The basic goals of the High Conflict Model are:

1. To create a safe container that truly respects the party's brittle and explosive nature and doesn't try to force them into being anyone they are not.
2. Designed to contain the rage of the couple without denying its existence.
3. To offer a real alternative for communication beyond defending and blaming.
4. For the mediator to be just as powerful in reducing heat as the couple is in raising the heat.
5. To permit the couple to operate from a distance that is emotionally suitable for them.
6. To assist in balancing the extreme imbalances, real or imagined, that exist.
7. To insure that both voices will be heard.

The structure of High Conflict mediation or sometimes called Impasse Directed mediation is divided into three stages or phases. The pre-negotiation analysis phase where each parent shares their understanding of the events and what brought them to a divorce, and where parents are prepared to mediate by strategically intervening in the conflict and addressing such things as the parent's motivation to fight and more. The second phase - the negotiation or conflict resolution phase is where specific issues are addressed and agreements are reached with respect to the issues of the divorce. And finally the implementation phase, where the couple is helped in interpreting, executing and monitoring the agreements and making changes they both agree to as the plans materialize.

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