Hello! I'm Anne Walton and early this year I celebrated 80 years on Planet Earth!

For 3 years (2001, 2002 & 2003) I attended and presented at an International Conference on Conflict Resolution in St Petersburg, Russia. Each year, someone mentioned Marshall Rosenberg and Nonviolent Communication to me. Finally, after the 3rd time, it dawned on me that perhaps I should pay attention! When I got home to Calgary, in the spring of 2003, I went onto the CNVC website and what I read this touched my heart so deeply, I cried. I knew right away that I wanted to learn and share the process. 

It took me until 2005 to actually attend a training. In the fall of that year, as fortune would have it, Marshall was offering a 3 day training in Ottawa, in eastern Canada which was the city I'd grown up in. I didn't have the financial resources to attend so I did a fund raiser and raised almost exactly the amount I needed for the airfare and the training. 

When I walked into the first day's session, the man on the stage looked a lot like the photos I'd seen of Marshall, but the man looked like he'd slept in his clothes! Then he opened his mouth and began to share - I laughed and I cried. He had such a quickly sense of humour and he told stories of working with people around the world that were so moving and touching, I felt so blessed