CENTER FOR LISTENING AND PRESENCE
Helping People Listen
We facilitate experiences, activities, and exchanges that invite people to learn to listen more deeply -- to themselves and to others.
Who We Help
Whether in corporate, therapeutic, retreat, religious, or educational settings, we design programming tailored to the needs of those involved. Our facilitators work with individuals, couples, business teams, athletes, social workers, and more. All have a common goal of becoming more present, effective communicators through deeper listening.
Our Intention
By learning to listen, we create a positive culture within ourselves, our relationships, and our work spaces. Through listening, trust flourishes. Community grows. Leadership becomes more effective and transparent. Creativity thrives. Collaboration becomes more generative. Differences are embraced. Inclusivity becomes contagious. Transparency and accountability are woven into the fabric of our ways of being in the world.
How Does It Work?
Our facilitators come from diverse walks of life and disciplines. The work we do is based in Applied Theatre techniques. It is intentionally interdisciplinary and experiential. We believe that when we learn and experience holistically with our emotional, spiritual, and intellectual selves, the work goes deeper and becomes more sustainable in our day to day lives.
Kim Stauffer
Founding Director
Get to Know Kim
Founding Director of the Center for Listening and Presence Kim Stauffer combined her expertise in social work and theatre to develop Applied Theatre techniques that facilitate discovery and practice of listening and communication skills.​
Kim lives in a cottage on the side of a small mountain in the woods of upstate New York. She is committed to growing her own food as an act of resistance, loves lake swimming, is a cat parent to Jake, and is committed to her own journey of accountability in equity, diversity, and inclusion.​​
Evolution of Experience: Social Worker, Professional Actor and Director, University Professor and Head of Acting, Lecturer in Improvisation, Communication Consultant, and CLP Founder for a combined experience of over 20 years applying theatre techniques to build community, and deepen communication.​
Education: Degrees in Social Work (BS), Theatre (BA) from Eastern Mennonite University, and an MFA in Acting from UNC Greensboro​. Training and Specialization include Diversity and Inclusion, Boundaries, Consent and the Impact of Power, Meisner, Emotional Intelligence, Team Building, and Leadership
How It All Began
As a professor of theatre, Kim noticed a profound impact that certain acting techniques had on her students: She witnessed pronounced growth in their ability to listen and stay in the present moment with one another. She was inspired to explore that connection and wondered if there might be an application for those acting techniques beyond actor training. Kim began to explore and develop them as a way to experientially explore communication and deep listening.​ Over the next few years, Kim piloted various techniques with teachers, social workers, and parents, individuals, couples, and more. Programming of class and workshop offerings emerged. Participants experienced increased abilities to manage anxiety, stay in the present moment, and read behavioral clues and emotional needs of others. These initiatives and results inspired the evolution of what would soon become the Center for Listening and Presence (CLP).​ Workshops, classes, intensives, and custom curriculum continue to evolve and allow CLP to work with a wide variety of participants such as teachers, administrators, therapists, clergy, artists, leadership teams, and more. All have a unified goal of learning to be communicators who listen and respond with deep presence, authenticity, and compassion.