New Ways for Mediation® Training
Enhance your mediation skills and reduce your stress with a breakthrough approach for mediating high-conflict disputes. Advanced mediator training in a structured, proposal-focused method built specifically for the cases that derail traditional interest-based mediation.
Your instructor
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Co-founder, High Conflict Institute
Upcoming live sessions
Online dates U.S.-based · times in Pacific Time (PT)
- Open
November 17 & 19, 2026
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM PT · two live sessions on Zoom
- Open
May 12 & 13, 2027 · In person, Ottawa, Canada
Two full days with Bill Eddy at Saint Paul University · one-time in-person training
500,000+
professionals trained worldwide
Traditional mediation doesn't work on high-conflict cases.
Standard interest-based mediation depends on parties who can self-regulate, hear each other, and let go of the past long enough to problem-solve. High-conflict cases break that model. Parties stay locked in extreme demands, rigid positions, venting, and re-litigation of grievances — and the mediator absorbs the stress of trying to drag them somewhere they can't go. New Ways for Mediation flips the structure: a reverse interest-based, proposal-focused method that keeps parties on problem-solving and off self-defeating behaviors, while letting you let go of feeling responsible for the outcome.
Description, learning objectives, and agenda.
Description
High-conflict disputes are different. They often involve one or more individuals with a pattern of high-conflict behavior, characterized by all-or-nothing thinking, unmanaged emotions, extreme behavior, and a preoccupation with blaming others. In this 12-hour training, Bill Eddy provides a foundational overview of five high-conflict personality disorders and practical approaches for managing high-conflict individuals. He then presents his New Ways for Mediation® method, which includes several paradigm shifts from ordinary mediation by not relying on insight, expression of emotions, or discussions of the past.
Instead, this method focuses on teaching clients four simple skills to use within a clear structure that keeps them focused on problem-solving solutions and away from venting, reworking the past, extreme demands, rigid positions, and other self-defeating behaviors. The skills for mediators are also simple and less stressful, so mediators serve primarily as a guide and source of information throughout the process. Some or all of the tips and tools of this method can be used with any mediation. Mr. Eddy has been developing and teaching this method over the past twelve years to mediators, lawyers, and counselors throughout the United States and Canada, including a two-day training for more than one hundred Family Court Services counselors in California in 2020.
This training includes PowerPoint presentations, video clips, role-play practice exercises, and the opportunity to ask questions and discuss difficult situations throughout.
Learning objectives
- Identify the conflict dynamics of five types of high-conflict personalities.
- Apply brain science to managing high-conflict people with empathy, attention, and respect.
- Reduce resistance to positive problem-solving with a 2-step mediator method.
- Provide a structured mediation approach designed for high-conflict personalities.
- Teach parties to make their agenda with the mediator’s assistance, and to change their agenda by agreement as needed throughout the process.
- Teach parties a 3-step method for making proposals, asking questions respectfully, and thoughtfully giving a response.
- Educate high-conflict parties about choices and consequences in making their decisions.
- Assist high-conflict clients and lawyers in addressing ambivalence about final agreements.
Agenda
Part 1: Understanding and Managing High-Conflict Personalities
Complete on your own prior to the Part 2 live session
- Two 90-minute on-demand modules
- One 60-minute demonstration video
Participants can view them at their convenience before the live sessions in Parts 2 and 3.
Part 2: Skills and Structure of New Ways for Mediation®
Live session on Zoom
- Stage 1: Establish the process
- Stage 2: Guiding the parties to make their agenda
- Stage 3: Guiding the parties to make and respond to proposals
- Stage 4: Finalizing and revising their agreements
Part 3: Further Mediation Practice and Coaching Skills
Live session on Zoom
Who New Ways for Mediation® Training is built for.
Mediators
Advanced mediator training for family, civil, workplace, and community mediators handling high-conflict cases that drain you most.
Attorneys
Family law, civil litigation, and dispute resolution attorneys moving clients toward settlement.
Judges
Trial judges and judicial officers presiding over high-conflict matters.
Counselors & Therapists
Clinicians supporting clients in mediation and settlement processes.
Tribunal Members
Administrative tribunals, ombuds, and dispute panels in high-conflict environments.
