Leah Dodds has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Colorado. She also received a Certificate in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Colorado.

   Since 2002, Leah has served as a breastfeeding counselor with an international breastfeeding support organization. In addition, since 2003, she has worked as a Communication Skills Instructor, teaching communications skills to roughly 200 participants in Colorado and Wyoming. She has also trained other instructors to lead similar communication skills sessions.

  In 2003, Leah attended a presentation by Marshall B. Rosenberg, author of the book Nonviolent Communication. Since then, Leah has been involved in practice groups focused on these skills and has been working to incorporate Rosenberg's techniques into her daily life. Leah is not a certified trainer of Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication. However, because she finds these skills so valuable, Leah often incorporates some of Rosenberg's ideas into her work as a Communication Skills Instructor and Workshop Facilitator.

   In addition to leading small groups, Leah also has experience utilizing face-to-face communications tools for large groups, including Open Space Technology, World Café and Appreciative Inquiry. She looks forward to using these tools to lead large group conversations in the future.

  Leah is the mother of three children-- two boys and a girl-- born in 2000, 2002 and 2005, respectively. Leah first became familiar with the How To Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk and Siblings Without Rivalry books in 1996. Since then she has used the skills suggested in these books (and the workshops by the same titles) with her younger siblings and other children she has cared for, as well as with her own children. She has also found the skills to be helpful with the adult people in her life! Leah has been a participant in these workshops multiple times and now enjoys facilitating sessions for other parents. Her suggestions for handling difficult parenting situations have been featured multiple times in the "Parenting 911" column of Colorado Parent Magazine.

For more information, please call me at 303-537-2167 or email me at leah@vitalforcecommunication.com