New Ways for Families is a structured 4-step parenting skills method with short-term counseling to reduce the impact of conflict on the children in potentially high conflict cases. It can be used whenever a parent or the court believes one parent needs restricted parenting (supervised, no contact, limited time), at the start of a case or any time a parent requests restricted parenting – including post-judgment litigation. 

This method emphasizes strengthening skills for positive future behavior (new ways), rather than focusing on past  negative behavior – while still acknowledging it. It is designed to save courts time, to save parents money, and to protect children as their families re-organize in new ways after a separation or divorce, for married or never-married parents. 

Courts do not incur costs nor does it require extensive training or legislative changes. It can be used in traditional cases, in mediation and collaborative divorce cases.

Advanced Training

(Thursday & Friday)

High Conflict Personalities:  Traits and Disorders
An overview is provided of the DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria of several personality disorders, traits of which most often drive high conflict disputes, including: Borderline, Narcissistic, Histrionic, Antisocial, and Paranoid. An analysis will be presented of the general conflict, litigation and negotiating behavior of these personality types, with case examples. Common cognitive distortions of these personalities will be explained.

Handling High Conflict Personalities in Litigation, Negotiation and Mediation
Professionals dealing with high conflict people need to pay more attention to Bonding, Structure, Reality Testing and Consequences. In litigation, there are predictable problems and sources of useful evidence. In mediation, there are several skills to manage and move these clients to agreements. In Collaborative Law, everyone is more effective if they share a common understanding of high-conflict personalities and methods to manage them.

Ethical problems are common in high-conflict cases, as people with high conflict personalities push normal boundaries, seek many favors, have a sense of entitlement, don’t pay all their fees and are the clients, co-workers or employees most likely to sue or file complaints against professionals.

Basic Training (Friday)

New Ways For Families™
The morning session is for family law professionals to learn about New Ways. All family law professionals are encouraged to attend in order to understand the program’s purpose and how to use it in the family court setting. The Basic Training is required for mental health professionals who want to work with parents and children in the New Ways program in the family court setting.

Handling Domestic Violence & Related Issues In New Ways For Families™
New Ways is designed to reduce high conflict litigation, which usually includes concerns about five special issues: Domestic Violence, Substance Abuse, Child Abuse, Parental Alienation, and False Allegations. New Ways can be a gateway to treatment in high conflict cases with any of these issues. The afternoon session is for all family law professionals and provides current information about these five issues and how to handle them using the New Ways model. The training is required for mental health professionals who want to work with parents and children in the New Ways program.