Kathleen Macferran is an author, facilitator, 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.

“VALUE-DRIVEN LEADERSHIP IS LEADING FROM A PLACE OF DEEP INNER CONNECTION TO OUR CORE VALUES, WHERE OUR ACTIONS, STRATEGIES AND VISIONS ARE IN SERVICE OF, AND EXPRESSIONS OF, OUR CORE VALUES.”

Khang has many years of experience working with youths, multi-generational families and sustainable agriculture communities. She is a certified Mediator at SEEDS Community Resolution Center and a Restorative Justice Level 2 Facilitator. Khang is currently a Certification Candidate with CNVC. She has designed and executed several training and dialogue programs with organizations such as CoLab International, Healing Circle Global, NEED Compassionate Communication Vietnam, etc. Khang has been working with organizations in many fields such as education, healthcare, technology and manufacturing, to improve conflict engagement capacity. Leaning on her humor and sincerity, Khang has a knack for inviting the raw truth to be told, and supporting all parties to digest it. She also helps teams to rewrite the hidden agreements that often creates burnout, blame and shame.

Ha struggled for a long time to find a way to be true to herself while living harmoniously in relationships and contributing to the organizations and communities she belongs to. In 2019, the answer came when she learned about Nonviolent Communication. Since then, Ha has been learning, practicing and sharing NVC with individuals and organizations who want to nurture connections with themselves and others. Ha completed two NVC International Intensive Training. However, the most effective training ground for her has been her home, where she applies NVC with her large extended family and her two daughters.