Dispute Resolvers
Anyone helping parties reach agreement in legally or emotionally complex situations.
The book that goes with this training
Mediating High-Conflict Disputes: A Breakthrough Approach by Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. and Michael Lomax, JD is the companion book to this training. It lays out the New Ways for Mediation® method step by step, with tips and tools you can use in any mediation.
The book is highly recommended and is purchased separately from the training. It is available from our bookstore and on Amazon in various countries.
How New Ways for Mediation® Training works.
Complete the 4-hour on-demand course on your schedule, then join 8 hours of live training with Bill Eddy and your cohort, delivered over two days in separate 4-hour sessions. Live sessions are held twice per year on Zoom — real role-play, real cases, real Q&A.
Your training includes:
- 4 hours on-demand course — Self-paced online lessons covering the foundational method, completed before the live session.
- 8 hours live virtual training — Delivered on Zoom over two days in separate 4-hour sessions. Interactive training with Bill Eddy and your cohort, including role-play practice with real high-conflict scenarios.
- Provider Network membership — Recurring Q&A sessions with HCI trainers and other Network providers. Listing in the public HCI Provider Directory.
- Certificate of Completion — 12 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 consultation group — Ongoing case consultation with peers and HCI faculty.
Methods taught in New Ways for Mediation® Training.
CARS® Method
The HCI framework: Connecting with empathy, Analyzing options including proposals, Responding to misinformation, Setting limits.
EAR Statements™
Three-second verbal moves that calm an upset party — Empathy, Attention, Respect.
4-3-4 Structure
4 client skills, 3 mediator skills, and 4 clear stages.
4 Big Skills™
The core skills parties learn during the mediation: Flexible Thinking, Managed Emotions, Moderate Behaviors, Checking Yourself.
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq.
Bill Eddy, LCSW, Esq. is a globally recognized expert on high-conflict behavior and the co-founder and Director of Innovation of the High Conflict Institute. With more than 40 years of experience as a family law attorney, licensed clinical social worker, and mediator — including 15 years as Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center in San Diego — he has spent his career resolving the cases that ordinary mediation often cannot.
Drawing on that extensive hands-on experience, Bill created the New Ways for Mediation® method specifically for high-conflict cases. The structured, proposal-focused approach helps mediators keep sessions on track and reach better outcomes when traditional techniques fail.
He is a pioneer of High Conflict Personality Theory and has trained mediators, lawyers, judges, and mental health professionals in 35 states and 13 countries. Bill has served on the faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law and held an academic appointment at the University of Newcastle Law School in Australia.
He is the author of more than 25 books, including Mediating High-Conflict Disputes (co-authored with Michael Lomax, JD), SWYP: So, What’s Your Proposal? Turn Conflicts Into Agreements in 3 Steps, BIFF Series, Calming Upset People with EAR, and 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life. He co-hosts the podcast It’s All Your Fault with Megan Hunter and writes a widely read Psychology Today blog with millions of views.
Trusted by professionals across industries.
New Ways for Mediation made a lasting impression on me. I've found myself reflecting on it frequently since — particularly the underlying tone of delivery of the training and the compassion for high conflict people were things that really inspired me. It makes me want to delve even more deeply into the many resources the High Conflict Institute has available.
I found the New Ways for Mediation training extremely valuable in my work as an external workplace mediator, investigator, coach and conflict trainer. The self-directed portion was a convenient way to receive the foundational material while having time to digest and process information ahead of time. The livestream classes brought the foundational concepts together with the opportunity to practice them through role plays and interacting with Bill Eddy and other course participants.
I have followed HCI's work for quite some time and have attempted to implement the strategies, but the course was a game-changer for me to integrate the strategies and implement them immediately in my day to day work. I am becoming adept in using these tools and am able to coach others on their use as well. Highly recommended.
New Ways for Mediation® Training — frequently asked questions.
Who is this course for?
What is the format?
Where can I see the agenda and learning objectives?
When are the live sessions?
What is included?
Is there an in-person option?
Are there required materials?
Will I receive continuing education credits?
Do you offer discounts?
Can you deliver this for our court system or firm specifically?
Ready to enroll?
Enroll an individual seat now, or talk to us about a private cohort designed around your organization's actual cases.
