I started my NVC path as a student of Marshall Rosenberg in about 1996. I followed him “around the world” and got to know lots of international giraffes since there was not much NVC going on in Finland at that time. As soon as I got a computer, I joined the email group of NVC trainers and active NVCers. It was created by Alex Censor, and I remember chatting especially with him, Gary Baran, and some other trainers during late nights after I had put my children to bed.

I mostly asked for and received support on how to live NVC in my life. Those were my very important NVC connections, which contributed to my learning. In Marshall’s training, I also got to meet many NVC trainers, and if I hadn’t met them, I at least knew everyone’s name and country. Around the turn of the century, we also established an NVC Association in Finland. The board members became my Finnish NVC family.

I’ve been a CNVC Certified NVC Trainer since 2002. For about 10 years now, I have offered one-year-long NVC training programs through my company, Savanna ConneXions, which celebrated its 20th birthday in 2020. More than 30 groups have completed my training program and received the title of “Rakentavan vuorovaikutuksen ohjaaja, RVO” (in English: Constructive Communication Counselor, CCC), which is my company’s own trademark. I have gained a lot of experience in planning extensive training programs, supporting groups through a long-term intensive learning process, and supporting individuals as part of the group. In addition to the year-long open-to-all training programs, I train various business groups and organizations, hospitals, schools, communities, and social services in the public sector.

I have provided mediation, mediation training, lectures, speeches, and shorter training courses as well. When I started to study NVC, there was no NVC material translated into Finnish. I have contributed to translating NVC training material, books, feelings and needs lists, etc., into Finnish and have mostly offered training in Finland to Finns in Finnish. And at the same time it has been important for me to give possibilities for NVC trainers from other countries to come and share and show different styles of training by cooperating with several international colleagues. Finnish people have been able to get to know trainers from around the world in Finland, which would have been luxurious for me in the 90’s, when I was travelling around the world in order to be able to study with different NVC trainers.

Since I was a Marshall’s student, I naturally organized first of all his trainings in Finland and invited little by little more of my colleagues over here. My biggest highlight in organizing international NVC training was the first-ever IIT in Finland in 2022. Currently, my focus is also shifting towards supporting people who wish to become Certified NVC Trainers and I have therefore attended CNVC Assessment Events in Europe and organized a Stepping Stone -event with Towe Widstrand and Shona Cameron in 2021 in Finland.

I am also mentoring a group of around 15 participants, who have started or plan to start their certification process. Two of them have already been certified: Elisa Makkonen in 2022 (certifying the next NVC trainer after I took exactly 20 years) and Iiris Jalkanen in 2024. They both have been my assistant trainers for years already. I have been the only active CNVC Certified Trainer in Finland for a long time, and therefore, I have longed to have colleagues to cooperate with and trust that they will continue my work after my time.