Level 1 graduates, are you ready to increase your confidence and take your PACT skills to the next level? Do you sometimes feel intimidated or unsure when facing difficult couples with complex issues?

PACT Level 2: Working with Difficult Couples teaches more advanced PACT skills and helps you increase self-confidence while integrating PACT into your clinical practice and dealing with challenging cases.  

Building on what you learned in Level 1, you’ll gain new insight, hone your assessment strategies and intervention techniques, and gain confidence in learning when and how to work more deeply with the most conflicted couples.

PACT Level 2: Working with Difficult Couples includes a comprehensive training manual and an extensive library of videos that accompany each module. We encourage you to take advantage of these resources before, during, and after your training.

When you register, you gain access to course materials so you can watch the videos in advance and fully prepare for the live training.

Our Goal for Students

Our aim is to help you remain focused and on-topic so you are ready to engage with the material, interact with your colleagues in class, and remember what you learn. 

Watching the videos at your own pace helps you better retain the information shared and also helps cut down on screen fatigue.

As a student, you’ll have access to PACT coaches and opportunities in between modules to ask questions and get answers to real-life issues. You’ll also maintain unlimited continued access to the PACT video library. You will have easy access to any video even after the training. If you want to review a specific concept or see an intervention in action, you can go back and watch it again.

PACT faculty members bring years of experience teaching PACT principles and skills. They have a passion for supporting clinicians and helping couples thrive. 

In PACT Level 2, you’ll learn from senior instructors Hans Stahlschmidt, PhD, and Patricia Hart, PhD, as well as from a team of experienced PACT coaches.

We are thrilled to have Hans and Patricia teaching Level 2, and we know that advanced students will benefit from their expertise.

PACT Level 2: Working with Difficult Couples is a rigorous training program and requires commitment on your part — before the training begins, during the live weekend training sessions, and in between course modules. 

For example, you will have a number of reading assignments and videos to watch before the first meeting, and you will have assignments between course modules. These assignments allow you to clarify your understanding of PACT principles and participate more meaningfully while in the live training with instructors and colleagues.

PACT is an experiential model of therapy. As a PACT therapist, you must bring your whole self into the therapy room — face, mind, body. When learning to use PACT, you must do the same in class as an engaged, active participant. 

As a result, PACT Level 2 is a highly participatory training. Students get the most out of the training when they interact with their peers and colleagues. The focus and value of the live training is in the practice of new skills and receiving constructive, respectful feedback. 

PACT training encompasses demonstrations, small group processing, large group processing, and role playing, in which you will play a therapist as well as a member of a couple. Participation in these exercises is required, and video cameras must be on throughout the training. Only those who are willing to be active learners and participate in the exercises should register for the training.

Sign up early for PACT Level 2 training to gain access to course materials as soon as they are available, so you can be prepared for the live training. This includes the PACT manual and our robust video library! 

Because of the work we know you need to prepare for the first module, we will close registration two weeks before the start of Level 2 training. Sign up now to gain the earliest possible access to course material and get a jump start on your training.

September 20 - 21 |  October 25 - 26 | November 15 - 16

All times are 7am - 12:30pm (Pacific)

10:00am Eastern | 2:00am AEDT (Sydney) | 4:00pm CET (Paris) 
Convert to your time zone here

Registration closes Friday, September 5, 2025

The PACT Institute offers a 15% discount for Level 2 to those who repeat Level 2 and those who take Level 1 & Level 2 in the same calendar year. Please email us at [email protected] for details.

Train with your colleagues! We are offering a 15% discount for groups of 5 or more. Email [email protected] for details

Hans Stahlschmidt, PhD: “One aspect that draws me into working in the PACT model is that the self of the therapist does not have to be hidden. Instead, it is an important and highly effective instrument for helping couples grow. In this way, I can be engaged, transparent, and real. As couples need to be inspired, so do PACT therapists and their students.”

