“Nurturing Active Listening Skills- An introductory learning and practice group for active listening

Nurturing Active Listening Skills - an introductory learning and practice group for active listening

Active listening is a concept that is easy to understand but not always easy to practice or master. It is a learned skill that gets better with practice and self awareness. In this 6 week fortnightly practice group, we look to explore our relationship to being a listening ear for others, being listened to and how we can practice the pause, and do so in a mindful and non-judgemental way with ourselves and with others.

Details: 

Every 2 weeks; Fri 12pm - 1pm (60 mins)

Dates:  17 May to 26 July

(17 May, 31 May, 14 Jun, 28 Jun, 12 Jul & 26 Jul

Venue : Zoom (Online) 

Practice Group fees are avail at sliding scale options - select at your own discretion:

$150 ($25 ea), $120 ($20 ea) or $90 ($15 ea)

In each session, we will explore one topic as a group for a deeper understanding of how we can practice active listening:

• Exploring basic listening and full bodied listening
• Observing self and others with mindfulness
• Accepting all feelings and needs
• Decoding and uncovering deeper messages behind a person’s expression
• Responding with thoughtful reflection
• Expressing your feelings and needs compassionately

The duration for each practice group will be 60 mins and will follow this format:

~ Check In and grounding

~ Discussion of topic

~ “Practice the pause” - active listening practice

~ Group sharing and Check Out

The practice group is open to parents, caregivers and educators who are either new to active listening or would like a refresher and a respectful and safe space to practice active listening with like-minded individuals.

Led by parent coach and director of Chapter Zero, Joline Lim, and parent educator, Sophia Klopp, this practice group has been designed to incorporate elements of active listening inspired by Parent Effectiveness Training by Dr Thomas Gordon, and Nonviolent Communication, by Dr Marshall Rosenberg. We will also be supported by parent advocate Sophia Klopp, trained in Positive Discipline and fellow active listening practitioner.

This is not a training workshop, and we will be joined by fellow parents who have been practicing active listening to various degrees to co-create a compassionate practice group where we can learn and explore safely together.

Participants have the option to attend the “Nonviolent Communication” practice group concurrently as we have designed both practice sessions to complement each other.

Sessions will need to be attended in sequence, and we will not be doing replays or recordings, to honour the integrity of privacy and safety of the group.

Please consider your personal capacity for learning and practice before signing up for the practice group. We encourage full presence and participation during the session, and invite participants to dedicate 15-30 mins of down time after the practice group sessions to meet your needs of self care and self regulation.

There is no reading material required for the practice group.

We encourage participants to show up for the session and participate within their own capacity as we believe there will still be value in attending and learning from the sharing of the other participants.

We will require minimum of 10 participants to confirm the practice group by 1 May; and the group size will be capped at 20.