High Conflict Mediation Lecture + Demonstration
A 75-minute lecture on a tightly structured process for mediating potentially high-conflict disputes, followed by a full 3-hour recorded demonstration of the method in action: angry outbursts, surprise events, tears, rigid positions, and a mediator calmly guiding the parties to their own decisions.
Your instructor
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer, High Conflict Institute
500,000+
professionals trained worldwide
With high-conflict parties, open-ended mediation feeds the fire.
Storytelling about the past and processing emotional issues, staples of many mediation models, tend to be irresolvable for potentially high-conflict people and simply reinforce their intransigence. This method makes the mediator a guide: much more directive about the process, much less directive about the decisions. The parties learn a few simple skills, ask questions, gather information, and make proposals, while the mediator provides education, options, and calm empathy, respect, and neutrality for both sides.
Outcomes you'll bring back from High Conflict Mediation Lecture + Demonstration.
- Run a tightly structured, client-centered mediation process.
- Teach and reinforce the 4 Big Skills™ with parties throughout the process.
- Redirect storytelling and emotional processing into proposals.
- Stay directive about process while leaving decisions to the parties.
- Hold empathy, respect, and neutrality through outbursts and rigid positions.
- Apply the method to divorce, civil, workplace, and any other mediation.
Who High Conflict Mediation Lecture + Demonstration is built for.
Mediators
A complete structure for the cases standard facilitative practice can't hold.
Attorneys
Represent clients in high-conflict mediations, or mediate yourself.
Anyone Who Mediates
Managers, HR, ombuds: the skills translate across any type of dispute.
How High Conflict Mediation Lecture + Demonstration is delivered.
Watch the 75-minute lecture, then the full 3-hour demonstration: a rare chance to see an entire high-conflict mediation modeled start to finish.
- 75-minute training — The structured process, the mediator-as-guide role, and the 4 Big Skills™.
- 3-hour demonstration — A complete mediation modeled through outbursts, tears, and rigid positions.
- PowerPoint PDF — Downloadable slides to keep as a reference.
- Certificate of Completion — Documentation you can keep on file.
Methods taught in High Conflict Mediation Lecture + Demonstration.
4 Big Skills™
Flexible thinking, managed emotions, moderate behaviors, taking responsibility: taught to the parties throughout.
Making Proposals
Parties actively ask questions, gather information, and make proposals instead of retelling the past.
Mediator as Guide
Directive about the process, non-directive about the decisions the parties make.
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. is the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of the High Conflict Institute. He pioneered the High Conflict Personality Theory (HCP) and is an international expert on managing disputes involving people with high-conflict personalities. He is the author or co-author of more than 25 books, manuals, and workbooks, co-host of the podcast It's All Your Fault!, and writes a Psychology Today blog with millions of views.
Before co-founding HCI, Bill was the Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center for 15 years, a Certified Family Law Specialist lawyer representing clients in family court for 15 years, and a licensed clinical social worker therapist with twelve years of experience. He has served on the faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, taught as a Conjoint Associate Professor with the University of Newcastle Law School in Australia, and trained professionals in over 35 U.S. states and 13 countries.
High Conflict Mediation Lecture + Demonstration — frequently asked questions.
Who is this course for?
Are there required materials?
Do I need a license from HCI to use this method?
How does this relate to New Ways for Mediation?
How do I access the course?
Is this legal or therapeutic advice?
Ready to enroll?
Enroll an individual seat now, or talk to us about a private cohort designed around your organization's actual cases.
