The Affinity Consultants

Communication Skills Workshops that Actually Change How You Connect

The Affinity Consultants teache couples, parents, leaders, and teams how to communicate using the Process Communication Model (PCM®): a research-backed framework with six personality types that explains why people talk past each other and what to do about it. Founded by certified PCM® trainers Matt Gallagher, LCPC and Sarah Thome, LSCSW, Affinity offers hands-on communication skills workshops in Wichita, Kansas.

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40+

Years of combined experience in clinical practice

600+

Individuals & groups served

Sarah Thome, LSCSW & Matt Gallagher, LCPC

Certified
PCM® Therapists & Trainers
Licensed
Clinical Counselors & Therapists
NASA-validated
Communication Framework
Wichita-based
Workshops & Private Trainings
The Universal Problem

When communication breaks down, everything suffers

You said something perfectly reasonable, and the person across from you heard something completely different. Couples argue about the same things on a loop. Teams avoid the hard conversations until small problems become big ones. Kids stop talking, and parents cannot figure out why. The pattern is the same everywhere.

favorite

In Relationships

Couples who love each other but cannot get through a single conversation without someone shutting down or blowing up. The same argument, different topic, every week.

work

At Work

Talented teams that avoid hard conversations until small problems become big ones. Meetings that go sideways because people talk past each other.

home

At Home

Parents who watch their teenager retreat behind a closed door after every attempt to connect. Children who stop talking because nothing they say seems to land.

Here is the part most people miss: the problem is not what you are saying. It is how you are saying it. PCM® closes that gap by teaching you to match your communication to what each person actually needs to hear.

What is PCM®?

A framework for understanding how people actually communicate

The Process Communication Model (PCM®) was developed by clinical psychologist Dr. Taibi Kahler and adopted by NASA to improve astronaut crew communication and selection. Over four decades of research, PCM® has become one of the most practical communication frameworks available: used in Fortune 500 companies, clinical settings, schools, law enforcement agencies, and by thousands of couples and families worldwide.

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6
Personality Types
40+
Years of Research
NASA
Validated
Participants practicing PCM communication skills in an Affinity Consultants workshop

6 Personality Types

PCM® identifies six distinct personality types that exist in every person. Each type has a preferred communication channel: the way they need to receive information in order to truly hear it. When you learn to identify someone's type and switch to their channel, conversations that used to end in frustration start ending in understanding. That is not a metaphor. It is a specific, learnable skill.

Unlike personality tests that give you a label and leave you there, PCM® gives you a toolkit. You learn not just what your communication style is, but how to adapt your approach for every person in your life.

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Our Communication Trainings & Workshops

Find the workshop that fits your situation

Every workshop includes the PCM® personality assessment, hands-on practice with a certified trainer, and tools you can use immediately. Choose the one that matches where you are right now.

For Couples workshop

For Couples

Stuck in the same argument on repeat? Learn why you and your partner speak different languages, and walk out with tools to actually be heard.
A white / Caucasian parent and their teenager playing one-on-one at a driveway basketball hoop — Communication Strategies for Parents of Teens: Why One Approach Does Not Fit All

For Parents

Your kid went quiet and you do not know why. Learn how your child is wired and what to say so they let you back in.
A white / Caucasian person, a therapist, mid-gesture while speaking, seated at an angle in an armchair with one hand open in an approachable

For Clinicians

Understand your clients better. Learn their communication styles and how it affects their relationships.
Candid from across the room: a white / Caucasian teacher and student crouched together at a low classroom shelf sorting art supplies

For Teachers & Educators

Some students you just cannot reach. Learn to identify personality types so every student feels seen and heard.
Pcm Training Leaders

For Leaders

Hard conversations keep going sideways. Learn to read your people and lead difficult talks without damaging the relationship.
For Teams workshop

For Teams

Talented people, constant friction. Learn each member's style so the team stops misfiring and starts clicking.
A silver-haired sheriffs captain in a light blue uniform listens attentively beside colleagues at the Wichita PCM® workshop.

For First Responders

High stakes, no time to think. Learn to read people under pressure and match your approach in the moment.

What past workshop participants are saying

★★★★★

PCM® has helped us to understand the difference in personalities. But our superpowers within our own personalities help to fill in the gaps for each other and balance the relationship. We have had to learn and put into action steps to avoid conflict that we can easily slip into simply by miscommunicating. It has helped us to understand what to look for, and what it means for the other person to be in distress.

Katy Wiebe
Couples Workshop
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Sarah Thome gestures expressively while presenting to deputies beneath the Sedgwick County banner at the Wichita PCM® communication training.
Male trainer speaks with hand on chest, engaging sofa-seated participants during the Wichita PCM® communication workshop.
Affinity Consultants Matt Gallagher smiles in conversation with two women beside the banner at the Bordeaux PCM® conference.
Group portrait of Wichita PCM® workshop participants and Affinity Consultants trainers before a Sedgwick County banner and Authentic Leaders Are Agile slide.

Read our latest blogs

Our Podcast

Behind the Therapy Door Podcast

The Behind the Therapy Door podcast gives listeners a peek into the clinical process of counseling & therapy. While no patient information is shared, get a glimpse into what therapy is like and discover that we all share similar struggles in life (even us). Come for the information and stay for the entertainment.

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Behind the Therapy Door podcast cover art