The Institute's Trainers

In addition to the four founding trainers—Susan Skye, Robert Gonzales, Wes Taylor and Towe Widstrand—NVCTI is expanding its trainer staff to include Associate Trainers. Our different backgrounds and styles blend synergistically to produce a rich and unique learning opportunity

Robert Gonzales
Susan Skye
Wes Taylor
Towe Widstrand
Gregg Kendrick
Gina Lawrie

Robert Gonzales, USA:

Robert received a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 1989. He met Marshall Rosenberg and Nonviolent Communication in 1985, and has been offering NVC in some form since 1986. His background is primarily in individual and couples counseling. He has offered NVC training to community colleges, high schools, churches, social workers, psychologists, mediators, teenagers, and public groups. He has taught psychology, counseling and communication at Prescott College. Robert opened the Prescott Center for Nonviolent Communication in Prescott, Arizona in June 2000. The Center is a non-profit educational organization that offers training, practice groups, private consultations and coaching in NVC.

Robert is currently President of the Board of Directors for the Center for Nonviolent Communication. He has been a trainer at NVC Intensive International Trainings and has been an assessor for certifying trainers for the Center for Nonviolent Communication.

You can reach Robert by E-mail at
or his Website: Prescott NVC

Susan Skye, USA:

Susan is a trainer, private consultant and speaker. An Assistant Dean at UCLA in the early 70s, she co-created and taught the Women’s Studies Program there. Since 1976 she has conducted trainings in a variety of self-development areas. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Yale University and Pacifica Graduate Institute, Susan has Masters’ degrees in both Psychology and Russian and East European Studies. She has had a private consulting practice for more than 20 years.

Susan has given NVC training in the U.S.A., Canada, Europe and Korea. She is a founder of the NVC Training Institute. She has been a regular trainer at CNVC's International Intensive Trainings. She has worked with General Motors and the government of British Colombia amongst others. She is currently the CNVC Certification Coordinator for North and South America.

You can reach Susan by E-mail at

Wes Taylor, USA:

Wes helped establish the Flagstaff Center for Compassionate Communication in 1998 to promote NVC in Northern Arizona and to support the larger NVC network. Since that time, Wes has been an independent consultant and trainer in public venues as well as in organizations of all sizes.  He is currently applying NVC in his responsibility for cultivating a culture of compassion and accountability at Mercy Medical Center, a large inner-city hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

Prior to his involvement with NVC, Wes spent 15 years offering counseling and psychotherapy in private practice, outpatient clinics and hospital settings, working with addictions, trauma survivors, and other psychiatric issues. In 1995, Wes spent a year in Australia working with the South Pacific Private Hospital providing staff training, community education, and direct clinical services to patients and their families.

You can reach Wes by  E-mail at  

Towe Widstrand, Sweden:

BA, in business and psychology. Towe is the CNVC coordinator for Sweden since 1987 and over the past twelve years has conducted NVC-trainings in 14 countries. She has worked with hospital staff, company managers, personnel managers and staff, prison staff, inmates, teachers, social workers as well as public groups and individuals. Towe has also been a trainer at many IITs and is currently the CNVC International Project Coordinator and the CNVC Certification Coordinator for Europe, Africa and Asia.

You can reach Towe by E-mail at

Also, please see Towe's Swedish website: Svensk hemsida

Gregg Kendrick, USA:

Gregg, a certified trainer for the Center for Nonviolent Communication, serves as Organizational Manager and an Associate Trainer for the NVC Training Institute. With an extensive background in business management, Gregg’s specialty is working with those who want to integrate NVC consciousness into a business, nonprofit or other organization. He formerly was co-owner & CEO of a software technology training firm for 19 years whose clients were mostly large corporations & government agencies. Within this business, he brought an awareness of NVC among the staff and transformed the structure & operation of the business to be in concert with the principals of NVC. He has been a full-time consultant/trainer for the last six years using NVC to co-create living organizations where people matter. Other key business experience includes serving on several boards of directors of nonprofit & for-profit organizations and co-managing an investment fund for seven years.

In 2004, he founded Basileia LLC with the mission of co-creating organizations where people thrive amidst authenticity, connection, and interdependence using the tools of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and Dynamic Self-Governance (DSG). An integral part of this mission is a vision of leadership based on inspiration, empowerment & trust rather than control, compliance and self-interest. Basileia offers workshops & consulting in organizational management using NVC & DSG. Gregg also founded the Charlottesville Center for Compassionate Communication in 2002 which hosts community training and programs in NVC.

You can reach Gregg by E-mail at or his web site (www.basileia.org).

Gina Lawrie, UK:

Gina has a background in psychology, social work and management development. She has been working as an organization development consultant for over 20 years in private, public and not-for-profit sectors supporting individuals, managers and organizations to bring about cultural and behavioral change.

In her consulting she draws on many approaches, including Gestalt and complexity theory and since 1997 has integrated NVC into her work.
In the 1970’s Gina taught meditation, and she greatly values the way NVC supports the integration of spiritual values with practical skills.

Gina has been a facilitator of Open Space Technology (OST) since 1990. She introduced many people in the NVC network to the principles of OST when she facilitated the international NVC conventions in Europe and then in US in 2000 using OST. She may be best known in the NVC community for jointly creating the NVC Dance Floors with Bridget Belgrave. This method for teaching and practicing NVC is now translated into seven languages

Based in Surrey, UK, Gina works with NVC worldwide. She introduced NVC in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore and has supported the developing teams in those countries. Gina has been a certified trainer since 1997, has been a trainer at several IITs, and is one of the assessors for trainer certification with CNVC

You can reach Gina by E-mail at or her web site ( ginalawrie.co.uk).