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Nonviolent Communication

We perceive relationships in a new light when we use NVC to hear our own deeper needs and those of others.
Marshall Rosenberg

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is a process which can help people to relate compassionately with others and resolve conflicts. It was developed by Marshall Rosenberg in response to the physical, emotional and spiritual violence he witnessed in the United States in the 1960s. Since then NVC techniques have been used to handle conflict situations world-wide, for example, with urban gangs in the United States, tribal conflict in Africa and more recently in Israel, Ireland and Yugoslavia. NVC is promoted by a non-profit global organisation: the Center for Nonviolent Communication.

Key Features of NVC

NVC is primarily concerned with the resolution of conflict and with the meeting of human needs, and the basic NVC model centres around the following four components:

1. observing
   The concrete actions we are observing which are affecting our well-being
2. feeling
   How we are feeling in relation to what we are observing
3. needs
   The needs, values, desires, etc. which are creating our feelings
4. request
   The concrete actions we wish to request in order to enrich our lives

This basic model may be used to help us to respond compassionately to ourselves, but more typically it is used to foster improved relationships with others. NVC is not a set of manipulative techniques; on the contrary it is based on honesty and empathy and the attempt to deal with people's real needs. Anger, wherever it is observed, is interpreted as an expression of an unmet need.

Further Information

You can see Marshall Rosenberg introducing his NVC ideas in three short video clips (19 min. in all) by going to the Big Picture website.

Marshall Rosenberg's NVC techniques are explored fully in:

Rosenberg, Marshall B (second edition, 2003) Nonviolent communication: a language of life . PuddleDancer Press. Click here to read the first chapter.

Details of Nonviolent Communication trainers:

NVC Resolutions - based in London, UK
NVC UK Infopoint - training, events and resources UK-wide

For further information about Nonviolent Communication see:

Center for Nonviolent Communication
A Meeting Place Between a Language of the Heart and a Practice of the Heart by
  Paul Tingen
Nonviolent Communication (The Co-Intelligence Institute)

	Page last modified: 7 February 2007