Bill Eddy, LCSW, ESQ

Seven Ways Children’s Brains Absorb Parents’ Emotions (And How to Protect Them)

On Sunday, April 5, 2026 at 8 PM EDT, Family Access-Fighting for Children’s Rights presents Bill Eddy on the topic “Seven Ways Children’s Brains Absorb Parents’ Emotions (And How to Protect Them”. This will air exclusively on our Families Divided TV you tube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@FamiliesDividedTV

This program will address some of the automatic ways that children’s brains can absorb a parent’s negative emotions in separation and divorce, which can lead to alienation of the child from the other parent. Unlike adults, children do not yet have the ability to consciously separate their emotions from their parents’ emotions. When parents and others repeatedly expose the children to high conflict emotions and badmouthing statements, or deny the existence of a parent or grandparent, the damage can be long-lasting. How to protect children from their parents’ upset emotions will be discussed, including suggestions for therapists, lawyers and judges.   

Bill Eddy is co-founder and chief innovation officer of High Conflict Institute. He pioneered the High Conflict Personality Theory (HCP) and is the world’s leading expert on methods for managing disputes involving people with high conflict personalities.

Bill has worked as the senior family mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center, a certified family law specialist representing clients in family court, and a licensed clinical social worker therapist. In 2021, he received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Academy of Professional Mediators.

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. He has delivered talks and trainings in more than 30 U.S. states and thirteen countries and is the author or co-author of 20 books. His popular blog on the Psychology Today website has more than 5 million views. He trains lawyers, judges, and mediators, and regularly consults on issues of alienation, family violence, and false allegations in family court cases.

Brian Ludmer, B., Comm. LLB.

Trying to Solve Alienation

On Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 8 PM EDT, Family Access-Fighting for Children’s Rights presents Brian Ludmer on the topic “Trying to Solve Alienation”. This will air exclusively on our Families Divided TV you tube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/@FamiliesDividedTV

 The clinical, experiential and legal knowledge informing responses to Parental Alienation are still a work in progress. Brian Ludmer's presentation looks back on the preceding 35 years since a seminal Decision in Montréal, Québec Canada exhibited most of the major understandings representing state-of-the-art knowledge today. The presentation explores why we are still struggling to have these fundamental truths broadly accepted in the helping professions and legal profession, including Courts. A reminder of the specific findings from this 1991 case should trigger reflections on why we are re-fighting these battles and contesting findings that should be accepted broadly. 

Brian Ludmer is a Canadian attorney whose practice focuses on cases involving high conflict divorce, denial of access and parental alienation. Brian works as special counsel with US and Canadian and foreign attorneys and mental health professionals in the field of high conflict divorce and parental alienation. Brian has co-authored a book (The High Conflict Custody Battle) with Dr. Amy Baker and Dr. Michael Bone on related issues, which can be found on Amazon, Indigo and other online book retailers. Brian uses this knowledge on his high net worth family law cases Brian is dedicated to sharing what he has learned from all of his clients and cases, and from his own personal experience, with professionals and targeted parents across North America. Brian is a frequent speaker in multiple media sources for PAAO, the Children’s Rights Council, the Canadian Equal Parenting Coalition, Family Access_Fighting for Children’s Rights frequently in its webinars and gave two papers at its 2019 Conference in Kentucky. Brian gave papers at the 2017 PASG Conference in Washington, at the 2018 EAPAP inaugural conference in London UK, and at the 2019 PASG Conference in Philadelphia and has also given presentations for other organizations across Canada and the United States focused on high conflict divorce and grandparents rights. Brian has also been speaking to the Ontario Canada hospital network on PA Diagnosis and Therapy. Brian is a founding member of Lawyers for Shared Parenting, and drafted much of Bill C-560, a 2014 proposal to amend Canada’s Divorce Act to introduce a rebuttable presumption of equal shared parenting. Brian was an invited witness to the Canadian House of Commons (2018) and Senate (2019) Committee hearings on Bill C-78, amendments to Canada’s Divorce legislation that take effect in July 2020. Brian is the legal editor of the PASG bi-monthly newsletter Brian has been successful in advancing the law and understanding of the dynamic through his tireless efforts on behalf of his clients and has been counsel or co-counsel on several of the leading cases in this area across Canada. The jurisprudence on several of Brian’s cases have made meaningful advances in the legal remedies Courts are directed to use in denial of access and parental alienation cases.