6-Day NVC Family Camp Programme

Our NVC family camp is open to families with children aged 8 and above. This age recommendation is one of our measures to ensure safety and supervision. It allows parents to participate in workshops with greater ease while ensuring that children are able to engage in activities safely. Children under 8 are also welcome, provided that families can take full responsibility for their care and supervision during the camp. This means that parents will need to team up with other adults to take turns attending workshops or, in some cases, choose not to attend workshops in order to care for their young children.

As with any outdoor setting, there are potential hazards, including getting lost in the forest or accidents involving fire. We ask that everyone remains mindful of these risks and cooperates in creating a safe and enjoyable environment for all.

Yes, this camp is designed for parents who have completed at least one NVC course. The camp builds on foundational NVC principles, so having prior knowledge and experience will help you make the most of the activities and workshops. Children are welcome regardless of their experience with NVC. If you're a parent new to NVC, we recommend taking a beginner course before attending, for example, our 'From Chaos To Connection' Programme.

Our camp runs from Monday, 6 April to Saturday, 12 April 2026 (during NZ school holidays straight after easter). We invite you to arrive between 2:30 and 3:00 pm on the first day—please aim to arrive no later than 3 pm. The camp is just a 10-minute walk down the hill from the car park, and there will be a ute available to help transport your bags down to the site. On the final day, departure will be after lunch, giving us time to wrap up and say our goodbyes.

Explaining Our Gift Economy Approach

At the heart of our camp is a belief in creating a space that is accessible, inclusive, and rooted in mutual care. To honor this, we embrace a gift economy approach for the workshops and activities. This approach invites families to contribute within a sliding scale: choosing an amount that reflects their financial capacity while also considering the value of the experience and the resources involved in offering it.

Adult:

• Camping Fee: $15 per night × 5 nights = $75
• Food Fee: $25 per day × 6 days = $150
• Workshops/Activities Fee: $50–$100 per day × 6 days = $300–$600
• Total per Adult: $525–$825

Child:

• Camping Fee: $7.50 per night × 5 nights = $37.50
• Food Fee: $18 per day × 6 days = $108
• Workshops/Activities Fee: $30–$60 per day × 6 days = $180–$360
• Total per Child: $325.50–$505.50

Total for 1 Adult + 1 Child:

• Minimum: $525 (Adult) + $325.50 (Child) = $850.50
• Maximum: $825 (Adult) + $505.50 (Child) = $1,330.50

Sliding Scale Notes

• Why a Sliding Scale? We understand that financial situations vary widely. The sliding scale allows families to pay at a level that feels both fair and sustainable, ensuring that the camp is accessible to as many people as possible. For those who are able to contribute more, your generosity helps us to cover costs and offer this opportunity to others who may be facing financial constraints.
  
  
• What to Consider: When choosing an amount, we encourage you to reflect on:
  
  
• The resources, time, and care that go into creating and facilitating the camp.
• Your financial capacity, including whether you might contribute a little more to support others.
• What feels aligned with your sense of fairness and gratitude for the experience.
• How it Works:
  The workshop/activities fee for adults ranges between $50–$100 per day, and for children, it’s $30–$60 per day. You choose an amount that feels right for you within this range.
  
  

Payment Plans

To make participation even more accessible, we also offer flexible payment plans. If paying the full amount upfront is challenging, we’re happy to work with you to arrange a payment schedule that fits your needs. Our aim is to support families in joining this enriching experience without financial stress.

This system allows us to operate in a way that balances accessibility with sustainability, ensuring that we can continue to offer meaningful experiences that nourish connection, learning, and growth for all families. We deeply appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity in making this shared vision a reality.

Behind the Scenes: Creating a Meaningful Family NVC Camp

Organizing and offering a family NVC camp involves a great deal of planning, effort, and resources behind the scenes to create a safe, enriching, and nurturing experience for everyone. Here’s a glimpse of what goes into it:

1. Program Design and Facilitation: Thoughtful planning goes into designing workshops and activities that meet the diverse needs of adults, teens, and children. Facilitators carefully craft sessions to ensure participants can deepen their NVC practice in engaging and meaningful ways.
   
   
2. Venue Coordination: Preparing the venue to accommodate camping, cooking, and group activities.
   
   
3. Food Planning and Preparation: Preparing healthy, delicious meals for a large group requires detailed meal planning, bulk purchasing of ingredients, and ensuring special dietary needs are accommodated.
   
   
4. Logistics Management: From managing registrations and payments to creating schedules and assigning homegroup responsibilities (e.g., cooking or cleaning), countless administrative details are managed to ensure a smooth experience.
   
   
5. Materials and Supplies: Organizing arts and crafts supplies, games, workshop materials, and outdoor equipment.
   
   
6. Safety and Support: Creating a safe environment for children and adults alike is a priority. This includes organizing child supervision, ensuring the campsite is safe and well-equipped, and having contingency plans in place for emergencies.
   
   
7. Community Building: Effort goes into fostering a sense of community and belonging through shared experiences, including evening activities, storytelling, and homegroup bonding.
   
