We developed “Communication Matters” as a training course for youth workers, providing a dedicated space to explore and practice various communication competencies, with a specific emphasis on nonviolent communication (NVC). Our starting point was the belief that communication serves as the fundamental basis for all human interaction. We recognized that the way we communicate directly shapes the quality of our relationships, fostering either connection or conflict, and resulting in either life satisfaction or discontent. Despite its importance, communication skills are rarely part of a standard school curriculum, meaning many individuals only begin to master them well into adulthood. Our goal was to contribute our expertise in NVC by sharing effective practices with other organizations and youth workers. We intended to support people in finding mutual understanding regardless of their differences and to enhance their ability to apply these experiences within the field of youth work. The training course was based in Nonviolent communication. Nonviolent communication is a philosophy and approach established by Marshall Rosenberg over five decades ago. Since its foundation, it has evolved into a global practice taught by a large network of trainers (https://www.cnvc.org/). The method is based on expanding our capacity to understand one another and seeking empathetic solutions that work for everyone involved. It supports people in self-connection and navigation in their own inner communication with themselves, as well as in communication with others, especially in conflicts or difficult situations. The aim is to understand each other's needs and receive each other with empathy, before going for solutions. In our organization INK - Institute of Nonviolent Communication (legal name NVC Brno), we have been teaching nonviolent communication for many years, in various contexts (schools - teachers, students; NGOs, social work teams, political organisations, companies, public,..) and we see that it is something beneficial across contexts, age groups, world-views,..and that it has the power to bring people together, something that is very much needed nowadays. We noticed that society was becoming increasingly polarized regarding global issues such as elections, climate change, and international conflicts. It had become far too easy for people to fall into an “us against them” mentality, which only served to escalate tensions. Because these topics deeply affect young people as they learn to navigate the world, we felt that adults and educators had a unique opportunity to positively influence their attitudes through understanding and empathy. We saw youth workers as a vital link between generations. By training in and practicing nonviolent communication, we believe we could help find common ground across diverse groups. This conviction led us to partner with various organizations across the youth work sector to design and implement this project. OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT To get to know nonviolent communication, its main principles and three key pillars To gain understanding of needs and how they influence choice of words or actions people take To expand personal ability and capacity to self-connect in difficult situations and communicate out of the place of connection To develop the competence of being empathetic towards others and bringing empathy into working with young people To train the ability to choose our reactions in communication, regardless the outside circumstances To gain skills in using the “four steps” format as a way to support clarity in communication To practice making clear requests and formulate suggestions for solutions, especially in conflicts or difficult situations To get understanding of the philosophy of nonviolent communication on a level of society - how power and privilege influence the communication, how planetary needs and limits need to be taken into account To get practice in designing and delivering workshops on communication for young people