Connect with Heart: Unleashing the Power of Empathy through Nonviolent Communication

April 4 and April 11, 2025
11:30am to 2:30pm
6.0 CEs for LCSW/LSW and LCPC/LPC
$65 for CEs, $25 for no CEs

Do you want to see yourself and others with compassion? Do you want to learn to communicate so others can hear you? Do you want to enhance your communication skills personally and professionally? This class offers an introductory, foundational understanding of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), a powerful approach developed by Marshall Rosenberg that fosters empathy and connection. Students will learn to express their feelings and needs clearly while also listening to others with compassion. Through interactive activities, role-playing, and group discussions, participants will explore the four components of NVC: observations, feelings, needs, and requests. By the end of the two workshops, students will begin to develop practical skills for resolving conflicts peacefully, enhancing relationships, and creating a more empathetic community. Join us in cultivating a culture of understanding and respect!

This is a two-part training (April 4 and April 11) worth a total of 6.0 CE hours for LCSW/LSW and LCPC/LPC in the state of Illinois – you are required to attend and pass both post-tests to receive 6.0 CEUs. By completing this registration, you are committing to attending both events.

Session 1 Objectives:

• Understand the Four Components of NVC Learners will be able to identify and describe the four key components of Nonviolent Communication: Observation, Feelings, Needs, and Requests. 
• Enhance Self-Awareness and Emotional Intelligence Learners will develop the ability to recognize and articulate their own feelings and needs in various situations, fostering greater self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
• Practice Empathy and Active Listening Learners will gain skills in listening empathetically to others, focusing on their feelings and needs without judgment or interpretation, to foster deeper understanding and connection.

Session 2 Objectives

• Understand and Identify Life-Alienating Communication Learners will be able to recognize and distinguish life-alienating communication, which includes language that involves judgment, criticism, blame, or demand. They will understand how such communication disconnects people from their feelings and needs, and how it can hinder compassionate dialogue and mutual understanding.
• Express Needs Clearly and Effectively Learners will practice expressing their needs in a clear, direct, and non-confrontational way, avoiding blame or demands while promoting cooperation.
• Foster Collaborative and Compassionate Relationships Learners will be able to apply NVC principles in creating and maintaining healthy, respectful, and supportive relationships both personally and professionally.

Registration Options:

If you do NOT need CEUs for LCSW/LSW or LCPC/LPC, register via the link below:

NON-CEU REGISTRATION

If you DO need CEUs for LCSW/LSW or LCPC/LPC, register via the link below:

CEU REGISTRATION

Sisa Pon Renie has supported students, families and faculty as a classroom teacher, a professional learning facilitator and an instructional coach in mostly early childhood communities that are under-resourced across the United States for more than two decades. For the last seven years, she has been an early childhood coach and professional learning facilitator at the Erikson Institute in Chicago. She is passionate about advocating for humane and just school spaces, pedagogy, and structures. She has been facilitating learning about Nonviolent Communication for two years and has found it to be transformative in her relationship with herself, her loved ones, and in her professional life. As a person who has experienced racism, othering, and onliness, she supports educators to create spaces of belonging, joy, and dignity for young children and educators. A lover of learning, yoga, 90’s hip hop, all things related to social justice, healing and bringing people together, Sisa is a mother of two compassionate humans and one silly dog.

Emily Lux, PhD, LSW is an Adjunct Professor at Tulane University School of Social Work, and Visiting Clinical Associate for the College of Law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also serves as a board member for the Lifeline for Moms Postpartum Mental Health Advisory Council at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, and as the Advisory Board Director for The Village Project through the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests focus on child welfare and perinatal mood disorders.