Workshops On Communication Skills Scheduled

Tom Heavey, workshop spokesman Whenever Tom Heavey sees a newspaper account or television report about what’s wrong with America, he remembers something he heard a South American author say.

“He described the United States as the first nation in history that’s trying to build a truly multicultural society,” says Heavey. No wonder the news media are full of conflict.

Heavey, a local computer consultant, believes the solution is better communication skills. He and a handful of like-minded area residents have created what they call the Spokane Community Building Project.

One of their first efforts is sponsorship of two workshops.

“Building community means developing communication skills that help bring people together in various situations,” explains Heavey. “Our communication skills haven’t kept pace with modern society’s fastpaced evolution.

“People are afraid of each other’s differences, and they’re unwilling to open up to one another.”

His group’s workshops are intended for anyone who “feels a need to move themselves or their group toward more authentic and deeper levels of communication.”

The first three-day workshop, set for June 4-6 at Gonzaga University’s Schoenberg Conference Center, will focus on basic community building skills, as outlined by M. Scott Peck in his books “The Different Drum” and “A World Waiting to be Born.”

The second workshop, scheduled for July 14-16, will build on the lessons of the first workshop.

Each three-day session costs $250, and scholarships are available.

For more information, contact Heavey at 325-1779.