Guest Trainers
Bill Eddy, Esq., LCSW
Attorney | Therapist | Mediator | Author | Trainer
Special Guest Trainer of New Ways for Mediation® Training: Mediating High Conflict Matters
Bill Eddy is a therapist (12 years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker), lawyer (15 years as a Certified Family Law Specialist), and mediator (15 years as the Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center in San Diego). He is the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of the High Conflict Institute based California and Arizona. Mr. Eddy provides training worldwide on the subject of high-conflict personalities to lawyers, mediators, judges, mental health professionals, human resources, and others. He has presented in over 35 states and ten countries, and has trained over 200,000 professionals on understanding and managing high conflict disputes.
Bill is the author and co-author of twenty books, including the instant classic BIFF: Quick Responses to High-Conflict People and the newly-published Mediating High Conflict Disputes. He is the developer of the New Ways for Families® method for potentially high-conflict families, which is being implemented in several family court systems. He is also the developer of the New Ways for Mediation® method, which emphasizes more structure by the mediator and more negotiation skills for the parties.
He serves on the faculty of the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law in California and is a Conjoint Associate Professor with the University of Newcastle Law School in Australia.
Bill has a popular blog on the Psychology Today website with over 3.5 million views and is the author and co-author of twenty books (as of 2022) on high conflict issues, including two award winners (see all books here). His books include:
- 5 Types of People Who Can Ruin Your Life
- High Conflict People in Legal Disputes
- Managing High Conflict People in Court
- Mediating High Conflict Disputes (co-author Michael Lomax)
- It’s All YOUR Fault! 12 Tips for Managing People Who Blame Others for Everything
- It’s All Your Fault at Work (award winner) (co-author Georgi DiStefano)
- BIFF: Quick Responses to High Conflict People, Their Personal Attacks, Hostile Email and Social Media Meltdowns
- BIFF for CoParents (co-authors Annette Burns and Kevin Chafin)
- BIFF at Work (co-authors Megan Hunter and Shiv Martin)
- Why We Elect Narcissists and Sociopaths and How We Can Stop (award winner)
- SPLITTING: Protecting Yourself While Divorcing Someone with Borderline or Narcissistic Personality Disorder (co-author Randi Kreger)
- So, What’s Your Proposal?
- Don’t Alienate the Kids
- The Future of Family Court
He is also the developer of the New Ways series of methods, including:
- New Ways for Families (divorce/separation)
- New Ways for Work
- New Ways for Mediation
- New Ways for Life (for teens/adolescents)
For more about Bill visit www.highconflictinstitute.com
Christina McGhee, MSW
Divorce Parenting Expert | Trainer | Author | Coach
Creator and Lead Trainer: Co-Parenting Specialist Certification Program
Christina McGhee, MSW, is an internationally recognized divorce parenting expert, coach, trainer, and author. In the early part of her career, she was dubbed the “divorce coach” by the UK press, gained worldwide attention for her work with three British families in the Channel 4 documentary “How to Divorce Without Screwing Up Your Children.”
In addition to her work in the US, Christina also played a leading role in developing Parenting After Parting, an educational initiative aimed at providing high-quality, stigma-free support to separating parents throughout England. She has also had the extreme honor of speaking to Members of the Scottish Parliament as an advocate for children of divorce.
Her diverse background and combined experiences have helped her cultivate a unique perspective regarding how family law professionals engage with clients, what it takes to be effective and keep parents focused on their children instead of each other.
Christina currently offers customized training for family lawyers, collaborative professionals, and mediators designed to be interactive, engaging, and thought-provoking. Her programs focus on creating a comfortable space for practicing skills that maximize learning while providing strategies participants can use right away.
Christina also maintains an active coaching practice working with parents by phone. As a coach, she addresses a wide variety of divorce-related challenges, including coparenting in high-conflict situations, minimizing conflict for children, dealing with personality disorders, child rejection/alienation, and late-in-life divorce involving older children.
In addition to training and coaching, Christina has extensive experience developing resources for children of divorce and their parents and has contributed to several media projects as a featured expert, a content consultant, and a writer/producer.
Some of her ventures include writing PARENTING APART: How Separated and Divorced Parents Can Raise Happy and Secure Kids, “Coparenting with Purpose,” an online course for separating parents, and most recently being a subject matter expert for the documentary film “SPLIT” and the upcoming sequel to SPLIT.
She has been featured on television, podcast, radio, and in print around the US and abroad. Some places you may have seen her include The Times, Parents Magazine, The Guardian, the Dr. Laura Berman Radio Show/Oprah Network, GMTV, BBC, SKY NEWS, Fox Family, LA Talk Radio, and NYU Doctor Radio.
You can find out more about Christina at www.divorceandchildren.com.
Kate Scharff, MSW
Psychotherapist | Collaborative Divorce Professional | Divorce Consultant | Mediator
Special Guest Trainer for Introductory Collaborative Interdisciplinary Training
Kate Scharff, M.S.W. is an individual and couple psychotherapist, Collaborative Divorce professional, divorce consultant and mediator practicing in Washington, DC, Maryland and Virginia. She was a founder and Principal of the Collaborative Practice Center of Greater Washington, and a founding board member and past President of the DC Academy of Collaborative Professionals.
Kate has taught widely on many aspects of Collaborative Practice and is the author of three books: Therapy Demystified: AnInsider’s Guide to Getting the Right Help (2004), and (with Lisa Herrick, Ph.D.) Navigating Emotional Currents in Collaborative Divorce: A Guide to Enlightened Team Practice (ABA, 2010) and Mastering Crucial Moments in Separation and Divorce: A Guide to Excellence in Practice and Outcome (ABA, 2017). Her blog and podcast can be found at katescharff.com.
J. David Harper, CPA
Certified Public Accountant | Financial Neutral | Collaborative Practice Trainer |
Special Guest Trainer for Introductory Collaborative Interdisciplinary Training
David Harper is responsible for the performance and oversight of engagements involving business valuation, forensic accounting, and business transactions. He has extensive experience in providing expert testimony in court and in serving as financial neutral in nearly 100 collaborative cases. He is also a collaborative practice trainer, having trained over 400 professionals around the country as part of a training team. He has also lectured and presented on business valuation and other financial matters dozens of times at colleges and universities, business forums, professional organizations, and statewide conferences.
Mr. Harper holds a Master’s degree in Accounting from the University of Virginia and a Bachelor’s degree from Auburn University graduating Summa Cum Laude. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) – certified in the states of Florida and Georgia. He is also Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV), a Personal Financial Specialist (PFS), and Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF) through the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Additionally, Mr. Harper is a Certified Business Appraiser (CBA) through the Institute of Business Appraisers and a Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA) through the National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA).