About our Team
Each of us is a Certified Trainer with the Centre for Nonviolent Communication. Our team currently consists of 7 Assessors:
Thera Balvers, Ania Mills, Dionne Verbeet, Ola Gołaszewska, Ian Peatey, Anniken Poulsson Beer, Asia (Joanna) Berendt and assessor in training, Suzanne Nederlof.
Gina Lawrie is providing ongoing mentoring support to ESEAT and Peter Claes is providing support.
Some ideas about how to choose your assessor:
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Consider speaking to more than one of us to get a sense of ‘fit’ which might include: areas of special interest, past experience, chemistry.
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think about travel expenses, as we want to meet you face to face during your process
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our common language is English and some of us can support you in other languages
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Some of us have a focus of working with communities in particular regions in order to support as efficient a system as possible and make the best use of all of our resources.
We are trying to balance offering choice to candidates with managing the complexity of our workload, so whereas we encourage you to form the preferences we ask you not to be attached, in case it doesn’t work for the wider picture.
Thera is accepting new candidates.
Thera Balvers has her own practice and training organisation as a psychotherapist, NVC trainer, mediator, coach, hypnotherapist, Simonton therapist (cancer treatment) and Master in Flower Art. She has a lot of experience in personal growth and development and giving trainings in various subjects and with various target groups (organisations, welfare sector, medical sector). Humour is important to her life, and she likes to balance depth and lightness in her work.
She loves to inspire and support people on their certification path towards sharing NVC in the world.
Ania is accepting new candidates.
Ania Mills has been incorporating NVC into her work life since it was first introduced into Poland, with her help, 2001.
She has studied with NVC founder Marshall Rosenberg and with international trainers in Sweden, Hungary, Poland, and the United States. In 2009, she completed postgraduate Trainer Studies at Warsaw School of
Social Sciences and Humanities.
A trainer since 2003, she became a CNVC Certified Trainer in 2008. Now Ania is a full-time NVC trainer and mediator with experience working with multicultural groups leading and co-facilitating trainings in 3 continents.
A recent professional interest is training trainers—offering NVC as a tool for improving quality and efficiency also for trainers in other disciplines. She also works as MBRS mindfulness teacher introducing participants to meditation practice. Anna lives near Warsaw, Poland where she also has her small pottery studio. Learn more about Ania
Ola is accepting new candidates.
A psychologist by education, a trainer by passion.
Ola met Nonviolent Communication in 2001 it has been part of her life from the moment. she met it. Since then she has been active in promoting NVC in Poland.
Since 2010, she has been involved in the practice and promotion of Restorative Circles. She supports schools and kindergartens to implement Nonviolent Communication. She leads NVC workshops and programs and works with people individually.
Ola loves to accompany people in the certification process to support them. She is exploring the role of feedback as a way of being present, increasing connection and ongoing learning for all.
Dionne is NOT accepting new candidates.
I’ve always enjoyed travelling and being ‘on the road’...I like connections, variety, enjoy a sense of adventure and freedom. For these reasons – and as a strategy to stimulate my open mindedness - I’ve worked in a broad variety of environments while living in Ivory Coast, Romania, Kenya, England, Uganda and the Netherlands. The recurring theme has been supporting/empowering individuals and/or putting systems in place for vulnerable groups.
I was introduced to NVC in 2007 while working at the Sure Start programme in London. Trained as a social worker, I was intrigued by this offering as this seemed to touched on something else, deeper, more profound. After an IIT with Marshall in 2008 NVC became my life focus and I started offering training and 1:1 support via my organisation Flux. Since my certification in 2014, I’m connected to the trainersplatform of Ai-opener in the Netherlands.
People tell me they enjoy my calmness, clarity, depth and playfulness. I’m looking forward to travelling together for a while on our life journeys.
Ian is accepting new candidates.
Ian was born in Great Britain and has lived in Eastern Europe since 1994 - first in Poland and now in Romania. He first met Marshall in 2001 starting a personal transformation connecting with his deeper core and changing every aspect of his life. He has been a professional trainer and coach since 1991 and completed his NVC Certification in 2008.
His main areas of work are in organisations and with couples as well as building a thriving NVC community in Romania. He has run training in 20 countries and more recently has been offering mainly online work. He is a regular trainer on IITs and other longer programmes. He is a qualified coach and offers coaching and mentoring. He is known for his calm, grounded presence combined with a sense of humour.
