--- title: "IIT Organizers - Center for Nonviolent Communication" description: "" url: "https://www.cnvc.org/trainers/iit-organizers?start=84" date: "2026-09-19T12:54:50+00:00" language: "en-US" --- # Certified Trainers at the Center for Nonviolent Communication [![Photo of Dawn](https://www.cnvc.org/images/portraits/volunteers-and-assistants/Dawn%20Deguire%20400x400.png)](https://www.cnvc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7262:dawn-deguire&catid=42) Posted in [IIT Organizers](https://www.cnvc.org/trainers/iit-organizers). ## [Dawn Deguire](https://www.cnvc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7262:dawn-deguire&catid=42) - CT Topics: General - Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Country - Current: Canada - Country - Original: -- None Selected -- - Roles: Volunteer - Assessor - accepting candidates: Accepting new candidates Dawn Deguire is a First Nations and Métis consultant, speaker, facilitator, and wellness practitioner whose work centers on healing, reconciliation, communication, and relational transformation. Rooted in her own journey of reclaiming culture and healing the intergenerational effects of colonization, Dawn brings a grounded and compassionate approach to supporting individuals, communities, and organizations. Guided by a needs-based understanding of humanity, she integrates Indigenous perspectives, Nonviolent Communication, trauma awareness, and embodied practices into her work. Her offerings include reconciliation and Indigenous engagement consulting, facilitation, public speaking, leadership development, and wellness-based learning experiences. With educational backgrounds in public relations and psychology, and professional experience in communication, Indigenous engagement, and organizational development, Dawn bridges systems change with personal and collective healing. She is a certified coach, 500-hour yoga teacher, Reiki Master, co-founder of the Saskatchewan Indigenous Yoga Association, and is a CNVC certification candidate. - Last updated on June 22, 2026. [![Photo of WonYeol Ko (Mamom)](https://www.cnvc.org/images/portraits/volunteers-and-assistants/WonYeol_Ko_Mamom.png)](https://www.cnvc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1752:wonyeol-ko-mamom&catid=42) Posted in [IIT Organizers](https://www.cnvc.org/trainers/iit-organizers). ## [WonYeol Ko (Mamom)](https://www.cnvc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1752:wonyeol-ko-mamom&catid=42) - CT Topics: General - Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Country - Current: South Korea - Country - Original: -- None Selected -- - Roles: Volunteer - Assessor - accepting candidates: Accepting new candidates - Last updated on January 11, 2024. [![Photo of Giorgio](https://www.cnvc.org/images/portraits/volunteers-and-assistants/Giorgio%20Ravioli.png)](https://www.cnvc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7672:giorgio-ravioli&catid=42) Posted in [IIT Organizers](https://www.cnvc.org/trainers/iit-organizers). ## [Giorgio Ravioli](https://www.cnvc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7672:giorgio-ravioli&catid=42) - CT Topics: General - Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Country - Current: Switzerland - Country - Original: -- None Selected -- - Roles: Volunteer - Assessor - accepting candidates: Accepting new candidates My name is **Giorgio Ravioli**. I have lived in Switzerland since my birth in 1980. I’m a passionate practitioner and a trainer candidate of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), as well as a night owl and avid river swimmer. My life and work both are guided by creating spaces and possibilities to be open and authentic. In a way that we can live and act out emotions and needs freely in shared experiences, without being hindered by our own judgments and fears. I see NVC as a general attitude of life. A way to connect with myself and others in our human nature. After studying, I worked as a risk analyst and expert in disaster management for over ten years. During that time, I organized workshops, conferences and participated in exercises. As one of the organizers I gladly bring these skills to the IIT as well. Having had the opportunity to attend two IITs myself, I am thrilled to be on the organizing team for the one in my own home country. I experienced that these training sessions could enrich life immeasurably. Each one has brought me joyful laughter, heartfelt tears, and moments of clarity, where growth as a group was happening. As we gather here in the heart of the Swiss mountains, I feel full of gratitude to welcome you here as one of the hosts. May the Switzerland 2027 IIT be a place where true belonging manifests, where we can practice and learn together. I’m looking forward to going on this journey with you here in the Kiental in Switzerland. - Last updated on September 07, 2026. [![Kunal portrait](https://www.cnvc.org/images/portraits/staff/Kunal-Kankhare.jpeg)](https://www.cnvc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1491:kunal-kankhare&catid=42) Posted in [IIT Organizers](https://www.cnvc.org/trainers/iit-organizers). ## [Kunal](https://www.cnvc.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1491:kunal-kankhare&catid=42) - CT Topics: General - Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Country - Current: India - Country - Original: India - LinkedIn: - Assessor - accepting candidates: Accepting new candidates #### The Ache I Couldn’t Ignore My journey with Nonviolent Communication started with a punch in the gut. It was when my grandparents died. Everyone around me was crying, wailing, grieving. And me? Nothing. Not a single tear. I just stood there frozen, dry-eyed, and inside I was screaming: *“What the hell is wrong with me?”