CONNECTIONS

Group-based training  events 
at Sutton Courtenay Abbey, near Oxford 

Spring 99

All events run from 1030 to 1700
with coffee and tea from 1000Connections

Nonviolent Communication

Sunday 10 January

with Bridget Belgrave

The stressful daily routines of organisational life are a breeding ground for conflict and aggressive behaviour. The NVC model of communication, developed by Marshall Rosenberg, offers a tool for interacting which enables people to feel heard and understood, to find increased clarity and a surprising degree of warmth and empathy with another person. It can be used in any communication, even when the other person does not know this process. It is especially valuable where physical, emotional or spritual threat is in the air, enabling people to choose actions that are in harmony with their needs and values. The NVC processs shows us how we can be respectful and empathic with Œfriends¹ and Œenemies¹ alike through being compassionate towards ourselves. 
NVC is being used around the world, for example in schools in Serbia and Israel, businesses in Sweden, families in the USA and for peace-building work in Sri Lanka. It is well suited to flattened structures with self-managed teams and can contribute to success in organisational change. The workshop will be playful and experimental. Bridget will describe and demonstrate the NVC process using real-life experiences, role play and present-time communication. We will discover how we are already using this process when things go well in communication and how we could use it consciously, for the good of all, when we most need it.

Bridget has taught, and trained others to teach, the Alexander Technique since 1980. She trained in Psychosynthesis from 1980-84. She trained in NVC with Marshall Rosenberg and since 1996  has been working with the international Center for Nonviolent Communication (website: www.cnvc.org). 


Let¹s make an opera!
Sunday 14 February

with Richard Morton

This is a special event for Connections - it will combine the creative experience of making an opera with a study of the group and interpersonal processes that involves. It presents an opportunity for singers and non-singers alike to experience opera from the inside. The group will be offered a theme on which to build an operatic story of their own choosing and, with coaching and other input from Richard, create a short opera which will be performed later in the afternoon. The workshop will in addition focus on the nature of opera as an art form and how it works.
 
Although music will thread the plot together, there could well be mimed and spoken parts for those participating. And,  at suitable points, we shall return to focus on the group and intergroup processes that are contributing to the end product. It would be useful to have a range of  Œprops¹, so please bring anything you think might contribute, musical or otherwise; the date of this event might  give some ideas.

Richard, from the unlikely surroundings of a much-loved Yorkshire mining  town, describes himself as ³pursuing a journey of artistic discovery which is happily incomplete². His career has taken him from King¹s College, Cambridge to the Royal College of Music and several years as a principal tenor with Welsh National Opera. He directed the last 3 major 
productions of Oxford¹s Opera Exchange.


Up your street?

Sunday 7 March

with Guy Wareing and David Jaques

The Œstreet¹ stands as a metaphor for the open space of life and our need to include and be included within it. It provides an opportunity to test and examine our personal boundaries. What,for instance, happens when we are freed of the oft-assumed constraints of personal and public space, group norms and anticipated responses?  How does it feel to take intiatives, to take risks and to do things without express permission? How can we  make use of the space around us in ways which  are enjoyable, safe, creative, educational and even therapeutic? 
The Œstreet¹ offers an experiential group approach to looking  at how we negotiate the boundaries between the personal and the public. Each Œstreet¹  has the agenda of building a workable personal and social space without preset rules or structure; within the limits of the setting and respecting the needs and wishes of those present.  The Œstreet¹ sessions are a series of time-bounded, free, interactions each followed by a forum meeting for review and discussion.

Guy works as an independent consultant after several years as a personnel manager in the oil industry. An experienced T-Group trainer, he is currently involved with training magistrates. David, a freelance trainer in higher education, has also worked with T-Groups and is a strong believer in Œcommunity¹ and the need to explore social boundaries.

a learning community based on groupwork
Connections is an open group which, though its membership varies from meeting to meeting, maintains a consistent and positive culture with a focus on group process. You will experience a challenging yet supportive atmosphere, the wish to learn and a sense of enjoyment and fun among all involved.
Connections was established in the Oxford area in 1991 as part of the Group Relations Training Association, an innovative UK national network promoting and supporting personal and organisational growth through group learning methods. Workshops usually take place on the first Sunday of the month from 1000 to 1700. They are designed to meet the needs of people with a professional or personal interest in learning about hemselves, gaining deeper experience of groups and and learning new skills and techniques in human development. Among the more regular attenders are trainers, managers, teachers, nurses, counsellors, therapists, community workers and social workers who may come from as far afield as Bristol, Wales or London. Presenters are selected from people known to be skilled in group work, sometimes from within the group and sometimes from outside.
So, Connections is basically a mailing list which enables you to receive details of these and similar events three times a year. You don't have to pay an annual subscription in order to attend events: each event is self-standing. But we do hope you will at least turn up now and again and pass the publicity on to your friends.

Contact: 
David Jaques, 
7 Stanley Road, 
Oxford, OX4 1QY
Phone 01865 724141 or 203255
Fax 01865 203255
email: [log in to unmask]
Website http://www.treda.co.uk/connections


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