Kathleen Macferran
Kathleen Macferran is an author, facilitator, and Certified Trainer and Assessor Emeritus for the Center for Nonviolent Communication and the owner of Strength of Connection.
Kathleen holds a vision for a peaceful, just, and sustainable world. She is committed to co-creating a world where peace replaces violence, love replaces hate, equity replaces inequity, and all people live meaningful lives. She has worked as a Certified Trainer for the Center for Nonviolent Communication (CNVC) since 2003, and as a CNVC Assessor for 13 years. For 20 years she served as a workshop facilitator for the Freedom Project of Seattle, WA, an organization that supports healing and restoration inside and outside prisons through Nonviolent Communication, mindfulness, racial equity and anti-oppression.
Kathleen travels internationally offering facilitation, system building and conflict transformation using practical skills that lead to reconciliation with ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. She has worked with individuals, community groups, businesses, schools, colleges, faith-based communities, hospitals, families, prison inmates, and correctional and law enforcement employees.
Prior to her work with nonviolence, Kathleen spent much of her life bringing harmony to communities through music, including two decades as a classical music conductor and leader of a nonprofit organization, and seven years as a public school music teacher.
Kathleen is the author of Calling In the Dawn: Shaping Our Future through Authentic Dialogue, and co-author with Jared Finkelstein of Choice: A Field Guide for Navigating the Polarization of Our World and Living Interdependently. She is the author of the children’s books How Giraffes Found Their Hearts and How Giraffes Got Their Ears, and conductor for Giraffe Tales a children’s CD setting those stories to music. Kathleen is the conductor on multiple Rainier Chamber Winds classical music recordings. Her website is www.StrengthofConnection.com where her TEDx talks, books, and music can be found.
Rev. Dr. Bob Salt
Rev. Dr. Bob Salt has a Ph.D. from Purdue University and is a retired professor of Human Development and Family Studies. He has taught college classes on relationships, parenting, families, and human sexuality since 1987. Bob is also an Ordained Interfaith Minister, who leads worship honoring all religions and spiritualities.
Bob has written a book called “Soul’s Journey: Remembering Who We Are,” which discusses how to see life from a spiritual perspective. He is a student of Nonviolent Communication, learning many of its nuances from his beloved partner Kathleen.
Bob and Kathleen live in the US. Bob is the father of two amazing young adults, Josh and Emily.