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As a
child growing up
in a turbulent Detroit
neighborhood, Marshall
Rosenberg knew he
wanted to find a
way of speaking that
would decrease the
occurrence of physical
and verbal violence. As
a clinical psychologist
in 1961, he set out
to create such a
language—and
to teach it. Within
forty years, people
on five continents
were speaking that
language, which Dr.
Rosenberg called
Nonviolent Communication
From his childhood
years, Dr. Rosenberg
was intent on understanding
what motivated people
toward violence and
why some people,
even in trying circumstances,
were moved to compassion
instead. After studying
comparative religions
and the stories of
peacemakers throughout
history, and using
his own varied life
experiences, he was
convinced that human
beings were not inherently
violent. That belief
is the basis of the
concepts and skills
of Nonviolent Communication
(NVC).
In the early 1960s
Dr. Rosenberg left
his clinical practice
and literally went
on the road, teaching
people what he had
learned. He wanted
to “give away” the
communication skills
that he had been
teaching his clients
as a psychologist..
In his efforts to
apply these skills
to the needs of people
in everyday life,
Dr. Rosenberg found
people all over the
country who wanted
to learn Nonviolent
Communication and
he offered it to
a broad base of people
in their communities.
To meet this need
and to more effectively
spread the skills
of NVC, he founded
the Center for Nonviolent
Communications in
1984 as a non-profit
organization. A volunteer
staff who shared
his vision of a more
peaceful world started
to organize workshops
in an ever-increasing
network of communities
across the United
States, and then
in Europe as well.
The Center for Nonviolent
Communication (CNVC)
is a global organization
whose vision is a
world where all people
are getting their
needs met and resolving
their conflicts peacefully.
In this vision, people
are using Nonviolent
Communications (NVC)
to create and participate
in networks of worldwide
life-serving systems
in economics, education,
justice, healthcare,
and peace-keeping.
In addition to groups
across the U.S.,
CNVC now has regional
teams of trainers
and organizers in
Eastern Europe, the
Middle East, Western
Europe, Russia, Indonesia,
Malaysia, India,
Sri Lanka, Nigeria,
Sierra Leone, Rwanda,
Burundi, and several
countries in Latin
America. By 1998
the CNVC team in
the former Yugoslavia
alone, had trained
over 600 hundred
teachers who taught
over 12,000 students
and parents, and
now has developed
curriculum materials
for use with children
from kindergarten
through high school.
We now have more
than 250 CNVC-certified
trainers throughout
the world and estimate
that, in each of
the past two years,
over 250,000 people
have received training
in NVC in a multitude
of countries, cultures,
and languages. Many
thousands more people
have informally shared
what they have learned,
thus enhancing the
lives of their families,
workplaces, and communities.
Because NVC is such
a practical and do-able
process, the old
adage truly applies, “each
one teach one.”
©Center
for Nonviolent
Communicationsm |
