Join IN: Immersion in Nonviolent Communication
8-month Online Intensive

with Oren Jay Sofer & Roxy Manning
september 2023 - APril 2024
1 Weekend/month, 9–11:30am & 2–4:30pm PT

Communication is about more than what you say.
Nonviolence is not passivity, but a courageous and demanding way of life.
Nonviolent Communication is a profound and transformative practice.

Nonviolent Communication trains us to develop internal resources to realize our potential and live in line with our values. It’s about showing up authentically and compassionately in all circumstances, learning to care more fully for ourselves and for others, and transforming moments of immobility and helplessness into experiences of power and choice.

“IN” — Immersion in Nonviolent Communication — offers training to:

  • Transform recurring conflicts

  • Enhance your ability to support others

  • Find more balance and clarity with your own “triggers”

  • Shift areas of your life that seem stuck

  • Deepen your capacity for listening and empathy

  • Build community focused on nonviolence

““A life changing experience. Oren and Roxy are, hands down, two of the best facilitators I have ever experienced (who complement each other beautifully). I came away inspired and equipped with powerful and effective tools for supporting interactions... Lastly, many of the connections I made with my cohort have continued long past the training. I am glad and grateful for being a member of this new community.””
— Melody Noll, ESL Instructor

About the Program

The Immersion in NVC (“IN” for short) supports participants to deepen their understanding and embodiment of key principles and applications of Nonviolent Communication. It begins with the four-day online Living Peace Retreat, August 10-13, 2023, and continues with eight monthly weekend workshops. IN asks that all participants have some prior training in Nonviolent Communication. For those who have no prior training, the Living Peace Retreat meets this pre-requisite. (You must register separately for this retreat.)

Our Immersion in NVC attracts a range of practitioners: those who are relatively new as well as more experienced students, including alumni of BayNVC’s Leadership Program and previous Immersion programs. Participants find great value in the continuity of the monthly meetings and the opportunity to learn and grow in a lively community. Please download and read the IN info packet here before applying.

““The Immersion Program has been life changing! I’ve learned skills that have helped me develop deeper self-awareness, express myself more authentically, and connect more compassionately with others. I have so much gratitude for Roxy and Oren, the assistants and this wonderful community!” ”
— Hongxu Liu, Software Engineer, Oakland, CA

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2023 Program Dates:

Living Peace Retreat: 4-day online training, August 10-13
Please register separately for the Living Peace Retreat here.

Immersion in NVC, 8-month program: Weekend programs each month, 9:00 – 11:30am and 2:00 – 4:30pm Pacific Time; two empathy groups per month; plus one hour-long live coaching call with a lead trainer. (After the first weekend, trainers will alternate leading weekends and coaching calls.) Topics may shift; please check back for finalized schedule.

  • Sept 9, 10: A Strong and Vital Heart: Empathy under Fire

  • Oct 7, 8: The Myth of Perfection: Maturing through Self-acceptance and Growth

  • Nov 4, 5: Being Real When It Counts: Authenticity and Vulnerability

  • Dec 2, 3: A Deeper Freedom: Power, Resources and Choice

  • Jan 6, 7: Multiple workshops on different topics with guest trainers.*

  • Feb 3, 4: Radical Responsibility: Giving and Receiving Without Shame

  • March 2, 3: The Art of Mourning, Healing and Reconciliation

  • April 6, 7: Bridging the Gap: Skills for Mediation

Please download and read the Info Packet here before applying.
* You are invited to bring friends or family to the January workshops, free of charge!

What You Receive:

  • Expert training from Certified NVC Trainers

  • Personalized coaching in small groups

  • Extensive training curriculum and NVC reference materials

  • Weekly calls with an empathy buddy

  • Two empathy practice groups per month

  • Monthly practice assignments and journal topics

  • Optional small group sessions on specific interest topics

  • One 45 minute private NVC coaching session*

  • Access to an ongoing program email group

  • Opportunity to build local community

*Note: offered by program assistants.

Who's it for?

This program is appropriate for those newer to Nonviolent Communication as well as for experienced practitioners seeking to deepen their practice. Applicants are expected to have some prior training in NVC. Past years have drawn therapists, activists, teachers, nurses, doctors, writers, artists, engineers, life coaches, and many more.

Please note: This program does not offer CEs.

““The Immersion precipitated a swell of growth in my life that extended to parenting, personal relationships, and professional skill and opportunity. [It]... has made my experience of life more fulfilling on the whole. Roxy and Oren have invited in and held space for a beautiful, vulnerable, imperfect community that I am honored to have been a part of.””
— Emily Smith, Executive Coach, San Francisco, CA.

