Indivisible groups across Sonoma County will be sponsoring a workshop on “How to Talk Politics Across the Current Divide.” The workshop will be facilitated by Sharon Ellison the creator of Powerful Non-Defensive Communication (PNDC). The PNDC process is designed to defuse defensiveness in high conflict situations and facilitate communication on issues.
The workshop will be on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. followed by an optional question period until 5:30 p.m. It will be held at the Odd Fellows Hall, 545 Pacific Ave., Santa Rosa (half block from the SRJC). The cost is $20 which includes a workbook. Tickets can be purchased at brownpapertickets.com/event/3070522.
The PNDC involves changing one’s intention, voice tone, body language and phrasing. These relatively simple changes give people the ability to ask questions and make statements without ever defending or attacking, prompting others to be much more likely to shift their thinking and even change long-held positions.
Ellison will demonstrate how a constructive issue-focused conversation with people having the opposite opinion is possible. The workshop will help one learn how to engage in productive and respectful conversations and lower communication barriers to allow for meaningful dialogue. Whether one is campaigning in a swing state or talking with friends or relatives, this PNDC process can help.
Ellison has trained thousands of professionals, corporate and nonprofit leaders and political activists with this straightforward style of communication.
The workshop is sponsored by Indivisible Cloverdale, Indivisible Healdsburg, Indivisible Sebastopol and Indivisible Sonoma County. Indivisible’s mission is to fuel a progressive grassroots network of local groups across the United States to resist the Trump agenda.
For more information contact cn*******@gm***.com.
— submitted by Karen Fraire
