Thank you for your interest in partnering with us to organize a Compassionate Listening training. We look forward to working with you to bring CL to your community or organization.

Local Host

Our trainings are most successful when sponsored by a local organization, individual, or group with a strong local network and prior experience organizing successful events. Familiarity and enthusiasm for Compassionate Listening are also important.

Participants, Registration, and Cost

The ideal number of participants in our trainings is 18-30. Participants pay on a sliding scale of $175-$350 per person for a two-day training (no questions asked!) or $95-$175 for a one-day training. Our office handles simple, online pre-registration, and participants pay the balance at the end of the workshop, according to the value perceived and their ability to pay. Participants consistently tell us that this is a powerful and personally transformative skill-building training. We offer one free space in the training in exchange for hosting.

Location/Meeting Room

The first and most essential task for a host is to find a spacious, private meeting room, ideally one that seats about 25 people in a circle and has enough room for participants to spread out for exercises in small groups. (We’ve also held trainings in private homes.) The room should be reserved four to six months in advance in order to ensure adequate time for outreach and marketing. TCLP will pay the deposit required to reserve the space. We look for low-cost community space that is no more than $100/day (or donated space, even better!). Sometimes our trainings are held at a retreat center. Either way is fine; however, retreat centers increase the cost for participants, since they involve meals and lodging.

Recommended Schedule for non-residential workshop: Saturday and/or Sunday, 9:30am-5:30pm, with a lunch break. The schedule for a residential retreat can start with a Friday evening session, go all day Saturday, and end early afternoon on Sunday. We can also do a standard Saturday and Sunday format, with just one overnight.

Promotion

Promotion is shared between TCLP and the host:

TCLP provides the host with a calendar write-up and a professionally produced flier that can be used for emailing, printing, and posting. We promote the training nationally through email outreach, our website calendar, and sometimes direct mailing from our database. Often we will have other close friends in your area who will help with outreach and marketing. We also coordinate with you to find cosponsor organizations in your community such as professional mediation centers, interfaith organizations, etc., if we determine that is needed.

The local host promotes the training through community calendars; posting fliers in libraries, bookstores, and favorite bulletin boards; sending email announcements to local networks; and reaching out to community groups that might be interested in our work and possible co-sponsorship. We also recommend a press release to generate interest in an interview or article.

Private Trainings

Occasionally, a group or organization will hire a Facilitator for a fee plus travel costs, and may wish to handle registration themselves. We are open to either approach and fees are negotiable, depending on the level of experience of the Facilitator.

On-Site Support

The local host or sponsor may also serve as a contact for questions. This is especially helpful if the Facilitator and TCLP office are unfamiliar with the local community. As the workshop approaches, the host helps the Facilitator find lodging, if needed, either with a local host or a hotel. During the training, the host arranges for the meeting room to be unlocked, helps with set-up and greets participants, and is available to assist the trainer with logistics. We also ask the host to arrange for tea and healthy snacks, for which TCLP will reimburse them.

We hope this gives you a good idea of the expectations of a workshop host or group sponsor. If, after considering this information, you are interested in working with us to organize a training, please email or call us at 360-626-4411 so we can talk it over and hopefully get started.

Thank you so much for your interest!

About The Compassionate Listening Project (TCLP)

TCLP is a non-profit organization dedicated to teaching skills for peace building and conflict transformation in our families, in our communities, on the job, and in social change work locally and globally. We offer powerful skills trainings and a Facilitator Certification program.

We developed our curriculum after a decade of reconciliation work on the ground in Israel and Palestine – bringing people together to experience the humanity of “the other.” From this work, we distilled the essence of Compassionate Listening and developed experiential curricula, which we now teach in diverse contexts worldwide. Our certified facilitators have taught Compassionate Listening in over twenty U.S. states, Europe, and the Middle East. Our Middle East work continues today, focusing on trainings for Israeli and Palestinian peace leaders, and continues to inform our curriculum.

About Our Training:
Compassionate Listening –
Healing Our World from the Inside Out

Every spiritual master recognizes listening as the most precious gift we can give to another human being. In every human interaction, whether as mentor, friend, family member, co-worker, leader or social activist, the practice of Compassionate Listening builds trust, connection, compassion, respectful dialogue, and sustainable solutions.

The Core Practices of Compassionate Listening are covered in our training:

• Holding compassion for oneself and others – including forgiveness.
• Suspending judgment;
• Maintaining balance in the heat of conflict;
• Listening and Speaking from the heart.