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Program Leadership

The Immersion in NVC will be co-led by Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainers Roxy Manning, Ph.D. and Oren Jay Sofer, and will be supported by a team of experienced NVC assistants. Our leadership team is designed to provide significant individualized coaching in small groups, with an average teacher to student ratio of four or five to one. Note that the two core trainers alternate leading weekends, and will co-lead the final weekend together.

Roxy Manning, Ph.D., a CNVC Certified Trainer. Roxy’s experience as an Afro-Caribbean immigrant to the US and academic training and professional work as a licensed clinical psychologist and CNVC Certified Trainer and Assessor fuel her passion for work supporting social change at the personal, interpersonal, and systemic levels. A San Francisco based psychologist and an Assessor with CNVC, Roxy delights in helping opposing voices hear each other and see past individual hurt and struggles to the structures that contribute to those challenges. Roxy is the author of two forth-coming books, Antiracist Conversations and The Antiracist Heart.

Oren Jay Sofer, a CNVC Certified Nonviolent Communication Trainer, teaches workshops and retreats on meditation and communication nationally. His teaching emphasizes how awareness practice and communication training deepen one another in a synergistic manner. He holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University, is a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner for healing trauma, and is a member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council. Oren is also the author of Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication, co-author of Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Adolescents, and author of the forth-coming title Your Heart Was Made For This.

Program Cost

Sliding Scale Tuition: $4500 - $2000
Our sliding scale is intended to make this program accessible to people of a wide range of income levels. Please choose an amount that reflects your ability to contribute. People who contribute at the top of the sliding scale support our ability to offer spaces at a cost below the bottom of the sliding scale to those who would otherwise be unable to participate.

Scholarships and youth rates (24 and younger) available. Please see details below.

FINANCIAL AID & ACCESSIBILITY

We wish to support all people who are passionate about this work to have access to it, independent of their current access to financial resources. We recognize that, because of various social and economic systems, some people experience financial barriers to participating in events with cost-based attendance.

We are explicitly inviting participation by people who come from any of the following communities. When all people are included, our communities benefit:

  • People with visible or invisible disabilities

  • People who do not have white skin privilege and/or who come from communities who have been targets of racism

  • People who identify as LGTBQIA+

  • Low-income/Poor or Working class people (please refer to this definition as a guideline when self-identifying in this category)

If you identify as part of one of the communities listed above and would like to be considered for a low-cost space, please complete BOTH a scholarship form and a program application. Preference will be given to those who are new to this work and who have not attended past events at reduced or no cost.

Questions about this program? Feel free to email us here.

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“I gained so much from this program, through Oren and Roxy’s teaching and the support of the assistants. I learned to speak up for myself and to express my needs in a skillful way that could be well-received. I learned to listen empathetically, and to listen for what really mattered… I feel more empowered in my communication, and so appreciated the community that was formed along the way.”

— Valerie Loo, Movement Awareness Coach, Oakland, CA. (Immersion Program 2019)

“The program is a comprehensive introduction to nonviolent communication.  The Program provides immediately usable skills to give and receive empathy, greatly improving one's ability to connect with others individually and in groups.”

— Bob Spencer, Oakland, CA. (Immersion Program 2019)

“This program profoundly taught me how to honor that I have needs worthy of knowing, expressing, and trusting. I learned concrete skills for intentionally connecting to myself and to compassionately connect to others too… Roxy and Oren (and the incredibly-skilled assistants) were consistently thoughtful and prepared, and the community offered reliable healing. This program is a must for anyone interested in NVC, building community, and true healing/transformation.”

— Dr. Rachel Greenberg, Psychologist, Oakland, CA (Immersion Program 2019)

"“How do you feel” could be the cliche of all cliche questions asked by therapists. The Immersion Program, with its experiential practices and powerful instructions, reinforced a process for noticing, naming, and validating the feelings and needs that are most alive in us, no matter how shut down or stuck we may feel. This clarity brings the possibility of empathy for self and other ever closer... The course and instructors and assistants were patient, skillful and brilliant!”

— Linda Taggert,  LCSW, Psychotherapist, Berkeley, CA (Immersion Program 2019)

“I am an introvert with social anxiety, and even though I have worked on this a lot it was still an EXTREMELY challenging for me to sign up for the Immersion Program… I found the acceptance that we all had our own needs and limitations deeply restorative… By the last month, I was actually connected and at ease with a dozen new people, disappointed that we were coming to an end. Overall, the program met my needs for growth, connection, and continued community.”

— Mary Richards, Teacher, Livermore CA. (Immersion Program 2019)

”Over the course of the year, I became more comfortable sharing my vulnerability in community, helping to heal wounds around acceptance, mattering, and shame.”

— Anonymous, Richmond CA. (Immersion Program 2019)