I offer workshops to organizations in building and maintaining collaborative and productive relationships. Here I draw mainly from Nonviolent Communication while adding complementary principles and tools from attachment theory, interpersonal neurobiology. I find that together these approaches offer a comprehensive understanding of relationship dynamics and many tools for helping relationships thrive.  

 

I also help organizations build restorative systems for resolving conflict.

 

If you’d like to bring me to your organization for a workshop, please contact me at eric@roadtocompassion.com.

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“Eric worked with our staff in an intelligent, compassionate, and fun way.  Every staff member was engaged and took something away to improve their lives and their work with our students and clients.  It was a day of professional development that challenged and grew our abilities with difficult situations and relationships as well as grew our ability to have more joy in our work and lives. The workshop was very connecting for our staff, with plenty of appreciation for how Eric kept us moving and laughing with games and activities. It was outstanding! We hope to work with Eric again soon.”

~ Sarah Cohen, Director of Human Resources, Eaton Educational Group

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Nonviolent Communication (NVC)

NVC is a process that helps us find more compassion, peace, cooperation, inspiration and empowerment in ourselves and with others (www.cnvc.org).

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NVC helps us

• Support others in our families and communities to find calm and clarity when they are reactive or upset;

• Speak and listen so that conflict turns into collaboration;

• Bring together honesty and kindness; compassion and accountability; individuality and connection.

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Attachment Theory

Attachment theory shows us how our early childhood relationships set the foundation for how we relate to ourselves and to others throughout our lives.

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Attachment theory shows us

• How our early childhood experiences of bonding affect who we become and how we experience adult relationships;

• How to build healthy and secure relationships with partners, friends, family members, co-workers, clients;

• How to understand and work with challenging behaviours relationally.

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Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB)

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IPNB shows us

• How our significant relationships shape our brains and nervous systems;

• What happens in our brains and nervous systems when we feel safe and accepted, and when there is disconnection and conflict;

• How we can continue developing neural pathways for emotional regulation and mental health;

• What we can do to transform the impacts of our challenging and painful childhood experiences.

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Workshop/Presentation Structure and Approach

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• Clear guidelines and group agreements for building maximum trust, safety, support, confidentiality, and self-care;

• Attention to different learning styles;

• Application to real-life situations so that the learning is meaningful and relevant;

• A balance of learning information and doing exercises and activities that help participants experience and apply the information;

• A variety of large group, small group, partner, and individual activities and processes;

• Short games and movement to keep the energy up and to help integrate the learning.

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“Eric has a wonderful way of putting everyone at ease throughout his workshops. At the start of the workshop, we played a ‘get to know you’ game that had everyone in hysterics and broke the ice beautifully. He had all sorts of fun games that got us up and moving while also learning a particular skill around empathy and compassion. He was very patient with our questions and wonderful at taking his time to ensure we all understood a particular concept.”

~ Jackie Dowling, Business Education and Planning 10 Teacher, Sir Charles Tupper Secondary