After hearing Janet share about her learnng experiences with community schools and her family, I felt I and many others would be interested in learning these skills...you are invited to attend.

Date: November 30^th 2013

Time: 4 hour class (8-noon or 9am-1pm)

Place: Provo Utah, home of Nickie Allen

Cost: $25 per person with possible couple discount

RSVP: veronnicaallen@gmail.com

Pay: cash, check, or credit card

Communication Matters!

Marshall Rosenberg is a man whose passion is teaching people to communicate so that both sides of an issue can be heard, honored, and respected. He literally travels the world dealing with high-conflict situations. As he helps them communicate using Nonviolent Communication principles, they understand how to work together to solve problems and resolve relationship issues. He is the founder of Nonviolent Communication (see cnvc.org). I am offering a 4-hour seminar that will show how I apply the principles of NVC in my own home and in my community and family relationships. I have used these principles successfully with my own 10 children and family members. In addition, I have used these communication skills as I have run a local community school, a business, and taught community education classes. I know from first-hand experience that these ideas will revolutionalize our ability to deal with conflict, stress, and help us resolve problems. Learning NVC skills has changed my life, and that of my family. I want to share that with others in this beginning seminar.

There are many books available that the Center for Nonviolent Communication publishes, and they are all excellent. My favorite beginning book is Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. The book is not necessary for the seminar, but most people find that after the seminar they are interested in several of the books or videos produced by this organization.

Bio of the presenter:

I am Janet Summit. I live with my husband Don and children in the Logan, Utah area. I have 10 children, ranging in age now from 12 to 26. Several years ago we had one of those “hard crisis situations” in our family, and it was evident that we were falling apart emotionally, and didn’t know how to resolve the crisis. I began to search for solutions. One of the most important of those solutions was finding the organization Nonviolent Communication, (founded and developed by Marshall Rosenberg), and learning the “language of life,” or NVC, as it is called. Learning the skill of being able to express feelings and needs, and to listen for others’ feelings and needs in conversation literally changed the life of my family. We do not generally communicate this way at all in our culture. This language is called “compassionate communication,” although it is much different from simply listening. It is a straightforward language, a language that does not avoid confrontation, but creates a climate in which all needs can be met and be satisfied. It is a respectful language, and a way of communicating with someone that tells them you are truly interested in what they need and feel, even if you do not agree with them. Because of this, even in situations where people differ greatly, they are usually very willing to work together to find compatible solutions to the problem so that life can be enriched for all. I have seen this “language” pay off time and time again.

My family is different because we are able to communicate openly about what we feel and need. I run a community school in our area, composed of over 30 families and their children, and use NVC skills constantly as we set up schedules, deal with challenging situations, and decide what kinds of policies we want to develop. Anyone who has worked with homeschoolers knows how independent they are, and how different one family is from another, and yet we have managed to find a way to have everyone contribute successfully and feel included. I credit this to being able to use NVC to help everyone communicate together successfully.

I have found that when I know how to sense someone else’s needs and feelings, and when I know how to “receive a negative message” from someone else, then I can feel confident and secure in knowing how to respond. That provides me with the ability to think through things, and to truly consider what the other person needs, even behind their words. I also can understand myself, give myself empathy, and see what I truly need (which is never dependent on the situation). It’s made all the difference in my life.