What is PACT and how can it help?

All romantic partners experience conflict. The difference isn’t whether you fight—it’s how you do it. Without the right tools, arguments can feel overwhelming or damaging. With support, conflict can actually become an opportunity for deeper intimacy and a stronger sense of security in your relationship. One of the frequent challenges we see with couples and partners is not only that they struggle to have effective communication strategies, but that it’s really hard to utilize these strategies when our nervous systems are responding to our partners as if they’re a threat. That’s where PACT (the Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy) comes in.

Many of our therapists have completed advanced training in PACT, a cutting-edge model of couples therapy. What makes PACT unique is its focus on both attachment theory (how we bond with and respond to each other) and neurobiology (what happens in our brains and bodies when we feel safe or threatened). By combining these insights, PACT helps partners quickly identify old patterns, de-escalate conflict, and return to a place of safety and connection.

In practical terms, this means PACT doesn’t just teach communication strategies—it gives you the ability to actually use them. Partners learn how to calm and regulate one another in moments of stress, so those tools don’t fly out the window during an argument. Over time, couples discover more effective ways to repair after conflict, soothe one another, and create a relationship that feels resilient, safe, and deeply connected.

PACT is especially effective for couples and partners who want to:

• Break repetitive cycles of arguing without resolution

• Improve trust, closeness, and intimacy

• Develop strategies to stay connected even in stressful moments

• Build long-term patterns of care that strengthen the relationship

By better understanding your attachment styles, neurobiology, and responses to threat vs. safety, PACT helps you and your partner to efficiently and effectively learn to better care for one another. Read on for more information from The PACT Institute about what kinds of relationship problems PACT addresses, the fundamentals of the PACT approach and what you can expect from a PACT therapy session.

Brochure provided by The PACT Institute.