I'm very happy to announce a new product for sale, which I helped create: The Clean Talk CD, Communication Tools for Group Leaders.

I recorded the CD with my brother, Cliff, last fall. I wrote most of the script and did the sound editing. It was my first experience producing a CD, and I find that very exciting.

So what is Clean Talk? It's a set of communication tools that can make any conversation safer and more productive. Clean Talk is the method we use in Shadow Work when we want to speak cleanly and especially when there is conflict present. Clean Talk can both prevent and resolve conflicts.

The word "clean" refers to Clean Talk's clear-cut guidelines that help each person in the conversation take responsibility for their part of what's happening instead of placing the responsibility on someone else.

If you're a group leader, the Clean Talk tools help you prevent your shadows from leaking out and hurting other people. As Cliff says on the CD, "As a group facilitator, the words that come out of your mouth are what you're selling. They're your bottom line."

Clean Talk also helps you build trust, and that trust will make you more successful as a group leader. The Clean Talk CD teaches you how to recognize and use all four channels of communication (assessments, feelings, wants, and data). It also offers humorous examples of the most common "no-nos" or misspeaks. (Cliff and I used quite a bit of humor on the CD, and we're already hearing that it's fun to listen to.)

The Clean Talk CD also teaches you to do Word Coaching, a skill you can offer as a facilitator to help people speak more cleanly in important situations.

The CD comes with two handouts: a map of the four channels of communication, and a cheat sheet for Word Coaching in all four channels.

The Clean Talk CD is approximately 79 minutes long and costs $19.95. It comes in a shatterproof plastic case. You can buy it from the Practically Shameless home page.