Authentic Communication Comes to Maine
by Peggy Smith
During a December snowstorm, Maine's first weekend training in Marshall
Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication (NVC) was held in Belfast. The
workshop, taught by Gina Cenciose, offered new communications skills to the
participants, and was a financial benefit to the co-sponsors, including
Peace Action Maine.
Gina has taught NVC full time for four years and acts as Marshall
Rosenberg's interpreter when he teaches in Quebec. The workshop was
organized by my company, Advancing Teaching Strategies. I first heard about
NVC eight years ago. Deeply impressed by Marshall's work, I went right out
and bought a copy of his basic text, Nonviolent Communication: A Language of
Life. The book was promptly lost in a pile, and never read.
Almost two years ago, the photographer and fellow member of Midcoast Peace &
Justice, Olive Pierce, invited me to attend a weekend training with
Marshall. It was a stimulating time, and I decided to further my
understanding of NVC by attending a nine-day International Intensive
Training with Marshall and five other teachers in Quebec. It was at this
workshop that I met Gina and invited her to bring NVC training to Maine.
NVC's unique approach to communication is built on the premise that all
human actions are based on needs. By understanding and acknowledging these
needs we can learn to communicate in ways which help us develop
relationships based upon mutual respect, compassion, and cooperation. Now
taught around the globe, NVC was developed by Marshall Rosenberg during the
1960's civil rights era to provide a means of healing based on empathy.
Enthusiasm from our December weekend attendees resulted in the scheduling of
two more workshops in Belfast. Another Level 1 training will be held March
11-13, 2005, and a Level 2 training will be held October 15 & 16. PAM will
continue to benefit. FMI: Peggy at Advancing Teaching Strategies:
207-789-5299.
Back to Peace
Talk Index, Spring 2005