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Kathleen Macferran is a certified trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication. She works internationally, helping communities and organizations strengthen communication and transform conflict.

Kathleen Macferran

Menomonie, Wisconsin

What are your passions?

I’m passionate about helping organizations work collaboratively to create environments in which everyone thrives. I’m especially focused on the justice system and transforming conflict in ways that bring about reparation and restoration.

We need our prisons to be houses of healing, not places of punishment. We need a system in which people have the support they need at the first signs of conflict to restore relationships and meet people’s underlying needs. We can create this! Communities have generations of wisdom and skills from many traditions to reduce conflict and repair relationships when harm has been done. We can help communities engage compassionately with conflict and find justice through shared understanding and responsibility, and mutually agreed upon action.

What have you seen in your international work that the U.S. can learn from?

What I see in most countries I visit is the understanding that we are all interdependent, and that solutions that benefit the few also benefit the many. For example, if one person is sick, we are all potentially at risk. So developing health care systems where everyone has access to care benefits everyone. I hope the U.S. can move in that direction.

Why do you support YES! as a member of the Founders’ Circle?

YES! gives me practical ideas. It inspires me and gives me hope. It reframes what is possible. And it makes visible our interdependence, which is key to our survival. Honestly, supporting YES! is one of the most effective ways I can use my resources to promote the world I want.

I hope you’ll join me!