New Ways for Families® Decision Skills Training
Train to teach the New Ways for Families® Decision Skills Class: a structured group class, delivered in three 60-to-90-minute sessions, that gives separating and divorcing parents the 4 Big Skills™ for making decisions together and keeping their children out of the conflict.
Your instructor
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Co-founder & Chief Innovation Officer, High Conflict Institute
500,000+
professionals trained worldwide
Court can order parents into class. Skills are what change the family.
For families going through separation or divorce, even high-conflict ones, the goals are to stay out of court, save money by making their own joint decisions, and protect the children as the family reorganizes. The Decision Skills Class teaches parents four concrete purposes: communicate with BIFF Responses®, calm themselves with encouraging statements, make and respond to proposals, and check themselves. Parents can be court-ordered or attend voluntarily, and the class can stand alone or plug into an existing parenting class.
Outcomes you'll bring back from New Ways for Families® Decision Skills Training.
- Teach the three-session Decision Skills Class using the structured workbook.
- Train parents to communicate with BIFF Responses® (moderate behaviors).
- Teach self-calming with encouraging statements (managed emotions).
- Coach parents in making and responding to proposals (flexible thinking).
- Build the habit of checking oneself so parents keep using the skills.
- Refer parents who need more support to the intensive New Ways for Families® models.
Who New Ways for Families® Decision Skills Training is built for.
Parent Educators
Add a court-recognized decision-skills module to your curriculum.
Counselors & Therapists
A group format for skills you may already teach individually.
Lawyers
Refer clients to a class you can also be trained to deliver.
Mediators
Prepare parents to make proposals before they reach your table.
Divorce Coaches
A structured, teachable framework for your parent clients.
Court & Community Programs
The class works free-standing or inside an existing parenting class.
How New Ways for Families® Decision Skills Training is delivered.
A 90-minute on-demand instructor training. The class you'll deliver runs as three 60-to-90-minute group sessions, with parents working through the Decision Skills Workbook during class.
- 90-minute training — How to teach the Decision Skills Class, session by session.
- PowerPoint — Teaching slides for delivering the class.
- Certificate of Completion — 1.0 participatory continuing education credit.
Methods taught in New Ways for Families® Decision Skills Training.
4 Big Skills™
Flexible thinking, managed emotions, moderate behaviors, checking yourself: the core of the class.
BIFF Response®
Parents learn to keep written co-parenting communication brief, informative, friendly, and firm.
Making Proposals
Parents practice proposing and responding with Yes, No, or I'll think about it.
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.
New Ways for Families® Decision Skills Training — frequently asked questions.
How is the class delivered to parents?
Are there required materials?
How does this relate to the full New Ways for Families model?
Will I get continuing education credit?
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.
