Have you ever attended a workshop (NVC or otherwise), noticed that you were not connecting as deeply as you would like with those around you and wondered if your race, ethnicity or economic level was a contributing factor?

Do you ever choose to stay silent when you feel uncomfortable with the behavior or speech of another because that person belongs to a different racial or ethnic group than your do?

Do you ever feel discouraged when you hear certain ideas repeated about people, experiencing them as barriers to connection?

Have you ever been in an ongoing group (e.g. NVC practice group) and noticed that the people from a different racial/ethnic background from yours did not come back after one or two sessions?

Have you ever despaired of experiencing deep understanding of your experience by someone from a different racial/ethnic/social class than you?

We (Jane Connor, Kanya Likanasudh and Roxy Manning) have had these experiences and long for greater connection and understanding among people from backgrounds diverse in race, ethnicity and socio-economic level. We often feel excited and inspired about the possibilities of increasing such connection with the support of NVC; we have experienced these possibilities in some NVC contexts already. Yet we have also noticed that at the vast majority of trainings we have attended in North America, South America and Europe, there have been very few, if any, persons visibly identifiable as from a non-white racial/ethnic background.

At other trainings, we have heard people from those groups express sadness, resignation, or anger because of experiences they have had in NVC circles which did not meet their needs for safety, inclusion and understanding.

We also have been told by some White participants that they were confused and sad because they believed something they did stimulated pain in another person and they believed something about their being White was part of what contributed to that stimulation. And they didn’t know how to work with this stimulation using NVC.

We hear people we meet expressing a desire for connection, for safety, for communication across group differences.

We deeply believe in the potential of NVC to create connections across social groups, to create opportunities for healing from the pain resulting from societal divisions that currently exist. We are therefore organizing this event - NVC and Diversity: Focus on Race, Ethnicity and Social Class in North America - to meet our needs for inclusion, connection, contribution and hope.

Our Goals

At the NVC and Diversity retreat, we hope to support exploration of the following:

• how NVC can support greater connection among persons from diverse groups
• how NVC can support healing of wounds from painful experiences associated with race, ethnicity and social class
• how NVC can support greater effectiveness in social change efforts
• how NVC trainings and the NVC network can be more aware of the challenges facing persons from diverse backgrounds and address those challenges
• how the experiences of persons from diverse backgrounds can enrich the development, expansion and understanding of NVC

Our Intentions

We are fully committed to introducing NVC to all people, of all races, ethnicities, and economic levels, so that each person can see if living in NVC consciousness is truly life-serving and so that we can move with all people toward a world where everyone’s needs matter. To this end:

• We intend to reach out and invite people from currently underserved communities to attend the NVC & Diversity retreat.
• We intend to conduct fund-raising to support attendance at the retreat by people who otherwise would not attend because of financial barriers.
• We intend to co-create what happens at the retreat very closely with our participants to be responsive to needs for safety, inclusion and authenticity as they arise.
• We intend to provide sessions that recognize the strengths of those who are new to NVC, but who have an awareness of diversity issues, and those who are experiened in NVC, but who are new to an awareness of diversity issues.

Children's Program

One of our intentions is to make the NVC & Diversity retreat accessible to as many people from diverse economic classes as possible. When we consider economic factors that might impact someone's ability to attend a retreat, one major barrier we identified was access to childcare, either through resources to pay for childcare, or the availability of trusted individuals to care for one's children overnight. To remove this barrier, we intend to offer a small children's program to facilitate the ability of parents from all socioeconomic classes to attend the retreat.

The children's program will have their own trainers and support staff and will meet onsite, but not in the same rooms, as the main activities. To honor the diversity of people's comfort level being around children, we ask that parents join their children in the children's meeting areas when needed by their children, rather than bring the children into the main meeting rooms. Children will be welcomed in the opening and closing circles, during meal times, and at the last evening's celebration event. We are excited when we consider the profound experience the children will have of being with adults who are able to hold their needs with care and NVC consciousness. We also feel hope in the possibility that our overall experience will be richer with the inclusion of more people from diverse backgrounds and are very excited at the possibility that parents who would otherwise not attend the event might find it easier to do so. For more information about the children's program, click here.