From Choppy Waves to Steady Harbours. Irish Experience of Parental and Practitioners Support through NVR in CPVA

This article explores Irish experiences of professional training in the Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) approach for work with families affected by child-to-parent violence and abuse (CPVA). Recognising CPVA as a hidden, stigmatised, and complex form of family violence, the paper presents NVR as a promising systemic intervention that supports parents in restoring authority, presence, and agency. The study is grounded in an action research design and draws on focused ethnography and reflexive thematic analysis to examine a two-day NVR training programme for social workers and other child and family practitioners in Ireland. Particular attention is given to the embodied dimension of learning, highlighting how trainers enact NVR principles through relational presence, facilitation style, and pedagogical choices. Findings suggest that experiential learning processes—such as storytelling, reflective dialogue, structured pauses, and role play—enable practitioners to internalise NVR as a personal and professional habitus rather than a set of techniques. The article argues that NVR training fosters transformative learning by integrating theory, practice, and embodied awareness, and concludes by positioning NVR as both an educational and political practice that help bring us closer together promotes democratic, non-coercive forms of authority within families and professional contexts.