There Is No Right or Wrong

An NVC Paradoxes Workshop

What becomes possible when we stop seeing people and actions as right or wrong?
And what might become difficult to see when we stop questioning this perspective?

Register for this workshop here!

NVC Paradoxes is a workshop series exploring recurring ideas and assumptions within NVC. Rather than rejecting these ideas, we explore what they offer us, the blind spots they may bring, and what we might discover when we bring other perspectives into the conversation.

About this paradox

Moving beyond right and wrong is one of the most recognisable ideas associated with NVC. It can help us step out of blame and judgement, become curious about the needs behind people’s actions, and find possibilities for connection where we previously saw only conflict.

But right-and-wrong thinking also serves important human purposes. We use it to express values, establish boundaries, assign responsibility and make decisions about behaviour that affects others. What happens when an invitation to move beyond moral judgement becomes a general principle?

In this workshop, we’ll explore both the gifts of moving beyond right and wrong and some of the questions that appear at its edges.

Questions we’ll explore

In each NVC Paradoxes workshop, we explore:

• What is valuable in this NVC idea, and what was it responding to?
• What can happen when we apply it too broadly or turn it into a general principle?

In this workshop, we’ll look more closely at:

• What might we lose when we move beyond right and wrong?
• How can we draw on both perspectives without letting either one become the whole truth?

About NVC Paradoxes

NVC Paradoxes grows out of a deep appreciation for Nonviolent Communication and what it has made possible. NVC offers powerful ways to understand human behaviour, relationships, and conflict, and has helped many of us discover possibilities we might otherwise have missed. This project is not about replacing or moving beyond NVC, but about exploring its edges with curiosity.

A paradox can emerge when a valuable insight becomes a principle we no longer question. Ideas that once helped us move beyond the limitations of an earlier approach can develop their own limitations. NVC Paradoxes explores these tensions: what these ideas offer us, what they may leave out, and what can happen when an insight that once opened our thinking begins to narrow it.

By bringing NVC into conversation with other ways of understanding human behaviour, relationships, culture and society, we can explore both its gifts and its blind spots. The aim is not to find a final or more correct perspective, but to widen the lens – holding on to what is valuable in NVC while remaining curious about what else there might be to discover.

Workshop format

Each workshop follows a similar structure:

• Arriving together – a short guided practice to settle and become present
• The gift of the NVC perspective – exploring what this NVC insight makes possible
• Connecting with experience – sharing personal experiences in small breakout groups
• The paradox and the wider lens – exploring blind spots and bringing other perspectives into the picture
• Reflection and dialogue – sharing discoveries, questions and different perspectives
• Practice – experimenting with the topic through role play or another experiential exercise
• Integration – reflecting on what we want to take with us into our lives and NVC practice

The workshop includes teaching, personal reflection, small-group conversations, experiential practice, and whole-group dialogue. There will also be a short break.

Workshop Details

Date: 8 November 2026
Time: 18:00-20:00 CET (Berlin Time)
Duration: 2 hours
Where: Online/Zoom
Language: English

Upcoming NVC Paradoxes workshops

NVC Paradoxes is an ongoing series of monthly workshops, each exploring a different idea or assumption within NVC. You can join any workshop independently – no previous participation is required.

Upcoming workshops:

• 8 November 2026 – There Is No Right or Wrong
• 6 December 2026 – All Actions Are Attempts to Meet Needs
• 10 January 2027 – Empathy Creates Connection
• 7 February 2027 – Everyone Is Welcome
• 7 March 2027 – From Domination to Partnership
• 11 April 2027 – Every Voice Counts Equally
• 9 May 2027 – Don’t Do Anything That Isn’t Play
• 13 June 2027 – Stay in Dialogue

Workshops run monthly through June, followed by a summer break in July and August.

Register for the workshop

Option 1: Single workshop – €30
Register for this workshop only.

Option 2: Needs Space membership
Join the Needs Space platform and get access to this workshop as part of your membership, along with all the other benefits of Needs Space, including
– live events,
– a growing library of resources, and
– a global online community.

Read more and register here.

Trainer:

Joachim Berggren

Joachim Berggren is a certified CNVC trainer. He has been a student of NVC since 2009 and has taught his understanding of NVC since 2010. He writes blog posts, offers workshops and hosts events about NVC, as well as offering individual sessions. He is passionate about and intrigued by exploring human connection and our capacity to grow and evolve as individuals and groups throughout our lifetimes.