Join us for this 9-day residential retreat that will help you bring nonviolence and peace into all areas of your life. In this event, you can discover skills that will help you improve the quality of your relationships, deepen your inner peace, and increase your contribution to the world.

View a video welcome message from the organizing trainer, Dian Killian, Ph.D. 

People in more than forty countries are using Nonviolent Communication skills to transform conflict, create resiliency in their relationships, and build a world where everyone's needs matter and are met collaboratively... and in this event, a team of experienced trainers will share key skills to help you apply these 

We will create a dynamic learning laboratory that will show you how to create a more compassionate and peaceful culture in your life at home, at work, and in your community by learning how to:

• speak from the heart
• practice deep, non-judgmental listening
• build self-empowerment from the inside out. 

Seminar Language: English

Discount for people living in Ireland (minimum one year): 10% (email Jeff Brown for details)

This event is a 9-day residential training designed as an "immersion experience" in Nonviolent Communication (NVC) led by a team of experienced CNVC certified trainers sharing both the core curriculum of NVC as developed by Dr. Marshall Rosenberg as well as their own unique applications.

The purpose is to offer you the opportunity to live the process of NVC in community over an extended period of time, in order to develop the mindsets and practical tools to help you in three areas:

1. Personal and Professional Relationships

• Increase connection and closeness with the people you love.
• Speak in a way that inspires compassion and understanding.
• Initiate difficult conversations with more ease and confidence.
• Remain centered and peaceful when receiving difficult messages.
• Express and receive anger fully, safely and respectfully... yet powerfully.
• Resolve long-standing conflicts and heal painful relationships.
• Parent children from the heart and move beyond power struggles into cooperation.
• Translate criticism, judgments and blame into life-serving messages.

2. Inner Transformation

• Shift patterns of thinking that lead to depression, guilt and shame and perpetuate pain.
• Transform anger into self-understanding, thereby increasing inner peace.
• Enliven yourself by expressing and receiving gratitude.
• Learn to embody unconditional love.

3. Contribution and Social Change

• Teach others a way to increase inner peace, liberate themselves and strengthen relationships.
• Share NVC in ways that transmit and model its power to transform and inspire others.
• Create educational systems where students love learning and teachers love teaching.
• Learn to engage in effective, lasting nonviolent social change in the tradition of Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

While we will prioritize these three areas within the event's curriculum, there is also room for co-creation. There will be opportunities for you to make requests for specific topics that you imagine will support you in applying NVC in these areas of your life.

You will receive much more from this event if you are acquainted with the basics of this work before you come. Find a workshop near you.

THE TEAM

Organizing Trainer: Dian Killian, Ph.D. (United States)

Dian has been a Certified Trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication since 2005 and has offered training around the world.  She is a co-author of two well-loved NVC books, Connecting across Differences: How to Connect with Anyone, Anywhere, Any Time (in English and German) and Urban Empathy: True Life Adventures of Compassion on the Streets of New York.

Dian has worked with diverse organizations including Americorps, the United Nations Development Program, the Peace Alliance/Department of Peace campaign, New York University, and Cornell University.  She is known for sharing NVC in a clear, down-to-earth, and engaging way with humor and stories. Dian, who lived and studied in Dublin for eight years, is especially excited about organizing this first-ever IIT in Ireland! Learn more about Dian.

Trainer: Donal Gannon (Ireland)

Donal is a nomadic catalyst for personal, social and cultural transformation and supports individuals and groups to create a foundation of authentic connection and trust by encouraging effective collaboration and self-connection, honest expression and empathic listening, passionate power, and compassionate care.

Donal does this through Training, Facilitation, Coaching, and Mediation as a Certified Trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication  and a member of the Cultural Catalyst Network (USA), Permalab (Portugal), HeartSpace Collective and Arise to Succeed (Ireland). Learn more about Donal.

Trainer: Shona Cameron (Scotland)

Shona believes in radical self-compassion and acceptance of what is, equality and the power we have to grow and heal.

Based in Edinburgh, Scotland she travels widely and serves as a Certification Assessor for the Center for Nonviolent Communication.

Part of the community of trainers with the Center for Nonviolent Communication, she also works closely with other trainers in the U.K. and more locally in Scotland. Learn more about Shona.

Trainer: John Kinyon (United States)

John has devoted his life and career to the furthering of empathic communication and human connection around the world through the integration of consciousness and language. He has an M.S. in Clinical Psychology.

He is the co-creator of the international Mediate Your Life Training Program that is based in the work of Nonviolent Communication and integrates a mediation framework, mindfulness, and neuroscience. The training provides skills and conversation “maps” for navigating challenges and conflicts, inner and outer, in all aspects of life. Learn more about John.

On-Site Coordinator: Jeff Brown (United States)

Jeff provides administrative, marketing, and technical support for multiple NVC organizations and trainers including Work Collaboratively, the organizer of this retreat. As a Cultural Architect, Jeff creates fusion among differing world views by connecting the dots between things that are ordinarily seen as being unrelated.

As an NVC Certified Trainer, Jeff facilitated 800 days of training in ten countries including South Korea, Japan, Denmark, Greece, the Netherlands, Germany, Romania, the U.S. and the U.K. from 2005-2017. He was the Executive Director from 2009-2015 for the Compassionate Communication Center of Ohio, a nonprofit organization based in Columbus, Ohio.

Assistant On-Site Coordinator: Maeve O'Connor (Ireland)

An enthusiastic and curious student of Nonviolent Communication, Maeve has attended several NVC workshops and does Counselling and Psychotherapy, works with groups, and leads trainings.

In addition to learning and community, we look forward to enjoying the beautiful grounds at the Emmaus Centre, the natural beauty of Ireland, and also incorporating music and fun.

The venue is located just north of Dublin, easily accessible to the Dublin airport (DUB), a major international hub, with much to see before or after the IIT in the area.

The Centre is designed to help people find meaning and connection within themselves and others through the adventure of the spiritual search. A beautiful location supporting peace and harmony, it includes gardens and river walks and also brings that natural tranquility inside, affording us a tranquil space for this retreat.

Newgrange Prehistoric Monument

Newgrange, a place of astrological, spiritual, religious and ceremonial importance is just 37 km from the retreat center and we will be offering an optional field trip during the retreat! It is a grand passage tomb built during the Neolithic period (approximately 3200 BC), making it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids.

Swords Castle

A restored medieval castle built in approximately the year 1200 is just 2 km from the venue, and was home to several archbishops of Dublin.

By Air:

Dublin Airport (DUB) is the largest international airport in Ireland and is just 7 km from our venue, making for an easy 10-minute drive or 20-minute bus ride.

If you are traveling to the United States after the event, the Dublin Airport is especially convenient -- it's one of only two airports in Europe with pre-clearance services for U.S.-bound passengers, which allows passengers to have their paperwork dealt with before departure saving time upon arrival in the U.S.

By Sea:

For a scenic train-to-ferry trip from Britain, use Irish Ferries' Sailrail service.

By Car:

The Emmaus Centre is located in the town of Swords in County Dublin, 10 km north of the city centre of Dublin. Here are driving directions.