BELFAST – A two-day professional development program, “Past Trauma and Current Relationships: Integrating Nonviolent Communication and Interpersonal Neurobiology,” will be offered May 6 and 7 at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center.

The comprehensive program will benefit participants from a wide variety of fields, including for-profit and nonprofit sectors, education, healthcare, criminology and social services.

The program, from 8:30 a.m.to 4:30 p.m. each day, will include a continental breakfast and catered lunch. The fee is $150 per person, with need-based scholarships available.

Program presenter Peggy Smith has more than four decades of teaching experience. She earned a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and is a certified trainer with the International Center for Nonviolent Communication. A co-founder of the Maine NVC Network, Smith is at the forefront of bringing empathic thinking and communicating to the midcoast Maine region.

The goal of this interactive program is to explore how early-life experiences, including traumas such as adverse childhood experiences affect how we relate to people now. Participants will gain clarity about how the brain responds to challenging situations, and will experience new insights into choices leading to authentic honest relationships.

Registration is online: https://hutchinsoncenter.umaine.edu/professional-development-programs/.  For more information, or to request an accommodation or scholarship application, contact Michelle Patten, (207) 338-8002; michelle.patten@maine.edu.

The Hutchinson Center, an outreach center of the University of Maine, is committed to offering high-quality professional development programs to the greater Midcoast Maine community.