A beautiful tribute to a wonderful NVC teacher by Monica Reu. It is a little long but we have chosen to share it in its entirety because we imagine it will touch your hearts and inspire you in turn to touch lives with your NVC practice in whatever small or large way is yours to give..
(roughly 4 mins read time)
July 2026
My dear friend Penny Vine passed away.
There are people who teach Nonviolent Communication, and there are people whose wholehearted love for it becomes an inspiration to everyone fortunate enough to know them. Penny Vine was one of those people.
For more than two decades, Penny dedicated her life to sharing the consciousness and practice of Nonviolent Communication. Certified in 2002, she became part of the generation of trainers who carried Marshall’s work far beyond its origins, helping to nurture communities across Europe and beyond.
Her contribution cannot be measured simply by the number of workshops she offered or the miles she travelled. It lives in the teachers who returned to their classrooms with renewed hope, the parents who discovered new ways of relating to their children, the practitioners who found the courage to stay present in difficult conversations, and the countless people who experienced, often for the first time, what it feels like to be deeply heard.
When Penny listened to you, you could feel it on a cellular level. She offered a quality of presence that could not be taught through slides or manuals. She listened without rushing, without fixing, without searching for the perfect response. She listened with her whole being. People left conversations with Penny not only feeling understood, but somehow more fully themselves. It was one of her greatest gifts, and perhaps one of her greatest teachings.
Although she worked with many different audiences, her deepest calling was children.
She believed passionately that the earliest years of life shape the course of our lives and the adults we become. Her commitment to early childhood education was not simply professional; it was profoundly personal. Having known the pain of a difficult childhood herself, she understood first-hand the lifelong consequences of relationships that lack empathy, emotional safety and genuine connection. Rather than allowing those experiences to define her, she transformed them into a lifelong commitment to ensuring that children could grow up in a different world.
A world where they would be listened to. A world where they would matter.
A world where conflict would become an opportunity for understanding rather than punishment.
This vision led Penny to devote much of her life’s work to supporting educators, schools and families. She became closely associated with the Teach for Life! movement and with the growing international community committed to Life-Enriching Education. In 2015, she served as one of the lead trainers for the Center for Nonviolent Communication’s Life-Enriching Education International Intensive Training alongside Sura Hart, Jean Morrison and Jared Finkelstein, helping educators from around the world explore what schools can become when relationships are placed at the centre of learning.
Penny believed that education is never only about knowledge. It is about relationships.
Her work reached far beyond the United Kingdom.
She travelled wherever people invited her to share Nonviolent Communication, bringing her warmth, wisdom and unmistakable humour to communities across the world. She travelled to India to support trainers and practitioners, and returned to Romania many times, where she became a deeply loved presence among teachers, parents and the growing NVC community. Those who attended her workshops often speak not only of what they learned, but of how safe they felt to learn it with Penny.
Her commitment to Nonviolent Communication never diminished.
Even as illness increasingly affected her body and confined her to a wheelchair, Penny continued doing what she loved most. She kept showing up for her practice group. She continued listening. She continued mentoring. She continued helping people find one another across conflict and disconnection.
She never stopped living what she taught.
Those who knew Penny also knew her irrepressible joy.
She was brilliant, mischievous, deeply compassionate and wonderfully funny. She could move effortlessly between conversations about educational philosophy, spirituality, politics, books, life’s everyday absurdities and the realities of being human. Her laughter was generous and contagious. I will never forget it.
Our CNVC community has lost a treasured trainer, colleague and friend. At the same time, we have inherited something precious. Penny’s life reminds us that the most enduring contribution we can make is not simply to teach a practice, but to touch lives in ways that continue long after we’ve left the room.
Monica Reu
With permission from Monica Reu to share her words written in July 2026.
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