CSI offers preformatted and tailored CLE programs. Please contact us for information about a tailored program for your group or firm. CSI programs strive to leave room for questions and discussion about cases. Participants are encouraged to bring problem cases to discuss at our trainings (which should be anonymized if not an in-house training).
Currently available public trainings are announced on our calendar page where times and prices are listed. For in-house training, please call for available times and prices, and tailored program structure options. Below are popular preformatted programs.
4-6 Hour CSI Programs
Conflict psychology and relationship science for lawyers
This an introductory program that covers a number of science-based topics describing why people do things that are hard to understand, the psychological and neurobiological factors that drive conflict and impair communication. The program is focused in large part on how to help clients enhance their decision making. Since a lawyers prime duty, under RPCs 1.2 and 1.4, is to support a client’s choices, enhancing decision making is inherently an ethical issue. A variety of techniques for how to do this are offered. CSI’s Conflict Model is reviewed, as are parts of CSI’s Integrative Client-Centered Model. The 4 credit version of this program has been approved by the Washington State Bar Association (1.5 ethics and 2.5 other), and is 4 hours 15 minutes long. The 4 credit program can be combined with same-day follow up individual or group mentoring (coaching), or a live client consultation with a CSI trainer and follow up debriefing. The 6.5 credit training is a full day 9-5 program and includes more time for questions and examples, and additional topics. Please call for in-house pricing information. Current public trainings.
The Conflict Model: a comprehensive science-based model describing what drives conflict and unclear communication
The Conflict Model (of personality function) describes fundamental human patterns of information processing in the context of fear, danger, and conflict. It combines well established concepts from psychology, human development, neurobiology, and other disciplines to provide a simple and scalable model. The Conflict Model helps lawyers, mediators, judges, and other conflict resolution professionals recognize thinking patterns. Within various patterns, information is handled in predictable and biased ways, so the Conflict Model helps professionals more quickly and thoroughly identify what kinds of information are being excluded or distorted in a person’s thinking process. The Conflict Model gives professionals tools to hear what is present, see what is missing, improve professional-client communication, optimize client decision making, improve professional-professional communication, and sharpen cross-examination skills. This program is 4 credits, 4 hours and 15 minutes. The 4 credit program can be combined with same-day follow up individual or group mentoring (coaching), or a live client consultation with a CSI trainer and follow up debriefing. Current public trainings.
Domestic violence from a relational-science perspective: A deeper understanding of the causes and solutions
What people normally think of as domestic violence (DV), intimate partner violence (IPV), coercive control, etc., are actually behaviors and thinking patterns that are well described by several relational sciences. This seminar will look at the findings of some of these scientific disciplines to gain a deeper and richer understanding of DV. Coercive control will be defined with particular detail, and from those details suggestions for how to communicate and relate to offenders in a way that encourages them to reduce their need for control will be identified. A family systems perspective will be explored, as well as relevant solutions from this perspective. This program is 4 credits, 4 hours and 15 minutes. Current public trainings.
Attachment science and its relevance for lawyers and conflict professionals
Attachment is really the science of the interplay of human relationships, danger and information processing. It provides deep and rich insight into how people function and interact in all stages of life. Attachment assessments can be relevant to custody determinations, if done correctly. Attachment provides a primary foundation for understanding human behaviors in the context of conflict and litigation. At the same time, attachment is widely misunderstood. Disorganized attachment, according to the developers of the concept, has only a narrow and potential relevance to custody determinations. We will review the 2017 Granqvist article, authored by 43 world-leading attachment experts, which discusses the forensic and clinical limits of the disorganized attachment concept. Attachment science is well established, and understanding how the scientific measures work and what they teach on a practical level is an eye-opening and fascinating study. This program is 2-4 credits, and 2 or 4 hours 15 minutes. Current public trainings.
Attachment science and theory from a DMM perspective.
This program is pure attachment science and theory. It introduces attachment from the perspective of its historical development, and identifies the two main models which have developed from its origins. The ABC+D (Berkely) model is compared to the DMM, and the limitations of the disorganized concept are mentioned. DMM theory is described. The two primary methods of scientifically assessing attachment are described, the Strange Situation Procedure and the Adult Attachment Interview. Examples of these assessments and how they are coded are provided. A primary focus is the cognitive-affective divide, how attachment uncovered and details a primary way that humans view the world with opposite perspectives. This program is a half or full day, 4 or 6.5 CLE credits. (Mental Health CE credits may be available if needed, please inquire.) Current public trainings.
Lawfightingtm
Conflict and relationship sciences are not only helpful to improve communication and client decision making, they take litigation, examination, cross-examination, and narrative analysis to much deeper level. The “forgetful witness” is one example of how traditional cross-examination techniques describe a problematic client or witness. However, the reasons for why they are forgetful is for one of several quite different reasons, and the cross-examination technique needs to be adjusted according to the reason for forgetfulness. “Never ask a question unless you know the answer”: we will learn when and how it is safe to violate this classic rule. Using the Conflict Model (CM) and Integrative Client-Centered Model (ICCM) as foundation pieces, this program delves into how to weaponize relationship science to get to the truth of the matter. We will look at how narrative and communication styles are impacted by childhood experience, memory system bias, and information processing bias. Tools to facilitate client integration, and opposing party dis-integration will be discussed. Case examples will be used as teaching tools. Participants will be expected to have enhanced self-reflective skills, and to have attended a prior CSI program on the CM and ICCM before qualifying for this program. Current public trainings.
1-2 Hour CSI Programs
CSI also offers 1-2 hour programs, in person or by video conference, on a variety of conflict science, relationship science, communication skills, and mental overview topics. These sessions generally offer less time for questions and case studies. Topics include:
- Conflict science for lawyers/mediators/judges/therapists
- Understanding high conflict cases, and why multi-dimensional approaches can matter
- The 12 elements of the Integrative Client-Centered Model of client counseling
- Advanced listening and counseling skills
- The 6-step change process: The psychological steps clients need to work through to optimize their decision making
- The cognitive-affective divide: the most important first distinction of personality function in conflict
- An overview of attachment, including why the concept of disorganized attachment cannot be used in court or by clinicians
- Attachment informed parenting, it’s not what most people think
- Why attachment is an excellent perspective to understand parental alienation, and the solutions
- The DMM from a lawyer/clinician perspective
- Attachment science: an overview with examples
- An overview of mental health models for legal professionals
- Interpersonal Neurobiology for lawyers
- Fight-flight-freeze/withdrawal vs. social engagement/approach: The power of the Polyvagal Theory for conflict resolution professionals
- Neuroscience for lawyers: an introduction