Irma Jager’s journey into Nonviolent Communication, which began in 2006 with a desire to find the language of compassion with her young children, has brought her to this place: to be part of the international NVC community as a Certified Trainer.

She lives in the top of the South Island of New Zealand, in a community with seven households, where NVC has been the glue of their cooperative living for two decades. “Our family grows about 80 percent of our food (think homemade cheese, bacon, honey and tons of veggies and fruit),” she says, “and I truly love the connection with the food that nourishes me.” She has been a passionate home-educating mother of three, now grown-up, children.

She regularly offers weekend or day workshops in her local area, to include foundation trainings and specific topics (e.g. parenting, empathy, couples). She also enjoys face-to-face coaching, empathy, and conflict resolution. She is a facilitator of Ruby Retreat, a recurring retreat for people who are in recovery from addiction. Her other passion is health and nutrition and she brings the skills of NVC into her health coaching sessions.

She enjoys bringing NVC skills into the community in a variety of volunteers roles (e.g. as a volunteer rural firefighter, event organisations, local food co-op). She serves as the treasurer for the NVC Charitable Trust, which has the lofty ambition of “Compassionate Connection Thriving in Aotearoa-New Zealand.”

Since May 2023, she is working for the Center for Nonviolent Communication as a Programs Assistant; supporting Intensive International Trainings around the world. “But what matters even more than ‘doing’ these things,” Irma says, is that “I live and breathe NVC with a passion.”