2015

In 2015, while working at Erasmushogeschool Brussel | EhB I founded Democratic Dialogue. It offered answers to the situation facing many schools: contentious topics made reasonable debate impossible, instead often leading to painful conflict or silent taboo.

The Democratic Dialogue project team was multidisciplinary and diverse, and unafraid to look hard at its own blind spots and areas of growth. A collective professional friendship took shape that has remained fruitful over the years.

Gradually the Democratic Dialogue method became more coherent, and more widely applicable outside of schools.

Each member of the team applied their own method, based on their personal strengths and academic background.

Since the start, my own focus has been on conversational techniques, non-violent communication, and a programme teaching participants to guide dialogue processes themselves. 

2024-

Having experienced that conscious engagement with processes of dialogue effectively improves communication, my freelance project is now named dialogue always works. Each process of dialogue is a journey into new territory, co-created by people who make time to understand, and work on, their interaction.

The nickname Rivers pays homage to W.H.R. Rivers, the WWI army psychiatrist whose conversations with traumatized officers inspire me. They are rendered impressively in Pat Barker's semi-historical Regeneration trilogy.