Nonviolent Communication
Integration Program
Opening My Heart … Opening Communication
September 2015 to May 2016
An Intermediate NVC Experience
9 Months of Deepening NVC Consciousness
Five Workshop Weekends
With Peggy
Smith (Certified NVC Trainer) &
Leah Boyd (NVC Mediation Program graduate)
About This Program
Do you find yourself freezing, fighting or just
pretending “it doesn’t matter” when conflicts arise?
Do you long to reframe conflict so that you can use
these situations to hold more compassion for yourself
and others?
Are you eager to utilize the skills and consciousness
of NVC so that you can use them to support you in
your life?
Do you imagine integrating NVC so deeply that you
have the capacity to actually come up with authentic,
connecting responses in day-to-day experiences?
Do you wonder how to engrain NVC so thoroughly
that you can lean on it for support even in the thick
of life?
Do you want to contribute to the tipping point of
peace?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions and
have completed an NVC Level 1 training, then this
NVC Integration Program is for you. Structured into
a series of themes and diverse activities, this program
will progressively deepen your NVC capacity while
nurturing a growing community.
Program Highlights
• Five Themed Weekend Retreats
• Integrating mind, body, and heart
• Creating a learning community that
includes:
~ pairing with empathy partners
~ readings
~ journaling
~ home practice
~ group phone sessions
Retreat Dates & Venues
• September 11 - 13, 2015
Ferry Beach Conference Center,
Saco, ME
•October 23 - 25, 2015
Ferry Beach Conference Center,
Saco, ME
• January 15 - 17, 2016
Notre Dame Spiritual Center,
Alfred, ME
• March 11 - 13, 2016
Notre Dame Spiritual Center,
Alfred, ME
• May 20 - 22, 2016 (3 full days)
Ferry Beach Conference Center,
Saco, ME
The Trainers
Leah Boyd is an NVC
mediator, facilitator and
communication skills trainer
and is currently a candidate
for certification with the
Center for Nonviolent Communication. She oﬀers her
services both privately and
within the Maine District
Court system. With Peggy
Smith, Leah is co-founder of
Clarity Services, LLC an NVC
based company helping organizations improve communication, collaboration and
culture through needs-based
Peggy Smith is a certi-
fied NVC trainer with the
Center for Nonviolent Communication. Peggy oﬀers
workshops, seminars and
coaching through her business, Open Communication.
She taught elementary and
middle school for 32 years.
Peggy brings her extensive
teaching skills, humor and
presence to her workshops.
Peggy has done international
NVC work through Seeds of
Peace International Camp,
working with educators from the Middle East and South Asia.
She continues to develop NVC opportunities in a wide range of
venues – private coaching, schools, jails and workplaces.
Peggy is a co-founder of the Maine NVC Network. She is
the editor of Phases of the Moon, the monthly educational
newsletter of the Maine NVC Network (www.mainenvcnetwork.
org/newsletter-archives.htm)
With a life-long interest in spiritual traditions and fostering
compassion, Peggy is a student of Zen teacher and peace activist
Thich Nhat Hanh.
FMI please visit: opencommunication.org
awareness.
Leah has prior experience as a public school teacher, a human
resources director and a professional musician. She was also a
co-founder of Circle Voice, a community dedicated to hosting
peace and spiritual diversity events for 15 years.
Leah is passionate about group process. In addition to Nonviolent Communication, she works with Dynamic Facilitation, a
group choice creating process developed by Jim Rough and has
apprenticed with Marie Miyashiro, author of The Empathy Factor in her process, Integrated Clarity.
FMI please visit: peacefulpurpose.us or clarityservices.us
Clarity Services, LLC is Leah & Peggy’s new venture. Together they bring their passionate interest in sustainable peace to all
they do, being particularly drawn to understanding and contributing to collaborative group processes and redefining conflict within businesses and all kinds of organizations. FMI please visit: www.clarityservices.us
will be invited to use empathy sessions, readings and group phone connections to
How It Works: Participants
immerse themselves in NVC integration throughout the entire nine months. Each Themed Weekend
will be supported by home practice that will include weekly and daily practices to further the learnings that occur during our inperson sessions.
The skill level of the participants and the synergy of the group will guide the trainers as they craft each session to deeply support
participants’ NVC growth. Be prepared to bring NVC reading, inquiry and focus into your daily experience so that you too can
harvest the benefits of authentic compassion and action.
“This Integration Program is definitely helping to solidify the work into my everyday life. I’m positive that I’m more peaceful, compassionate and loving as a result. I have so many new opportunities to laugh at myself and all those strategies that
I’ve employed to get my needs met. I’m acutely aware of how inauthentic I’ve been as a means to protect what I thought was
expected or required. I love how it so graciously allows a celebration of our humanity that is easily found in our universal
feelings and needs.” Gail DesRochers, current participant
“The work we are doing feels very powerful to me and it is a joy to have you as a teacher.... I am so happy with what I am
learning. I only wish I had learned NVC in graduate school.” Evelyn, retired psychotherapist
Integration Program Overview
In this experiential Nonviolent Communication program, we will
explore themes that lead to an embodiment and deepening of
NVC skills and awareness. Led by Peggy Smith and Leah Boyd,
experienced teachers and practitioners, participants will have
the opportunity to shift from simply understanding NVC as a
concept to living from NVC consciousness.
Carl Rogers and NVC calls Empathy. Our exercises will help
us strengthen our abilities to stay in a place of presence and
acceptance during a flow of dialogue. While all our sessions will
hold Empathy at the core of what we do, this particular weekend
will focus on strategies to strengthen our access to Empathy –
both for ourselves and others.
The program is dynamic and lively, based on proven learning
methods. A strong bond of NVC community grows among the
participants. The direct instruction will be enriched by home
practice and phone connections between sessions.
If I’m Triggered It’s Mine
January 15 - 17, 2016
The first four weekends begin Friday, with supper. The fifth
session begins Friday morning.
This is an amazing opportunity to develop NVC skills and
consciousness while staying in New England.
Hearing the Needs within Our Judgments
September 11 - 13, 2015
Ferry Beach Conference Center, Saco, ME
www.ferrybeach.org
We will explore our cultural conditioning around conflict. We
will hold with tenderness and compassion those parts of ourselves that are conditioned to name and blame.
Sitting with whatever our thoughts and feelings are, the ‘now’,
we will strengthen our abilities to find the needs, (Life-force)
hidden within our judgments. Using all feelings and emotions as
guides to self-awareness, we connect to the needs underneath.
We will observe our patterns rather than getting absorbed
within our stories. Using NVC to find our way to authenticity
and self-care.
Ever Deepening Empathy
October 23 – 25, 2015
Ferry Beach Conference Center, Saco, ME
www.ferrybeach.org
What happens when someone is in pain? Where do we go in
ourselves? How do we react to others in pain? Do we try to
assuage our own feelings of discomfort?
This weekend we will learn more about how to use presence
to actively explore the space of inner calm and awareness that
Notre Dame Spiritual Center, Alfred, ME
www.notredamespiritualcenter.org
Needs are the very heart of NVC. They are the means by which
we connect with our own deepest humanity and the humanity
in everyone else. Using personal inquiry to explore the realm
of needs we will interactively investigate: how we hold needs;
how to separate needs from strategies; discover how strategies
can masquerade as needs; and inquire into the layers of what
we call needs.
Strengthening Relationships
March 11 – 13, 2016
Notre Dame Spiritual Center, Alfred, ME
www.notredamespiritualcenter.org
Relationships are usually the place where the rubber meets the
road of life. This context of intimacy puts all our learning to
the test. We will use supported inquiry to explore how cultural
trauma aﬀects our closest relationships. We will then use NVC
consciousness and skills to strengthen these relationships.
Communication Where Being Right
Doesn’t Matter Anymore
3 FULL days May 20 - 22, 2016
Ferry Beach Conference Center, Saco, ME
www.ferrybeach.org
We will experience bringing the art of NVC dialogue to life.
This dynamic, interactive session will strengthen our abilities
to bring NVC into our internal and external conversations.
Whether we want to enrich our internal dialogues, our family/
work communications or political/activist communications,
participants will practice, practice, practice within the supportive
community developed over our five sessions together.
“The integration program has helped me gain a level of trust of others that I really didn’t have before which has allowed me to
open up and be a far more authentic human being.” Alton Lane, current participant
“I knew I needed the discipline and practice the Integration Program provides because my behaviors that didn’t serve me well
were so long-standing and rigid. I need strengthening in my abilities to stay present and accepting during a flow of dialogue. I
have been profoundly impacted and nourished by my participation!” Arlene Nickerson, current participant
Registration
Program Fees
Total Residential —
Total Commuter —
$2,126.00
$1,876.00
Payments are due as follows:
Residential Commuter
With application $500.
$500.
August 15, 2015
$500.
$500.
September 15, 2015 $400.
$400.
Octoberr 15, 2015 $400.
$400.
November 15, 2015 $326.
$76.
Make checks payable to Clarity Services, LLC and mail to
Leah Boyd
51 Jordan Road
Buckfield, ME 04220
Registration is for the duration of the five weekend
program. Class size will range from 15 to 21 participants.
Registration form accompanied by a $500 deposit will
hold your space. Except in the event of the program’s
cancellation, the deposit is non-refundable.
It is expected that participants will pay the full fees
even if they are unable to attend a segment of the
program. Payments over one week late will incur a $40
fee. Payments over a month late, without prior mutual
agreement, is reason for removal from the program.
Registrations by June 1, 2015 will substantially support
the success of this program.
SPECIAL OFFER: All registrations received by June 1
will be entitled to 2 FREE hours of individual empathy
or NVC coaching by one of the trainers at some time
during the program. This is a $200 value for early
registration.
For more information: [email protected]
Registration Form -- Complete and mail to Leah Boyd, 51 Jordan Road, Buckfield, ME
04220
Name ____________________________________________________________ Date ___________________________
E-mail ____________________________________________________________
Residential
Commuter
Address ___________________________________________________________________________________________
City ______________________________________ State _________ Zip ______________
Phone ____________________________ (day) ___________________________ (night) ________________________ (cell)
Prior NVC trainings ____________________________________________________________________________________
Food Preferences: ____ vegetarian; ____ omnivore. Food allergies _____________________________________________
I understand that I am enrolling in a nine-month program and intend to follow through by attending the retreats and engaging in
the home study components of the NVC Integration Program. I understand that if I choose not to attend any session I will still pay
the fees for that session.
[2014 Integration]
Signature ___________________________________________________________________
“After the first workshop my partner saw the positive impact the Integrated Program had on my communication skills. That alone
is well worth the price.” Noreen Hogan, current participant