* #### Growing Up in Chaos The truth is, this didn’t come out of nowhere. I grew up in a house full of conflict. My parents fought a lot, and as a kid, I wanted nothing more than to stop their pain. But I couldn’t. I felt helpless. So I did the only thing I knew: I buried the hard stuff. I told myself to stay happy, stay light, stay cheerful. I pushed down sadness. I shoved away anger. I locked grief in a box and threw away the key. And I got really good at it. I became the guy who cracked a joke when things got heavy. Who changed the subject. Who left the room. Until one day, I realized - I couldn’t even *feel* those emotions anymore. #### The Cost of Hiding In my friendships and relationships, I longed for closeness. When things were joyful, I felt connected. But the moment discomfort or sadness appeared, my instinct was to run. And then I’d be left with this ache - this deep, raw hunger for closeness. I wanted to be held. I wanted someone to really see me. I wanted to cry in someone’s arms, to feel safe enough to let go. But I couldn’t. The tears wouldn’t come. The words wouldn’t come. My chest felt locked, my throat tight. It was like standing outside a house where love and intimacy were alive - pressing my face against the glass, but never finding the door in. I now see this longing wasn’t mine alone. *As Hafiz once wrote:* *Admit something: Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.” Of course you do not do this out loud, Otherwise someone would call the cops.* *Still, though, think about this - This great pull in us to connect.* And the more I ran from pain, the lonelier I became. I longed for connection, but my fear of vulnerability kept me from the very thing I was starving for. I wanted deep relationships, but I didn’t know how to open myself to the vulnerability they required. #### A Turning Point Then came Nonviolent Communication. Honestly, it was like someone switched the lights on in a room I didn’t even know was dark. Discovering that feelings have names - that they’re not random, but connected to real human needs - hit me hard. For the first time, I realized nothing was “broken” in me. I wasn’t empty. I wasn’t heartless. I was just cut off. NVC gave me a way back to feel again. Grief. Sadness. Tenderness. Joy. Sometimes it was overwhelming. Sometimes it was beautiful. But for the first time in my life, it was *real*. #### Not Just Me And I know I’m not alone. So many of us live like robots, running on autopilot. Some of us shut down and go numb. Some of us keep ourselves endlessly busy or distracted so we don’t have to feel what’s inside. And some of us meet pain with anger, control, or defensiveness - pushing others away even while longing for closeness. We do these things because somewhere along the way we learned it wasn’t safe to feel. Maybe our families couldn’t handle our emotions. Maybe society told us to “be strong” and “keep it together.” Maybe we carry trauma passed down through generations. But deep down, every single one of us wants the same thing: to be seen, to be heard, to be understood. Yet so often, the very skills we need to connect are the ones we were never taught. #### Why I Do This I do this because I know what it feels like to be cut off from myself - and I don’t want to live that way anymore. And I don’t want others to feel alone in it either. For me, co-creating spaces is about building a kind of refuge. A place where people can take off the masks, stop pretending, and just be real. A place where we can sit with what hurts, celebrate what’s alive, and practice the messy, beautiful work of being human together. In my life, I’ve been an engineer, a permaculturist, and a social worker. On the surface those worlds look different, but at the core they’re the same: I’m drawn to building systems that support life. Whether it’s in technology, in the soil, or in our communities, I care about what helps us grow and stay connected. That’s what I bring into NVC spaces - the care, the structure, and the invitation to dive deep. My role is to help co-create the ground where honesty, empathy, and belonging can take root. #### My Journey with NVC Since childhood I’ve been drawn to the idea of nonviolence. I grew up reading about Mahatma Gandhi and was deeply inspired by the dream of social reform through compassion. In 2015, during my final year of graduation, I came across Nonviolent Communication and it became my compass for life. From then on, I began championing the spread of NVC in India: organizing workshops, sharing the practice, and even translating resources into Hindi so more people could access it. Since 2021, I’ve been working with Martha Lasley and Anisha Pandya as Operations Manager for the [Authentic Communication Group.](https://authenticcommunicationgroup.com/groups) I am also a Certification Candidate with the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC). Over the years I’ve organized two International Intensive Trainings in India, and in July 2024 I joined the CNVC staff as Programs Coordinator, supporting day-to-day operations for IITs and other educational programs. Through all these roles, my purpose has stayed the same: to nurture spaces where authenticity, empathy, and belonging can take root. #### An Invitation from the Heart Come join me in Bengaluru. Let’s co-create a space where we don’t have to pretend. Where we can feel everything-the grief, the joy, the frustration, the tenderness. Where we can laugh until our bellies hurt, cry until we’re empty, share meals, and remember what it means to belong. Because when we learn to feel again - really feel - we not only heal our own lives, but also the pain in our families, our communities, and maybe even the world. I warmly invite you to the [Intensive Training in Nonviolent Communication Retreat in Bengaluru](https://www.cnvc.org/learn/iit/2027-01-15-iit-india). Together, we’ll explore what it means to live fully, reconnect with our authentic selves, and create a world where every person belongs. ***It happens all the time in heaven,*** *And some day* *It will begin to happen* *Again on earth -* *That men and women who are married,* *And men and men who are* *Lovers,* *And women and women* *Who give each other* *Light,* *Often will get down on their knees* *And while so tenderly* *Holding their lover's hand,* *With tears in their eyes,* *Will sincerely speak, saying,* *My dear,* *How can I be more loving to you;* *How can I be more kind?* ***― شمس الدین محمد حافظ / Shams-al-Din Mohammad Hafez, The Subject Tonight Is Love*** - Last updated on May 11, 2026.