Patricia Hart, PhD: “PACT answers the question of what qualities and attributes are needed to meet the growing, changing needs of two people in order to develop and sustain a relationship that can hold them, nourish them, and support the life they build together for the long term. PACT provides a road map to us as therapists and to our couples as well.”

Because the PACT Level 2 training is a rigorous training and covers more advanced skills and techniques, it’s common for clinicians to take the Level 2 training multiple times. 

Level 2 training and resources are so packed with rich content that clinicians say they get more out of the Level 2 course each time they take it. They also say that taking Level 2 more than once helps them feel more comfortable and confident integrating PACT into their clinical practice. 

If you plan to take PACT Level 3 in the future, the PACT Institute especially recommends taking Level 2 more than once. The PACT Institute offers a 15% discount for those who repeat Level 2.

Learn more about scholarships for PACT Institute training in 2025.

The training is intended for licensed and pre-licensed marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists.

To qualify for attendance in the PACT training, a pre-licensed clinician must (a) be in the final year of graduate school, (b) actively see clients as a supervisee and/or intern, and (c) have a supervisor’s approval to attend the training.

When you successfully complete Level 2 training, you can identify yourself as a PACT Level 2 clinician/therapist, indicating a strong foundation in PACT skills and principles.

To receive a status of PACT Level 2, along with a certificate of completion, and be eligible to move on to the next level of PACT training, students must attend training with their camera on and fully participate in all live training sessions and breakout room practices. Students are also required to complete all coursework in their student portal, including training videos and module quizzes.

To receive CE credit for PACT Level 2 training, students again must attend all modules with their camera on and fully participate in all live training sessions and breakout room practices. Students are  also required to complete all module quizzes in their student portal.

CE credits are awarded for the full training. As per accreditation board requirements, PACT is unable to offer partial CE credits for partial completion of the training.

CE Information 

Level 2 training is sponsored by the PACT Institute (ACEP #6641, PCE #5551, and SW CPE #0104) for 30 continuing education hours.  

New York Social Workers: PACT Institute SW CPE is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #0104. 

New York Social Workers & Mental Health Practitioners: PACT Institute, LLC is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed mental health counselors. #MHC-0114

Psychologists:The PACT Institute is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists.The PACT Institute maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 

Marriage and Family Therapists, Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors, Licensed Educational Psychologists, Licensed Clinical Social Workers, and Certified Counselors:

Training Objectives:

After completing Level 2 Online Training, you will be able to achieve the following in your work with couples. 

Module 1

1. Justify the use of containers in couples therapy. 
2. Demonstrate the skills to put a couple in a container. 
3. Explain the overarching principles for the first session of PACT.
4. Apply the principles for forming a therapeutic alliance.
5. Identify and describe a couple’s acting-out behaviors.
6. Practice the mindset of a PACT therapist.
7. Demonstrate the skills for supportive confrontation.
8. Apply basic PACT principles when working with a couple. 

Module 2

1. Analyze a client’s defenses. 
2. Identify and question when transference is occurring in session. 
3. Demonstrate the skills for assessment with projections and projective identification.
4. Demonstrate the skills for intervention with projections and projective identification.
5. Demonstrate the ability to apply PACT principles when working with clients with narcissistic personality disorder.
6. Demonstrate the ability to apply PACT principles when working with clients with borderline personality disorder.
7. Demonstrate the ability to apply PACT principles when working with clients with schizoid personality disorder.
8. Demonstrate the ability to apply PACT principles when working with clients with antisocial personality disorder.

Module 3 

1. Integrate PACT skills into clinical practice.
2. Assess and formulate interventions when working with betrayal.
3. Assess and formulate interventions when working with deal breakers.
4. Demonstrate the skills for assessment and intervention with empty chair work. 
5. Compare and contrast approaches to working with trauma.
6. Demonstrate advanced skills for assessment and intervention with PACT posing and staging.
7. Apply the principles and demonstrate the skills for the end session of PACT.
8. Create a treatment plan based on PACT principles.
9. Justify the distinguishing characteristics of a PACT therapist.

Level 2 Terms of Service

Level 2 Terms of Service