High-Conflict Mental Health Certification
High-conflict therapy training and advanced clinical certification taught by Bill Eddy. Describes the surprising and predictable patterns of five high-conflict personality disorders, with effective methods for ethically managing high-conflict clients in therapeutic and mental health settings. For therapists, counselors, psychologists, and clinical social workers.
Your instructor
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Co-founder, High Conflict Institute
Optional add-on: 2× 1-hour Live Labs with instructor
500,000+
professionals trained worldwide
Standard clinical training doesn't prepare you for high-conflict clients.
High-conflict clients exhaust the therapeutic frame: blame, splitting, all-or-nothing thinking, extreme reactions, and a tendency to recruit negative advocates into their world. Standard clinical methods can stall or unintentionally inflame these dynamics, and they take a real toll on the clinician. This certification trains you in the five surprising-but-predictable HCP patterns, gives you a structured, ethical playbook for managing them in your practice — and helps you protect both the therapeutic relationship and your own well-being.
Outcomes you'll bring back from Mental Health Certification.
- Recognize the five predictable high-conflict personality patterns in clinical practice.
- Calm emotionally upset clients in session without sacrificing the therapeutic frame.
- Help clients make sound decisions in the face of cognitive distortion and pressure.
- Maintain therapeutic boundaries with high-conflict clients and their families.
- Structure interventions to anticipate and contain high-conflict dynamics.
- Set defensible limits on problematic client behavior.
- Respond to negative advocates that high-conflict clients recruit into the work.
- Protect your own clinical well-being while working with chronically high-conflict patterns.
Who Mental Health Certification is built for.
Therapists
High-conflict therapy training for LMFTs, LCSWs, and LPCs working with high-conflict clients, families, and couples in clinical practice.
Psychologists
Clinical, counseling, and forensic psychologists encountering HCP patterns in assessment and treatment.
Social Workers
Clinical and macro social workers in family, healthcare, and child-welfare contexts.
Counselors
Mental health counselors and addiction counselors working with chronic difficulty.
Coaches in Helping Roles
Coaches and helping professionals adding HCP framework to their practice.
Other Mental Health Pros
Anyone working with high-conflict individuals and families in a clinical or helping role.
How Mental Health Certification is delivered.
A fully self-paced online certification: 8 sessions of pre-recorded content you complete at your own pace, with email support throughout and access to a post-certification Q&A laboratory. Optional live coaching lab add-on (two 1-hour 1:1 sessions with an HCI coach) is available at enrollment.
- 8-session online course — Comprehensive video curriculum on the five HCP patterns and ethical clinical management methods.
- Post-certification Q&A Lab — Ongoing peer-discussion and integration laboratory after the certification.
- BIFF Response Prep Worksheet — Ready-to-use worksheet for drafting calm responses to hostile communication from clients or their advocates.
- EAR Statement Examples — Library of EAR Statement examples for de-escalating reactive clients in session.
- Decisions and Dilemma Checklist — Decision-support tool for navigating ethically gray clinical situations.
- Certificate of Completion — 8 hours documented for submission to licensing boards where applicable.
- Email support included — Direct access to HCI for follow-up questions (1–2 business day response).
- Optional: 2× Live Coaching Labs — Two 1-hour 1:1 Live Lab™ coaching sessions with an HCI coach — add at enrollment.
Methods taught in Mental Health Certification.
5 HCP Patterns
Bill Eddy's framework for the five predictable high-conflict personality patterns and how each presents clinically.
BIFF Response®
Calm written responses to hostile email and communication — Brief, Informative, Friendly, Firm.
EAR Statements™
Three-second verbal moves that calm a reactive client in session — Empathy, Attention, Respect.
Decision Support
A structured Decisions and Dilemma Checklist for navigating ethically gray clinical situations.
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Lawyer, therapist, mediator, and author — Chief Innovation Officer and co-founder of the High Conflict Institute. Bill is a licensed clinical social worker with over 12 years of clinical experience, pioneer of the High-Conflict Personality (HCP) theory, and developer of the structured methods now used by clinicians across 35+ states and 13 countries.
He is a Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center (15 years), a Family Law Specialist certified by the State Bar of California, and a faculty member at the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law. He is also a Conjoint Associate Professor at the University of Newcastle Law School in Australia.
Bill is the author of more than 20 books, including 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life, It's All Your Fault!, BIFF Response, and Splitting. His Psychology Today blog has over 6 million views, and he co-hosts the podcast It's All Your Fault with Megan Hunter.
Mental Health Certification — frequently asked questions.
Who is this certification for?
What is the format?
How long do I have to complete it?
What is included?
Will I get CE credits?
What's the optional live coaching lab add-on?
Do you offer discounts?
Can our agency or practice enroll a group?
Ready to enroll?
Enroll an individual seat now, or talk to us about a private cohort designed around your organization's actual cases.
