Given our world’s social and political climate, it has never been more imperative that everyone learns to engage in the hard work of challenging conversations to disrupt bias and understand each other’s unique experiences and perspectives, however different they are from our own.
There are no simple solutions for the extreme gaps in perceptions of reality we are experiencing, sometimes even with those closest to us, yet there are tools that can help us start and sustain conversations across differences, while building understanding and empathy—which may at the very least foster and strengthen an inclusive environment, and at the very best lead to real transformation and change.
Both sessions will include a PowerPoint presentation and an opportunity to ask questions and to work on examples from your own life in a safe environment.
AYA CASPI – is a Certified Trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication, based in California. She has dedicated herself to applying radical, uncompromising nonviolence in every small detail of life, starting with the ongoing laboratory of her family, including her three children. Aya has spent the last 15 years bringing her unique blend of vision, practical clarity, and deep commitment to transformation to settings as varied as schools, families, mediation, social change communities, nonprofit organizations and media. Find out more here
Watch a 13-minute film about Aya’s work at Ghidotti Highschool:
These documents below may be useful to those who haven’t had prior nonviolent communication training.
Session 1 – International Day of Peace – September 21 – 5pm PT/8pm ET – Connecting Across Differences: Empowering Tools for Building Bridges – During the DoP Campaign’s regular Third Wednesday call (extended to 75 minutes), we will offer one hour of training, beginning at ten minutes after the hour. In this 1-hour session, attendees will learn how to engage in conversations across differences, speak their truth without judgement, build empathy and acquire greater inclusive communication skills.
Session 2 – Saturday, December 3 – 9am PT/noon ET – Connecting Across Differences: Empowering Tools for Building Beloved Community – 2 hour dedicated training call – Can build on learnings from 9/21/22 call or as a stand-alone training. We ask that you help cover the cost of this training with a self-selecting suggested sliding scale of $25 to $125. Zoom link will be furnished in your confirmation email following registration.
What you will practice:
- The power of Empathic Listening in building bridges.
- The power of communicating your truth without judgement.
- The power of staying open, even when people say things that bring up pain or fear.
- The power of shifting from conversion to convergence.
- The power of translating other people’s positions and judgments into human needs and longings.
Differences of opinion should never mean hostility.
~ Gandhi, Young India, March 1, 1927