Raf Poggi

My journey with Nonviolent Communication (NVC) began in 2019 with the recommended Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. What started as a search for a better way to navigate conflict soon became a life-changing adventure and an ongoing quest for wholeness. As a practicing GP, PCN Clinical Director, Educational Supervisor, and Certified Nonviolent Communication practitioner, I have become fascinated by a simple question:

What happens when we listen beyond the words?

Again and again, I discover that beneath the cover of frustration, complaints, silence, demands, or disagreement there is something deeply human waiting to be heard. Patients, families, healthcare professionals, and colleagues all carry hopes, fears, values, and needs. When those needs are recognized, something shifts. Shoulders relax. Conversations soften. Connection becomes possible.

My work is about helping people gently unwrap the layers and rediscover the human being underneath. For me, NVC is more than a communication technique. It is a way of being—one in which everything belongs: our strengths and vulnerabilities, our certainty and confusion, our joys and struggles.

Along the way, I have met remarkable teachers, communities, and friends who continue to remind me that we are far more connected than we sometimes imagine.

What I Offer

🩺 Frontline Teams

Practical and engaging workshops for reception teams, care navigators, administrators, managers, and clinical teams.

Participants explore how to navigate challenging conversations, respond rather than react under pressure, strengthen relationships with patients and colleagues, and help create workplaces where people feel valued and supported.
Because communication is not simply about exchanging information. It is about helping people feel heard.

🌱 Resident Doctors & Trainees

Focus on Connection

Technical expertise saves lives. Human connection transforms care.

Through practical exercises, real-life scenarios, self-empathy practices, and reflective learning, trainees explore what facilitates connection with patients—and what gets in the way. Participants leave with practical tools they can use immediately in consultations, particularly when emotions run high.

Because healing often begins before treatment starts.

❤️ The Quest for Wholeness

Alongside healthcare, NVC has taken me on a personal journey that I call the Quest for Wholeness.

As a doctor and an NVC practitioner, I am continually touched by Marshall Rosenberg's invitation to connect with what he described as the "Beloved Divine Energy" that lives within us all. The more I practice NVC, the more I experience that beneath our differences there is something deeply human—and perhaps even sacred—that connects us.

This is one reason I love exploring ancient wisdom and Scripture through the lens of NVC. Through monthly online peer-support groups in English and Italian, we use NVC as a language that helps bring old texts to life, listening for the needs, longings, and life energy flowing through them. I am amazed by how relevant these writings become when approached through curiosity, compassion, and connection.