Building relational intelligence, nervous system literacy, and emotional fluency,
Working with Story, and Ritual,
to help Individuals, Parents, Couples, and Communities
Return to the Village
Services
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Each week we strengthen core capacities of Nonviolent Communication: identifying needs, listening with the heart, and offering empathy that is grounded, present, and non-judgmental. Come hang out and build the kinds of relationships, community, and life-skills that help us move in rhythm with ourselves and with each other. Beyond the practice itself, we share food, fellowship, and simple time together after group. Connection is part of the curriculum. And yes — Louie will be there too.
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James works with individuals who want support in regulating their nervous system, understanding their patterns, and building relationships that feel grounded and honest. The work is about helping people slow down, noticing what's happening in the body, and responding with more choice and less reactivity. Using principles from trauma-informed practice, Nonviolent Communication, and attachment theory, James supports people in shifting from survival strategies toward a life shaped by connection, integrity, and responsibility — including grief, boundary setting, repairing relationships, and learning how to belong to oneself and others without isolation or hardness.
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James works with couples navigating conflict, stress, or long-term patterns that are no longer working, drawing from trauma-informed practice, Nonviolent Communication, and attachment-based work. Sessions help each partner understand their nervous system and needs, listen without defensiveness, and speak honestly without causing harm, building a relationship where both people feel safe and capable of repairing when things break.
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James offers parent coaching grounded in the Echo Parenting & Education curriculum, which he helped write and develop, bringing trauma-informed, nonviolent, and attachment-based practices into daily family life. Sessions happen over Zoom, in person, or in the home, giving parents guidance, language, and tools they can use right away — understanding a child's nervous system, reducing power struggles, and repairing after conflict, helping parents move from managing behavior to growing relationship.
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James works with individuals who want to look at the end of their life with honesty, grace, and presence. Strongly influenced by Stephen Jenkinson, his approach draws together the skills gathered in his other work and applies them here. With those in their final days, James helps them shift from survival strategies toward a life-centered way of dying, where death, integrity, and responsibility are centered. This work often includes grief, heartbreak, gathering those on the other side, and learning how to see life and those you love fully while saying goodbye to all of it.
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James has been lucky to have mentors, uncles, and teachers. This is a way he gets to say thank you to those who have pulled him in close and taught him things. He works with boys and young men to help them cross the threshold between childhood and responsibility, practicing emotional honesty, self-regulation, and accountability through nature, physical work, silence, and story rather than lecture or advice. He also works with adults, men in particular, who were never offered true initiation — learning how to be trustworthy, apologize and repair, and be strong without domination. This work is paired with old-time mentoring: sitting with individuals to grieve what's been lost to isolation, so that community, elders, and a sense of belonging can begin to show themselves again.