About NVCSC: Board of Directors

Andy Carmen

Andy Carman,Ph.D., has been involved in promoting respectful relationships since 1982, primarily as a psychologist in private practice and also for 8 years on the steering committee of the Peace Day Project.
Impressed by the heartfelt philosophy and practice of NVC and it's potential to liberate us from the burden of judging, Andy joined the NVC Santa Cruz Board in 2007 . He deeply appreciates the challenges and rewards of applying NVC to his personal, professional, and political endeavors. As a psychotherapist, he recognizes the value of NVC both as a powerful way for people to connect and as a tool for self understanding and healing.

Jennifer Young

Jennifer's awakening to her true joys of relationships and communication first started when she quit her doctoratal program in Chemistry fifteen years ago and became a mother. Her awakening to her true self continued as a NVC Integrator (yes, the program (twice), but more broadly, an intention to live in connection) and presently continues as a mediator, practice group facilitator, and board member. As a volunteer for the Center for Compassion and Conflict Resolution Center she enjoys the many opportunities to connect, learn, contribute, and experience our challenges, processes, and celebrations...to her, the true riches of life.

In partnership with Christine King, Suelynn Estby and Todd Phillips, she is co-developing a mediative process called "Restorative Circles." A pilot project is underway at Orchard School in Aptos, where her daughter attends.

But mostly she's passionate about having loving, connective, joyful relationships with her family and friends.

John Malkin

John Malkin is a writer and musician who lives in Santa Cruz with his wife Alison and son Bodhi. He is a longtime student of nonviolence and has engaged in social change organizing since 1989. John is an alumni of the first Santa Cruz NVC Integration course and he's helped assistant teach at NVC classes.

In 1992 John graduated with honors from the Community Studies Program at the University of California in Santa Cruz. He helped to create a Citizen's Police Review Board for the City of Santa Cruz and served on the board for two years. During 1993 to '94, John was co-director of the Santa Cruz Action Network.

In 1997, John began hosting a weekly radio program on Free Radio Santa Cruz, interviewing people about social change and spirituality. His guests have included NVC founder Marshall Rosenberg as well as Thich Nhat Hanh, Noam Chomsky, Alfie Kohn, Riane Eisler, Yolanda King, Arun Gandhi, Howard Zinn and Ani DiFranco.

Sounds of Freedom (Parallax Press, 2005) is his book of interviews with musicians speaking about social change and spirituality, including Laurie Anderson, Rickie Lee Jones, The Indigo Girls, Utah Phillips, John Trudell, Boots Riley and Michael Franti.
The Only Alternative: Christian Nonviolent Peacemakers in America (Wipf & Stock, 2008), co-authored with Alan Nelson, highlights the nonviolent activism of Martin Luther King Jr., Dorothy Day and the Catholic Workers, Thomas Merton, Kathy Kelly, Jim Douglass and others. His interviews and writings have also been published in a variety of magazines including Shambhala Sun, ascent, Sojourners, Namarupa, Z Magazine, In These Times, alternet, Tricycle online, Ode and The Sun.

Santa Cruz Responds to The Gulf War (1991) is a 30 minute video documentary of local activism and responses to the war. Peacemakers at the Nevada Test Site (1990) documents civil disobedience actions at the nuclear weapons test site in Nevada. Live at the Vault (2007) is an audio CD of a live piano performance by John recorded at the Cayuga Vault as a benefit for a trauma relief project in Rwanda. For fifteen years he has played music for local dance classes and performances and has collaborated with many choreographers including Mel Wong, Frey Faust, Nita Little, Miranda Janeschild, Stephanie Spencer, Per Haaland, Sharon Took-Zozaya and others.

Bar Lowenberg

In Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle, the religion of the people of San Lorenzo, called Bokononism, encompasses concepts such as karass - a group of people who, often unknowingly, are working together to do God's will. The people can be thought of as fingers in a Cat's Cradle.

I’ve enjoyed association with a number of karasses over the years, of which NVC stands out.  A meeting with Christine King in early autumn of 2005 introduced me to the spiritual nature of NVC, followed by attendance at Marshall Rosenberg’s October 2005 visit to Santa Cruz.  Following gestation in the 2006 Nine Month Integration Program (9MIP, led by Jean Morrison and Christine King), and then assisting with the 9MIP the following year, I graduated to the Dedicated Practitioners Program (DPP – Deep Peeps - led by Jean, Christine, Kristin Masters and Desiree Banzhaf) where I got inspired to join the CIA (Compassion In Action) doing “GROK* on Pacific”.  Most Saturdays (beginning July 2008) I’ve set up a table on Pacific Avenue in front of The Gap providing “Free Empathy” to passers-by.  I’ve particularly enjoyed my role as assistant at 2007, 2008, and 2009 NVCSC Summer Funfests (with Kelly Bryson, Christine, Jean, and Kristin).  I also share the honor of serving on the NVCSC Board of Directors and regularly participating in other NVC activities.  Living NVC has given me the gift of deep and treasured connections with family, friends, partners and associates - as a student of NVC I’ve learned to live in the now.

Other curriculum vitae: graduate of Shimer College (1969); employed at local nonprofit Central Coast Energy Services, Inc. (1980 – present); billiard enthusiast; Sacred Circle dancer; aficionado of the non-dual.

* GROK - set of interactive games designed for understanding, listening, communication, and fun! – created by Jean Morrison and Christine King

Claudette masters the transition to the garden, brings back chickens!

haiku stand-in by 'Jj

(Jeremy)

Discovering NVC has been a momentous gift to me. The combination of NVC consciousness and the practical skills needed to live that consciousness, has given me real hope that I can experience more self acceptance and acceptance of others. I love the bumper sticker in the bathroom of the NVC Center....Non Judgment Day Is Near!

My partner, Rick Longinotti and my two adult children are also grateful for NVC. Our familial relationships have more giraffe honesty and more ability to reconcile after difficult times.

I had also been yearning for skills that that would support social change activists to not only be more compassionate in our work, but also to learn how to get along with each other in the process! NVC has enabled me to seek out people’s thoughts and needs during political meetings and help people feel heard.

In 2004, along with the other NVC trainers, I helped co-found NVC Santa Cruz. I am serving on the Board to support NVCSC in its desire to share NVC with the Santa Cruz Community.

I have been learning, sharing, and teaching NVC through practice groups, workshops, classes, retreats and with individuals since 2003 and look forward to many more years of NVC living!

I have been interested in communication for as long as I can remember. I have worked in large organizations and small offices where power dynamics and misunderstandings have resulted in dysfunction and the loss of connection between people. Discovering NVC, has given me hope that people can work together in an environment that can hold the needs of all with integrity. I have been practicing NVC for four years. Learning and practicing the principles of NVC has changed my life and altered the lens I view the world through. What has sustained my commitment to NVC is the step by step process that is a pathway to a consciousness that values speaking and listening from the heart. I have been fortunate to be enjoying and sharing this process with my family, friends and community. I am part of a newly formed NVC leadership group that is dedicated to supporting each other by sharing resources, offering feedback and practicing presentations together. I am currently an NVC trainer candidate. I volunteer at the Conflict Resolution Center in Santa Cruz in the Teen/Parent and Victim/Offender Programs and have found this work both rewarding and inspirational. I completed a two year communication program at Cabrillo College that focused on interpersonal relationships. I joined the board to be part of the "nuts and bolts" of the NVC community and share in the visioning for the organization.