About Clarity Services
We are committed to supporting human relations that enhance a sustainable respectful human future.
Peggy Smith
Peggy Smith is a certified trainer with the International Center for Nonviolent Communication, with over four decades of teaching experience. She is at the forefront of bringing empathic thinking and communicating to our region.
Peggy holds a M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and was a teacher in public and alternative schools for 32 years before devoting her full time energies to this endeavor. She offers trainings in a wide variety of venues. She has posted online a Courageous Communication curriculum developed over five years with men coming out of incarceration.
She is a co-founder of the Maine NVC Network and leads their monthly newsletter team.
Peggy has done international NVC work through Seeds of Peace International Camp, working with educators from the Middle East and South Asia both in Maine and in the region.
A student of Mindfulness since 1991, Peggy has been ordained as a teacher by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. She has a passion for helping everyone develop their innate capacity for empathy by integrating mindfulness into how we think and communicate.
Peggy enjoys designing and implementing programs that support empathic thinking and communicating as part of systemic culture change.
Leah Boyd
Leah Boyd is a certified trainer with the International Center for Nonviolent Communication, a succession coordinator with the International Farm Transition Network and holds a BS in Education. She is a professional mediator, group facilitator, communication skills trainer & musician. With a diverse background including teaching special education, human resources for a trucking company and professional music, Leah brings wide personal experience to her work.
Leah trusts the creative potential that is unleashed when all voices are heard and all needs are considered within a supportive structure, allowing creative tension to become a source of creativity.
In addition to serving private clients, Leah currently mediates/facilitates for the Maine Agricultural Mediation Program and co-facilitates 40-hour mediation trainings for new mediators. She has served as a mediator for the Maine Department of Education as well as the Maine District Court System and has served on the Board of Governors for the Maine Association of Mediators.
Leah is also part of the musical duo, Peaceful Means, weaving together original songs and creative arrangements of choice covers to uplift nonviolent consciousness.
“Peggy Smith and Alton Lane are one powerful combination! Peggy’s unique and easily understandable approach to Nonviolent Communication is inspiring, engaging, and actionable.
Alton’s life experience shows us that hurt people will ultimately hurt other people unless empathy is discovered and learned. His life story and journey since meeting Peggy provides evidence that everyone has the potential to develop into an emotional healthy nonviolent person if given the opportunity and tools. Their presentations and workshops provide both!”