Melanie Joy Workshop

Who is Melanie Joy?

Melanie Joy, PhD, is a Harvard-educated psychologist specializing in relationships, communication, and social transformation. She is the award-winning author of eight books, including the bestselling Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows, Getting Relationships Right: How to Build Resilience and Thrive in Life, Love, and Work, How to End Injustice Everywhere, and A Half-Hearted Death Wish. Joy is also an internationally recognized speaker and trainer who’s presented her work in fifty countries across six continents.

Joy is best known for her groundbreaking theories on the psychology of violence and nonviolence and building healthy relationships. Her analyses have helped explain why people engage in “nonrelational” behaviors—behaviors that harm other people, animals, the planet, and themselves—as well as how to change this pattern. Her work has been featured by media outlets around the world, including the New York Times, BBC, NPR, and ABC Australia. She is the eighth recipient of the Ahimsa Award—previously given to the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela—for her work on global nonviolence; and she also received both the Peter Singer Prize and the Empty Cages Prize for her work developing strategies to reduce the suffering of animals.

Joy’s mission is to help create a more relational world, in large part through raising awareness of the obstacles preventing people from interacting in ways that create a sense of mutual connection. These obstacles are both internal (psychological) and external (social), and they are a key reason why we act against our own interests and the interests of others—often without realizing that we’re doing so. With awareness, we are better able to think freely and act compassionately, to create healthier and more fulfilling relationships and a more equitable and sustainable world.

Joy is the founding president of the international organization, Beyond Carnism. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Joy now resides in Berlin, Germany, with her husband, Sebastian Joy.

“Melanie Joy's work has the potential to revolutionize how we think—and, therefore, to transform how we treat each other, animals, the environment, and ourselves.”

Moby

What Is This Workshop About?

Communication and Interpersonal Skills to Increase the Impact and Resilience of Vegan Organizations and Advocates

Communication and interpersonal skills comprise one of the most important skill sets for anyone who wants to increase the effectiveness of their work and the impact of their advocacy. Yet these are also the areas people tend to get virtually no training and support in.

In fact, ineffective and even counterproductive ways of relating are the norm among teams in organizations and in the vegan movement as a whole. Too often, our differences become debates and our debates become divisions. This leads to siloed thinking and limits our ability to make truly strategic decisions that maximize our impact. We may also contend with such issues as toxic communication, low morale, gossip, and misuse of power. Organizational staff and independent advocates alike can—and often do—end up burning out, and taking others down with them.

Problematic communication and interpersonal interactions are a major impediment to the success of vegan organizations and the movement as a whole, as they seriously limit our ability to work with each other and with stakeholders effectively.

In this workshop, Melanie Joy explains the key principles and provides practical tools for building effective and impactful communication and interpersonal skills. You’ll learn how to discuss any topic, no matter how emotionally charged, effectively and compassionately. You’ll also learn how to relate to differences in a way that deepens understanding and leads to more sound and strategic decisions. Through clear explanations and guided practice sessions, Melanie will help you build these and other competencies, which can significantly increase the likelihood that your team, leadership, and/or individual advocacy efforts are as productive and impactful as possible.

Leadership Meetings

People in key leadership positions in a given region come together to do a strategic analysis of the movement in their area, and/or to discuss any issues they feel are relevant, from forming alliances to navigating infighting.