   

All these elements contribute to the costs of the camp, ensuring that it runs smoothly and provides immense value for participants. The sliding scale for workshop contributions reflects our intention to make the camp accessible while also recognizing the significant investment of time, energy, and resources required to make it a reality. By choosing an amount within the sliding scale that feels fair for your circumstances, you help sustain this valuable offering for yourself and others.

At Peace Talks, we want to take concrete steps towards creating a world where we can truly care for each other, operate from deep connection to community and give and receive from a true generosity of heart.

We want to live the change we want to see in the world (or, as Yoram Mozenson puts it, “live the needs we want to see in the world”) by bringing our values into every aspect of our lives and our work, including the question of how our families meet our basic needs. 

As a concrete step towards living the change we want in the world, we have been using a “Gift Economy” approach through our work at Peace Talks. This is a whole new way of operating in the world, is a little uncertain and maybe even uncomfortable at times, and yet, one that we have found to be rewarding, exciting and hopeful.

Simply put, a gift economy approach is an attempt to recreate a world where we care for each other, where we acknowledge that our well-being is inextricably tied up in each others’, and that we have some agency in creating a world that is focused on need not greed.  

The gift economy is an attempt to reimagine how we might be able to bring about the kind of deeply caring world we long for while also acknowledging the current reality of the economic system we are embedded within.

The gift economy harks back to our traditional, ancient roots when we lived in interconnected communities and each of us cared for all of us. (If you are interested in more background in the gift economy approach, see Charles Esientien, Miki Kashtan, Genevieve Vaughan among others).

This is very different from the world and economic system we currently live in (which rely on widespread ideas and beliefs like “deserving”, punishment and reward, power over or the use of violence in order to function). We therefore choose to live our lives to reflect these values as much as we are able to. Our wish in using this approach is to:

• Create systems where resources can flow to needs. We want our offerings to be accessible to a wide range of people, regardless of their ability to pay. In other words, we want the support, care and guidance that we offer to flow in the most direct way to the people who need that support, care and guidance. We want this course and all of our teachings to be accessible no matter their financial circumstances.

• Integrity and alignment with our values. The values of connection, care and compassion that are at the heart of NVC are the guiding principles of our lives, not “add ons”. The gift economy allows us to offer our services in a way that integrates our values and moves us towards a world where resources flow to people's needs.  The Gift Economy approach offers a way for us to explore a radical economic paradigm of integrating and embodying the connection and needs-based lens that we share in our teaching into every aspect of life (including economic decisions). 

• Modelling a new way of being, based on NVC teaching. We want the people we work with to have a powerful experience of what NVC can look like in the “real world”, not just at the level of inner consciousness or in their relationships with loved ones, but at the level of the systems that govern our lives and how we operate with each other in the world. We are passionate about sharing an alternative vision for the world, and therefore choose to offer many of our services using a gift-based economy.  

Offering a gift economy approach is a concrete step we can take towards these goals.

A gift economy approach transforms the moment of economic exchange into a relational moment - your wellbeing and mine are brought together into shared consideration. We are brought into awareness of our inter-dependence, our shared humanity and our mutual longing for trust and cooperation: “I” and “you” become “we”.

It creates a tiny microcosm of possibility; a world where we care for each other, where the implications of our economic choices are a little more visible to us, and where we are able to use our daily financial decisions as a way to meet needs and support each other.

The camp is nestled on a 60-hectare property, with half of it lush native forest, next to the Orokonui Eco Sanctuary 25 minutes north of Dunedin, New Zealand. In the heart of this forest, there is an open area, where a small cabin stands (recently built by Jorinde and her family/friends), offering basic kitchen facilities powered by solar energy. Nearby, an outdoor fireplace, a large gathering table, and a small kitchen space create a welcoming environment for shared meals and conversation. A peaceful stream meanders further down the hill, providing the source of our fresh drinking water. A spacious bell tent will be set up to serve as a gathering space for group activities, offering both shelter and a place for community connection. The land also features a couple of long-drop bush toilets and solar bag showers. The surrounding forest invites exploration, with hidden paths perfect for treasure hunts and games. Just a 10-minute drive away, a stunning beach awaits, offering another beautiful setting to connect with nature during your stay.

Participants need to bring their own camping gear (tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag), clothing suitable for the weather, toiletries, and any personal items for comfort. Food will be provided, but you may want to bring snacks or special dietary items if needed. A list of recommended items will be shared closer to the camp date.

Yes! We are committed to providing meals that accommodate a variety of dietary restrictions and preferences. Please let us know about any special dietary needs when you register, and we will do our best to ensure your needs are met.

We understand that each person’s NVC journey is unique, and this camp is designed to offer a safe, non-judgmental space for learning and growth, regardless of where you are in your practice. Our focus is on connection, compassion, and growth, and we invite everyone to be kind to themselves and to each other as they practice. Our facilitators will provide guidance, and the camp environment is centered on mutual support, learning through experience, and deepening our collective understanding of Nonviolent Communication.

Our facilitators and camp volunteers are here to support you throughout the camp. If you need help with your NVC practice or have any questions, we encourage you to reach out for assistance. We’re all here to learn and grow together. We will have experienced volunteers available as 'Flying Giraffes', they are there to offer empathy and support whenever you feel stuck. Instead of facing a challenge alone, we encourage you to embrace this paradigm shift of seeking connection and support when you need it.