher myself, I felt the urge to share NVC with others. That's how I embarked on the journey toward certification.

[FR] J'ai découvert la CNV en lisant le livre de M.R "les mots sont des fenêtres ou bien ce sont des murs" il y a une quinzaine d'années. Alors que je faisais le maximum pour faire plaisir à tout le mone, j'ai découvert la notion de besoin, chez et chez les autres. Une découverte qui m'a bouleversée, et j'ai poursuivi les formations. Puis je me suis formée à la médiation. Etant moi même enseignante en primaire, j'avais l'élan de transmette la CNV. Et c'est ainsi que je suis entrée sur le parcourant vers la certification.