In this monthly practice group, we explore the basics of Direct Compassionate Communication (DCC) while building community together.

Whether you’re brand new to DCC or working to strengthen your foundation, this practice group uses guided exercises to emphasize self-connection and practical-relating skills you can use right away.

What to Expect:

• monthly on the 4th Friday @ 4pm - 5:30pm PT / 7pm - 8:30pm ET

NOTE: Join the Heal Your Way Forward Collective as a member to access this session for free (this and many more sessions are either free or available at a reduced rate to our Collective members)!

Practice not only expressing difficult truths (free from blame and criticism), but also receiving them with grounded, empathetic presence.

What to Expect:

• monthly on the 1st Monday @ 5pm - 6:30pm PT / 8pm - 9:30pm ET

• guided exercises using real-life scenarios with partner and small-group practice

• explore misunderstandings, disconnection, tension and conflict 

Join us whether you’re brand new to Direct Compassionate Communication (DCC) or seasoned with Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and looking to foster deeper resilience and capacity to say and hear hard things.

Optional: bring a real situation you're navigating and would like support working through!

NOTE: Join the Heal Your Way Forward Collective as a member to access this session for free (this and many more sessions are either free or available at a reduced rate to our Collective members)!

In this monthly session, we slow down the self-connection process.  We'll look back on the previous month with reflection and explore what’s alive in us.  

What to Expect:

• monthly on the 28th @ 9am - 10:30am PT / noon - 1:30pm ET

Together, we’ll:

• Gently unpack your judgments, moralizations, criticisms, assessments, and evaluations
• Practice shifting these stories into clear observations that support these beliefs (separating “fact” from interpretation)
• Build awareness of your feelings so you can better understand what you need
• Explore how understanding your needs helps you name your perfect preference as well as see where you can be flexible (while we examine the common barriers that make expressing needs difficult)
• Reach for a request of yourself and another that you can make for the following month

NOTE: Join the Heal Your Way Forward Collectiveas a member to access this session for free (this and many more sessions are either free or available at a reduced rate to our Collective members)!

Have you been taught that joy is avoidance and distraction?

That finding pleasure signals indifference to suffering or complicity in the system?

Oof. No wonder you’re burnt all the way out.

What if  play is not avoidance, but a sustainable resistance strategy?

What if  self-care is soul care, and nourishing your soul requires making space for grief and joy to coexist?

What to Expect:

• 2nd Saturdays @ 11am - 1pm PT / 2 - 4pm ET 
• 3rd Tuesdays @ 4pm - 6pm PT / 7 - 9pm ET

In this Direct Compassionate Communication practice, we’ll  explore the ways we block play,  exploration, and possibility--not with shame, but with curiosity. Together, we’ll examine the judgments we carry (like “I don’t deserve this,” “it’s irresponsible to rest,” “joy is a luxury I can't afford”) and gently translate them into the unmet needs beneath them.

Through  guided self-connection practices and compassionate dialogue roleplay, you’ll identify the feelings activated in your resistance to joy and connect them to the core needs at stake. We’ll practice moving from scarcity to spaciousness by  identifying one action you can take  (or one honest request you can communicate directly!) that honors your needs with integrity.

Participants will leave with  practical skills that promote relational healing, inner clarity, and courageous possibility. When we speak our needs without blame and listen without defense, joy becomes less threatening and more accessible.

This is not about toxic positivity.

It’s about understanding what stands in the way of joy so that gratitude and delight can emerge authentically.

Because joy is not the opposite of responsibility, accountability or awareness - it can be the fruit of it!

NOTE:Join the Heal Your Way Forward Collectiveas a member to access this session for free (this and many more sessions are either free or available at a reduced rate to our Collective members)!

The internet doesn’t have to feel like a battleground, a nd protecting your peace doesn’t have to mean disappearing.

In this prerecorded workshop, Direct Compassionate Communication Practice Guide Jen Gergen, and her guest, Social Media and Marketing Strategist Melissa Pagnotta explore how we can cultivate not only fortitude and resilience for engaging on social media, but how we may bring empathy to our online interactions.

Many of us are navigating grief, frustration, and fatigue in an increasingly polarized digital landscape. We long for meaningful connection and compassionate dialogue, even when the internet feels like a battleground.

We are overwhelmed. Caught between wanting to speak up and protect our mental health when we witness and/or experience harm. We are longing for meaningful connection and transformation, but also see the limits of our capacity and want to protect our fragile peace.

In this session, we’ll practice what it means to show up with authenticity, curiosity, and care… without abandoning ourselves to “empathy vampires” or taking the bait from trolls and bots.

Who this session is for:

• if you’ve ever felt drained by online conversations or unsure how to maintain your boundaries while still showing up with empathy
• if you've ever said "there's no point going online" or "why try connecting on social media, you aren't changing minds there" and need some help checking your ableism in that belief
• if you ever engaged with activating digital written communication like texts and emails (not just social media!)

What to expect:

Through the lens of Direct Compassionate Communication (rooted in the principles of Nonviolent Communication), we’ll focus on practices that support self-connection and empathetic (boundaried!) engagement online. You’ll gain tools to navigate social media with confidence, responding from a grounded place rather than reacting from stress, fear, and frustration.

We'll use real examples (this isn't just theory!) and interactive exercises to help you embody these practices, offering guidance on how to hold empathy and curiosity for yourself and others

You can c are deeply, show up online with integrity, and protect your mental health .

We are committed to keeping our programming accessible.  No one is ever turned away for inability to pay because learning direct compassionate communication is not just for the financially privileged!

📣 To make that possible, we need your help:

To help those experiencing resource scarcity, consider making a contribution to our DCC scholarships!