Empowered Communication (also known as Compassionate Communication, Nonviolent Communication™ or NVC) is a way of speaking that facilitates the flow of communication needed to exchange information and resolve differences peacefully. It helps us identify our shared values & needs, encourages us to use language that increases goodwill, and avoid language that contributes to resentment or lowers self-esteem.
Empowered Communication focuses our attention on compassion as our motivation, rather than fear, guilt, blame, or shame. It emphasizes taking personal responsibility for our choices and improving the quality of our relationships as our goal. It is effective even when the other person or group is not familiar with this process.
Empowered Communication is based on the premises that:
- We are all simply trying to get our needs met.
- We fare better if we know how to get these needs met through cooperation rather than aggression.
- People naturally enjoy contributing to the well being of others when they can do so willingly.
The intent of Empowered Communication is to:
- Create more satisfying personal connections.
- Meet our needs in ways that honor and respect our values and the values of others.
- Heal from previous experiences and relationships that have been painful or unsuccessful.
With Empowered Communication skills you can:
- Resolve feelings of anger, guilt, shame, fear, and frustration.
- Redirect anger or frustration toward coalition building and cooperative outcomes.
- Create solutions based on safety, mutual respect, and consensus.
- Meet basic individual, family, school, community, and societal needs in life-serving ways.
Adapted from Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion by Marshall Rosenberg (PuddleDancer Press, (c)1999).
Our experience with Empowered Communication:
Alan Seid took his first NVC workshop in 1995 with Dr. Marshall Rosenberg, founder of NVC. Though most of his training has been with Dr. Rosenberg, Alan has attended dozens of trainings with many other trainers.
Alan had his first opportunity to teach NVC in 1998, as well as his first opportunity to mediate a conflict using the process.
In 1999 Alan attended a ten-day intensive NVC training (“IIT”), followed by spending 10 days as Dr. Rosenberg’s Spanish interpreter in Colombia, South America.
Alan was an early member of the Puget Sound Network for Compassionate Communication (PSNCC) in the late 1990s, and was a founding member of the Whatcom Network for Compassionate Communication (WNCC) in 2001.
Alan became certified as a trainer through the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) in 2003, and has brought NVC to countless communities, institutions, organizations, families, couples and individuals.
Alan Seid is Certified as a Trainer by The Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) a global network of people and communities who are committed to resolving conflicts and meeting the needs of all people, through living and teaching the concepts, tools, and practices collectively known as “Nonviolent Communication”.