Training in Interpersonal Communication
This course is a rare opportunity to explore your personality and the way you interact with others in an open and reflective atmosphere. The training is suitable both for first-timers and people with previous experience from Acem's communication courses.
The benefits of this personal growth experience will be felt in your professional and private life. The course provides opportunities to enhance:
- empathy and sensitivity
- interpersonal social skills
- leadership qualities
- conflict management
- understanding of group-dynamics
- self-knowledge
Communication courses of this kind have been developed in Scandinavia since 1970 by medical doctors and psychologists with an interest in Acem Meditation and self-understanding.
I want to apply for a student scholarship
Each communication group has 6-9 participants and 1-2 leaders, and meets for two daily sessions throughout the course. The open and reflective atmosphere provides an opportunity to explore and develop the way you interact with others, as well as your listening skills. It is a means to obtain a deeper understanding of your personality and its formative events. The focus is sometimes on group interaction and sometimes on individual issues and personality.
In addition to the group meetings with the facilitator, the communication groups also have meetings and activities that do not involve the facilitators. At those meetings the participants may rate each other regarding their contributions to the group process and its likes. Some evenings, informal social gatherings are arranged. Daily, the participants hand in self-reports and inventories. Diary writing is also included in the programme. Towards the end of the training course, there will be plenary sessions, and the keys to the interpretations of the inventories will be discussed.
Typical daily programme
0815 - 0915 Breakfast
0930 - 1200 Communication groups
1215 - 1300 Lunch
1315 - 1615 Work tasks, walk, self-evaluation
1615 - 1745 Communication groups
1800 - 1930 Dinner
1930 - 2115 Self-activated groups
2130 - Social gathering, Diary and daily report
Ca. 2300 Good night
Some of the group leaders are Are Holen, Halvor Eifring, Eva Skaar, Tor Herhoug, Merete Hetland
All participants are expected to attend the training from beginning till its completion.
Participants are recommended not to have any other obligations during the training.
If you are going through a major personal crisis or you are in need of professional treatment and follow-up for mental problems, you are generally not recommended to participate.
On some days the programme includes outdoor group activities, involving simple maintenance work, gardering etc., and you may want to bring suitable clothing for these activities.
Interviews with previous participants
- "Coming home alive." Jan Claudius
- "Better to ride the horse than be stuck in the stirrup." Ingelin Rössland
- "90 years old and on the road to reconciliation." Berit Østbye
- "This will make my life more colourful." Olga Leschen
- "An extraordinary course." Edwin McGillavry
- "Svein Strømberg at the Acem communication course."
- "I communicate better with patients and families." Jacqueline Robert
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IMPORTANT PRACTICAL INFORMATION
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The official course language is English. Opening and evening seminars will be in English.
Groups in Scandinavian, English and German. Please indicate, as a comment when you register, which languages you master sufficiently to use in a group.
Registration deadline 12. May 2025
Cancellation deadline 12. May 2025
Student discount is only available to full-time students aged 35 years or less.
Alternative registration and payment method
It is also possible to register by sending a message to acem@acem.no and paying in euro by international bank transfer to:
● SWIFT/BIC: NDEANOKK
● IBAN NO: NO8060260497238
● Recipient: Acem, Pb 2559 Solli, NO-0202 Oslo, Norway
● Bank: Nordea Bank Norge ASA, Pb 1166 Sentrum, NO-0107 Oslo, Norway
● Include the following information: “Course number (to be found in the upper right corner of this page) + name of participant(s)"
● Your registration will be valid upon receipt of your payment.
Course type: Training in Interpersonal Communication
The course is arranged by Acem International School of Meditation
Course number: V25400
Instructors
What do the participants say?
Vadim Alekna
IT consultant
Although I had heard about the communication course, I came there without many expectations about what it would be like. The first days were a bit overwhelming; then it became easier.
I earned important new experiences. When I spoke out in the group, the others accepted it, and I learned that my perception of taking up too much space was exaggerated.
I enjoyed all the activities in the group and didn’t want to go home at the end of the course.
Marte de Picciotto
MSc, MBA
I have become more aware of how my personality influences others. I have been surprised that what seems obvious and clear to others has often not been clear to me.
The confidence I experienced during the course helped me both to experience and accept more of my feelings. I wouldn’t have been able to do that on my own, but I wish to become more active in this regard and try it out further. I will try to accept more, even the aggression of others.
I have always tended to talk about the positive sides of things and to wish that everything will be fine. Now I will try to find a more natural balance.
I have got to know other people more closely, and I have seen that there is a lot underneath the surface of everyone. I want to become more aware of this in my daily life – in order to improve my understanding of others.
The course has moved me profoundly. The volunteer contribution of the leaders has left a big impression on me; this gives many people the opportunity to participate in this very special course.
In the words of another participant: “I earned important new experiences”: