PACT Level 3

Welcome to PACT Level 3

The PACT Institute’s commitment to education and training has long helped clinicians move forward in the practice of couple therapy.

Now, PACT Level 3 Online Training helps you expand your skills, gain deeper understanding, and develop a more complete command of advanced PACT interventions.

PACT Level 3 provides an innovative curriculum and proven organizational structure to support your growth and development as a couple therapist. This level of training prepares you to become a top PACT provider. Successful completion of Level 3 training also enables you to seek PACT certification.

Think: Grad School. The Level 3 program is vigorous and challenging, much like a good graduate school program. Level 3 has high academic expectations along with dedicated faculty support. The training combines online learning with four two-day experiential teaching blocks with PACT founder Dr. Stan Tatkin and core faculty member Dr. Hans Stahlschmidt.

Stan and Hans are committed to nurturing your professional and clinical development and helping you deepen your clinical knowledge and skills.

In addition to the training weekends, Stan and Hans lead a series of book discussion groups for Level 3 students. These groups meet outside of the scheduled class time and foster self-reflection as well as the introduction and integration of new ideas.

Support is a cornerstone throughout the training. In Level 3, the majority of the training sessions are spent workshopping new skills and getting instruction in real time. Stan and Hans provide frequent feedback on each student's work and complete written evaluations of their final papers.

PACT Level 3 training emphasizes developing a more complete command of advanced PACT skills and deepening the integration of PACT into your clinical practice.  

Building on what you learned in Level 2, you’ll gain new insight, develop your assessment strategies and intervention techniques, and enjoy collaborating with colleagues on particularly thorny cases.

Learn how to handle common difficult situations, including: sexual issues, personality issues, acting out, staging, betrayal, deal breakers, Islands and Waves, disorganized presentation, additions, and situations where one partner doesn’t want to play.

Take PACT even further in your work with couples. Successful completion of Level 3 training rewards you with the designation as a PACT Level 3 clinician/therapist, indicating knowledge of and proficiency in integrating basic and advanced PACT skills and principles in a clinical setting. Successful completion of Level 3 training also opens the door for you to seek PACT certification.

Level 3 was designed for high-level PACT practitioners who have been using PACT in their practice for a minimum of three years and is ready for in-depth learning to integrate their knowledge, expand their skills, and deepen the integration of PACT into their clinical practice.  

The training is limited to a maximum of 20 students. The low student to teacher ratio enables a different type of training experience with a high level of attention and support from each instructor for each student. In Level 3, the majority of the training sessions are spent workshopping new skills and getting feedback in real time.

To determine if you qualify for this advanced training, please read about PACT Level 3 requirements and expectations here.

Here’s the value you receive with PACT Level 3 Online Training:

Level 3 Training includes all Level 1 and 2 materials and resources plus:

• Coverage of more complex skills with PACT creator Dr. Stan Tatkin and PACT faculty member Dr. Hans Stahlschmidt in all 2022 PACT Level 3 trainings. 
• Level 3 Book Club, led by Stan and Hans
• Individualized support and feedback on student work
• Written evaluations on final student papers
• Access to course material before the course begins and for 1 year from the start of the training
• Online experiential learning with faculty and students
• Obtain 40 CE hours
• Ability to gain PACT certification

View Training Objectives

Cost: $5,700

PACT training is intended for licensed marriage and family therapists, professional counselors, social workers, psychologists, and psychiatrists (or those who have earned an equivalent degree outside of the United States).

Requirements for Participation in PACT Level 3:

• Minimum of 3 years in practice
• PACT treatment with a minimum of 30 couples 
• Completion of all modules of Level 2 training within the last two years. 
• If you completed Level 2 training more than two years ago, you may repeat Level 2 or you must have engaged in professional development through the PACT Institute for the last two years.
• Professional development includes participation in a minimum of six hours per year of continuing education through the PACT Institute. 
• Those six hours must include at least three hours of Case Analysis Labs.
• Those six hours may also include participating as a coach in PACT training.

In addition, before registering for Level 3, you will be asked to:

1.     Provide your professional license type and number
2.     Confirm your office setup includes rolling chairs and video capabilities
3.     Confirm your malpractice insurance is current and in good standing

Level 3 Training Objectives

1. Be able to assess and treat issues related to sex and intimacy.
2. Be able to assess and manage issues related to various behavioral and chemical addictions as a mismanaged third.
3. Be able to assess and adapt treatment to the needs of gender-related issues.
4. Be able to assess and adapt treatment to the needs of various cultures.
5. Be able to assess and adapt treatment to the needs of various alternative relationships (e.g. polyamory).
6. Be able to demonstrate a basic understanding of neuropsychological deficits, to assess and make appropriate referrals.
7. Be able to demonstrate the ability to teach PACT theory and techniques.
8. Be able to demonstrate understanding of case conceptualization.
9. Be able to demonstrate understanding of treatment planning.
10. Be able to assess for acting out behaviors and apply appropriate interventions.
11. Demonstrate ability to assess and improve insufficient therapeutic alliance.
12. Be able to establish a therapeutic frame.
13. Be able to demonstrate ability to use video recording and playback for therapeutic purposes.
14. Be able to demonstrate self-regulatory skills.
15. Be able to demonstrate recovery under stressful conditions.
16. Be able to demonstrate understanding of working with difficult couples (disorganized, high arousal and personality disorders).
17. Be able to demonstrate ability to differentiate between defensive structures and how to work with them.
18. Be able to demonstrate understanding of identifying countertransference and utilize transference and countertransference material.
19. Be able to demonstrate understanding of identifying and working with projective identification.