About | Center For Listening

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, religious, or educational settings, we work with individuals, couples, teams, and more. Anyone who wants to explore what it means to become more present and connected through deeper listening.

Our Intention

Our work 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.

How Does It Work?

We borrow from theatre exercises designed to teach actors how to connect with one another and their audiences. The stage and format might be different but the goal is the same: Listen. Connect. Exchange. Stay Present.

Working with CLP is an invitation to go to the gym of communication. Do exercises that isolate specific listening muscles and work them out. Stretch. Expand. Gain more depth and listening flexibility. Learn alongside others on the same journey. It is a chance to apply new skills experientially, in a safe space, with others who have the same goals. You leave with momentum and strategies you can take home to practice applying in real-life relationships with partners, work teams, friends, and beyond. And, throughout the process, you find community and connection.

Kim Stauffer

Founding Director

Contact Kim

Get to Know Kim

Founding Director of the Center for Listening and Presence, Kim Stauffer, combines her expertise in social work and theatre to develop applied theatre techniques that facilitate discovery and practice of listening and communication skills.

Kim is a connector and community builder who feels most joy when she is holding space for others and bringing people together. Years living in New York City and working as an actor taught her to hustle and enjoy the energy, creativity, and possibility of the city. Then, a life shift led her to slow down. She landed in a cottage on the side of a little mountain in upstate NY where she found the deep joy of stepping into the flow of nature. She is committed to gardening and growing her own food as an act of resistance, loves lake swimming, tea with friends, is a cat parent to Jake, and considers herself a life-long learner in all things.

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 specializations include Boundaries, Consent and the Impact of Power, Meisner, Emotional Intelligence, Team Building, and Leadership.