Asia (Joanna) is accepting candidates.
Asia (Joanna) is a certified NVC trainer, mediator, ICF PCC coach since 2014. She is actively working in Poland to create teams and organizations based on dialogue, mutual respect, trust, cooperation and harmonious use of the inner potential of individuals.
On a daily basis, she works individually and with teams based on NVC. She accompanies leaders in building effectively cooperating teams, resolving conflicts. She conducts workshops and trainings, , offers mediation, individual coaching sessions and team coaching.
She is also an academic lecturer at several universities in Poland, initiated the creation of the first Postgraduate Studies in NVC in Poland, where she has been teaching since 2015: NVC, Train the trainer NVC, Mediator according to M. Rosenberg, NVC for organizations.
She has more than 10 years of managerial experience in multinational corporations in the financial industry, where she gained experience in project and team management.
She is also a certified Process Communication Model® trainer, Positive Neuroplasticity trainer.
Anniken is accepting new candidates.
Anniken Poulsson Beer got to know NVC in 2006, as a principal in a kindergarten, it was received as the answer to her prayers for getting a toolbox for good communication.
Since then she started to learn about this as much as possible. She has run several projects on implementing NVC in Norwegian kindergartens, and the relationship between children and adults is still very dear to her.
She got certified in 2012, by Towe Widstrand, as the first one in Norway. By 2024 they are now 7 CT’s in Norway.
She holds a masters degree in Early Childhood Education and works as a freelance NVC trainer in Norway and abroad. She works with individuals, schools, organizations, workplaces and is also the CEO of NVC Norway.
Becoming an assessor in training has been on her mind for quite some years and it’s with great joy and respect she’s entering the ESEAT team.
Anniken meets people with warmth and humor. She enjoys meeting new people and being of support for them to find their way.
Suzanne is an Assessor in Training and as such cannot yet accept candidates.
Suzanne is passionate about social change and contributing to a world where everybody’s needs matter. She is part of the ESEAT team as an assessor in training, committed to upholding the integrity of nonviolent communication (NVC) and in the future supporting candidates with both enthusiasm and focus on in-depth learning.
Suzanne holds a Master of Science in Rural Development Sociology and a PhD in Communication and innovation from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. With over a decade of experience living and working in Burkina Faso, Togo, and Ghana, she has extensive experience in adult education, farmer organizations and research. After that also she worked in international development, specifically on agricultural advisory services, innovation, and multistakeholder partnerships.
Currently, she works part-time at HVHL, a university of applied sciences, where she delivers training in Nonviolent communication to students and staff. She is also the founder of EmpaTilya, an organization dedicated to social change through connection, offering public training sessions as well as customized programs for teams and organizations. Additionally, Suzanne works occasionally as a coach and mediator, engaging with individuals from diverse backgrounds.
Gina is NOT accepting candidates.
Gina Lawrie has been a certified trainer since 1997 and integrated NVC into her practice as a consultant, coach and trainer in both personal and organisational development. Being a facilitator of Open Space (OST), she recognised the synergy between OST and NVC and facilitated the first two giraffe conventions as well as training both with and without Marshall on IIT’s since then.
She may be best known in the NVC community for co-creating the NVC Dance Floors with Bridget Belgrave. This innovative method for sharing and practicing NVC is now translated into 20 languages. Gina continues to offer workshops exploring the Dance Floors.
After 25 years involvement with the certification process, Gina has shifted her role as assessor. She continues offering one to one mentoring, supervision and coaching to candidates and others and is mentoring new assessors and assessors in training for the ESEAT team.
Peter says: I'm endlessly curious about people and what happens when we slow down enough to truly hear one another. I love creating spaces where empathy, honesty, laughter, and just the right amount of courage help people reconnect—with themselves and with each other.
As certified NVC trainer, body-oriented therapist, and facilitator, I believe our bodies often know things before our minds catch up. That's why I enjoy bringing body awareness, playfulness, and real-life practice into learning and dialogue.
For the European NVC Certification team, I'm the person behind much of the administration—helping things run smoothly so assessors, candidates, and everyone involved can focus on what really matters. I genuinely enjoy creating a welcoming experience, bringing clarity to complexity, and occasionally untangling administrative knots with a frowning smile.
I live in Brussels and happily switch between Dutch, French, English, and Spanish—sometimes all in the same day! I'm grateful to be part of this vibrant European community and look forward to supporting your certification journey.