Year One with Making Life Work
June 2, 2022

As of March this year we celebrate our first anniversary of Miki Kashtan’s online course Making Life Work. For You. For Everyone. No Exceptions.

We are excited to reach out to everyone involved in Making Life Work to make a few requests, share news and information about this project and share some words from our team. 

In this newsletter

  • Our first year
  • Ways to engage with Making Life Work
    • Join a practice group
    • Host a practice group
    • Your feedback about possible improvements
    • Our supporters and joining the team
    • Donate to Making Life Work
  • If you’d like to keep reading, we have news, too
    • Making the most of the Community of Practice
    • Behind the scenes

Our first year

Over the course of this last year our community of participants, supporters, and practice groups continues to grow, and increasing numbers of NVC trainers are using the material in their own teaching. Participants are using the online Community of Practice as a sounding board, a place to ask questions and receive support, and share intentions for how they pace and integrate their learning.

Ways you can support and interact with Making Life Work

Do you want to take part in a practice group?

While Making Life Work was created as a self-study course, some people have found that practicing with others aids learning and integration. Several people have been facilitating practice groups in their community. 

We know of one person, Ryan van der Zanden, currently offering a practice group open to anyone. Ryan is offering groups for two modules, and you can find out more about them here:

Other practice groups may arise over time and if you would like to find other people in your time zone or to see if others are offering practice groups, please check this link in the community of practice. 

Do you have experience with NVC and want to host a practice group?

Running a practice group is an opportunity for more community support in integrating this material. If you are interested in hosting a practice group you can make a post on the Community of Practice here. Making Life Work is offered on a gift economy and we request that if anyone wants financial support for offering a practice group that it is also offered on a gift economy basis. If you have any questions about offering practice groups we welcome you to contact us here.

Feedback and improvements Survey – takes 3 minutes

This only takes a few minutes of your time! We’d like Making Life Work to be as rich and meaningful as possible while caring for our small team. We have a few questions for you about your experience. Please click here to take a survey to help us learn about what we may be able to improve and where you’d like us to direct our focus in the coming year. 

Thanks to our supporters! Do you want to join the team?

Supporters aid those engaging with the course to deepen their learning by answering questions posted on the online Community of Practice. Thank you to the supporters who contribute to the community of practice.

Are you interested in joining the supporters team and bringing life to the Community of Practice? You can read more about this role on our website, or you can sign up here.

Donations and supporting us financially

Since this project was initiated, till today, Making Life Work has received just shy of $9,000. In this period our operating expenses (which does not include the development of the project which we estimate as being at least $40,000 over the course of 10 years) are $1,250 in administrative costs and $3,300 in fulfilled requests for financial support of people involved in the project. Requests for support have come from team members and supporters of the community of practice working on the project. All requests have been granted. 

It is our deep hope that this project can support Miki and BayNVC by covering more of the expenses of developing the project, and would like to invite everyone to contribute what you can without overstretching or resentment. If you wish to donate to this project, or would like to learn more about donating visit this page. 

Making Life Work is offered on a gift basis to all participants, and while in theory those who created and work on the project are willing to receive nothing in return for what they create, Making Life Work is also entirely made possible by both financial and non-financial contributions from people who value what it brings to the world. You can read more about this here. 

News and updates about the project

Making the most of our Community of Practice

One of the ways to make the most of the Community of Practice is by adjusting email notifications so you can stay up to date on specific correspondence, groups and messages more easily. If you would like to learn about adjusting your email notifications click here.

Behind the scenes

Since we began launching this project we have learned much and we’ve come to love our meetings while we move the project forward at a leisurely pace.

Seeing as you’ve read this far, we’re very excited that you’re this interested in Making Life Work, and grateful to have you. 

With great big smiles on our faces, our Making Life Work “core team”, 
Isa Stewart, Jocelyn Kennedy, Pam Lauer and Rachel Turiel, with the blessing of Miki Kashtan.

Questions? Reach us here

Contact us here with your questions about the process.