Which workshop is right for me?

If you haven’t attended one before, we’d really recommend doing the Foundation training first, even if you’ve read Marshall Rosenberg’s book and have a bit of familiarity with NVC. Most people find that things really click into place once they attend a workshop, and they start to understand NVC in a more embodied way and relate it to their lives.

If you have attended a foundation workshop before (whether with us or a different trainer) and you’re still not sure, then you may want to do another foundation training. You might be surprised by the number of people who go to multiple foundation trainings - we’ve had several people come to one of our foundation workshops, then sign up straightaway for the next one to consolidate the learning. And there is always more to learn: different aspects resonate more at different times, and there’s always new aha moments, or things that went over your head the first time! There are also lots of people who did foundation trainings years ago, and choose to refresh on the basics. It’s really up to you and what you feel ready for.

The intermediate workshops start off with the assumption that you’re already familiar with all the basic components, and they’re a lot more practice based (although we do a fair bit of practice in the foundation course too). Because we’ve already covered a lot of the theory, we’re able to devote a lot more time for the participants to focus on the real-life issues that they’re facing, and so we can delve a lot deeper. We also introduce new practices and processes that are useful in particular types of situations, as well as exercises to develop more fluency and familiarity with NVC.

There will be something for all levels of experience, so if you have already done multiple days training in the past then do still come along.

We also plan to run more advanced workshops and multi-day residential retreats in the near future (watch this space, or sign up to our mailing list to stay informed)

Where are the workshops? How do I get there? Where do I stay?

Most of our workshops are in Cloughjordan Ecovillage, where we’re based. The Ecovillage is an educational charity and an intentional community with 55 houses that was founded about 20 years ago with the intentional of modelling sustainable living, and it’s the only Ecovillage of its kind in Ireland. We own the land communally, and make decisions by consensus (if you want to know more, the Ecovillage website is at www.thevillage.ie. Or you could come and visit - maybe attend one of our workshops!)

We’re quite centrally located, about an hour and a half’s drive from Dublin or Galway, two hours from Cork, less than an hour from Limerick. Cloughjordan has its own train station. Being rural Ireland, trains only run a couple of times a day, but our workshops are timed so you can get here by train from Dublin on Saturday morning, and get back there on Sunday evening. There are also connections to other parts of the country.

For overnight options, Djangos Hostel is just a couple of minutes walk away (www.djangoshostel.com). Or get in touch with us and we can suggest a few local B&Bs.

Do you ever run workshops anywhere else?

Cloughjordan is the easiest option for us because we have access to a venue, but we’re very willing to travel to host workshops in other places.

Usually this involves a local host who invites us to come to their area, helps us to source a venue, and helps spread the word and publicise the event in their local area. It’s much more difficult for us to do this coming into a place where we don’t know anyone and we’re not part of the local networking groups, so this is really valuable to us when someone wants to take this on. If this sounds like something you’d like to do, then please get in touch.

We also run trainings for specific groups or organisations when invited, so feel free to get in touch if you’re involved in an organisation and would like us to come to you.

What’s a sliding scale? How much should I pay?

Many people are unfamiliar with the concept of a gift economy, and initially wish we’d just tell them how much to pay. But there are a few reasons we choose to operate this way. We prefer to move away from the model of payment which puts value on people’s time, and dictates how much it’s worth. And we really mean it when we say that we don’t want anyone to miss out on this work for financial reasons.

We’re not asking you to estimate how much our workshops are worth to you. We’re genuinely looking for an exchange. We’d like you to consider how much you can comfortably afford to give., and balance that against recognition of our need to make a living. If you can afford to pay more, this also enables us to offer concessionary rates to others. And if you can’t afford the minimum suggested donation please do get in touch and we can discuss other arrangements.

For full transparency: we currently don’t make enough money doing this work for it to sustain our livelihoods, although that’s a place we’d very much like to get to in the future. Once we’ve paid our expenses for each workshop, we don’t have a huge amount left to pay ourselves! But this is the work that we want to do in the world, and we intend to keep doing it while creating a business model that feels ethical (and will eventually work for us financially!)