by Jacqui Christie, M.Psych
PACT Level 2 Therapist, PACT Ambassador
 Anyone who works with couples knows how tricky the particulars of partner dynamics can be. In fact, the more people in the room, the more energy gets brought into that room. The potential for that energy to become intense is hi...
We’ve known for a long time about the many benefits of cultivating a sense of gratitude: more joy, less stress, better health.
So when anxiety started to bubble up earlier this year, it seemed like an especially good time to begin a more intentional practice of flexing those gratitude muscles. Sinc...
By Edna Avraham, LMFT
PACT Level 3 Therapist, PACT Ambassador
“We are in the fox hole together.”
“We are rowing the same boat.”
“Don’t poke holes in the couple bubble.”
These metaphors represent some of the secure-functioning principles we use with our couples in the PACT...
By Kate Balestrieri, Psy.D., CSAT-S, CST
PACT Level 3 Candidate, PACT Ambassador
For a sexual trauma survivor, the idea or act of being sexual with their partner can be ripe with hopes, pleasure, fears, frustrations, and shame. For the partner of a sexual trauma survivor, sex can be just as daun...
By Eda Arduman, MA, Clinical Psychology
PACT Certified Clinician, PACT Faculty
The PACT therapist uses cross-tracking — a technique of inquiry as well as an intervention — along with other techniques to understand couple functioning. The therapist is aiming to get information about one partner by ...
By Beth Newton, LCSW, LCAS
PACT Level 2 Therapist, PACT Ambassador
https://newtoncounseling.com/
“Winter Is Coming”
“We Do Not Sow”Â
“Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”
“Family, Duty, Honor”Â
If you are a Game of Thrones fan, you know that each ruling house has a sigil (magical symbol) and motto. The...
By Melissa Ferrari
Dip. of C & C, Advanced Dip in Transactional Analysis (Psychotherapy)
Clinical Registrant PACFA
PACT Level 3 Candidate, PACT Ambassador
https://melissaferrari.com.au/
We all know that moment when we see a couple for the first time. Immediately, as a trained PACT therapist, ...
By Beth O’Brien, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist
PACT Level 3 Therapist, PACT Ambassador
In PACT training, Dr. Stan Tatkin shared this gem: “Be prepared to drop your darlings.” Darlings are those valuable insights a counselor acquires as s/he sees the concerns of the c...
Dear PACT Community,
Happy 2020! Here at the PACT Institute we wanted to take this opportunity – as we enter a new decade – to share with you the vision we hold for the Institute in 2020 and beyond.
Our goal is to create a global and sustainable organization. In the last year, Stan, Tracey, the fa...
Hans Jorg Stahlschmidt, PhD
Certified PACT Therapist, PACT Core Faculty
A central function of the brain is to detect patterns. It must make sense of the data that bombards us from our ongoing internal and external experience. Â An aspect of this function is to support t...
Patricia Hart, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
PACT Level 3 Therapist, PACT Ambassador
We have all encountered that moment of impasse with our couples (and probably with our own relationships) when each partner feels like the injured party. The other is perceived as dangerous, and neither partner w...
By Kate Balestrieri, Psy.D., CSAT-S, CST
PACT Level 2 Therapist
All couples fight. Therapists know this. Couples (most couples) know this. But in the moment, it feels like annihilation for a couple ill-prepared to stay attuned and remain committed to a secure-functioning e...
