PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy)

PACT (Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy) helps couples break reactive cycles and build safe, attuned, and trusting connections where both partners feel seen and understood. Together we’ll explore emotional patterns, nervous system responses and attachment needs, building a secure functioning relationship.

Blending attachment theory, neuroscience, and nervous system awareness, PACT supports couples in moving from reaction to intention. It helps partners recognize hurtful patterns, respond instead of react, and nurture a secure, connected bond that feels vibrant with joy and steady in trustworthiness. This approach supports real-time emotional safety and fosters resilience within both individuals and the relationship as a whole.

PACT Training and Professional Development:

I had the privilege of completing PACT Level 1 & 2 training with developer, Stan Tatkin, in 2023 and have also personally benefitted from a PACT Wired for Love Retreat led by Stan and Tracey Tatkin in 2024. PACT ensures each partner feels the safety within the relationship from syncing verbal and nonverbal communication signaling secure–fostering connection, trust, and mutual attunement.

What to Expect in PACT Sessions

PACT sessions are collaborative, engaged, and grounded in curiosity. Together, we’ll explore relationship patterns, practice repair, and strengthen your ability to care for yourselves and one another.

My role is to provide a safe, attuned space where both partners feel seen, understood, and supported in building a relationship that is resilient, responsive, and nurturing. At times, this means I will cut each of you off to ensure we are not deepening the grooves of automatic miscommunication, choosing instead to pause and try something new: attunement and shared responsibility.

Each session is an opportunity to practice connection in real time—fine tuning how you show up for each other and cultivating the skills that allow trust, intimacy, and emotional safety to deepen.

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Specialties PACT Is Great For:

My work is guided by the belief that therapy should meet you where you are. Rather than relying on a single approach, I adapt and blend different methods to support your goals and what you are navigating in the moment. These are the types of sessions we may use this approach in:

Couples therapy at Upward Roots supports partners who want to strengthen their foundation before patterns become entrenched, as well as partners navigating longstanding cycles of hurt who need support untangling the impact of trauma or betrayal. Using Attachment Theory, we explore how each partner’s family-of-origin and relationship history shows up in the present, and work together to restore safety, trust, and a more secure, connected bond.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Starting therapy often begins with a massive sigh, an exhaustion of looking for help, for relief, for change. I welcome your curiosities and hope that you will begin to find answers to your unsettled questions on the pages of my website.

Here are answers to the most common questions I am asked about working with Upward Roots. For any additional questions, please reach out so I can support your next step of growth.

Upward Roots offers trauma-informed therapy, EMDR, attachment-based individual and couples therapy, and EMDR intensives.
- Individual Trauma Therapy (C-PTSD & PTSD)
  Sessions are oriented toward helping the nervous system process and release stored trauma that continues to show up as anxiety, chronic stress, emotional reactivity, or shutdown. EMDR is integrated with parts work and somatic psychotherapy to address developmental, relational, and situational trauma, as well as body-based trauma responses.
- Individual Attachment Therapy
  Early and ongoing relationships shape how we protect ourselves, connect with others, and navigate closeness. This work begins by identifying your unique attachment style and reflecting on relational patterns such as people-pleasing or hyperindependence. Mind-body approaches, including imagery, inner child healing, parts work, boundary setting, and nervous system regulation, support greater security and flexibility in adult relationships.
- Couples Therapy
  Relational distress often emerges from repeated patterns rather than isolated conflicts. Using evidence-based, attachment-focused frameworks such as PACT, the Gottman Method, Attachment Core Pattern Therapy and EMDR for couples, therapy focuses on slowing these cycles, strengthening communication, understanding each partner’s internal worlds, and repairing relational injuries while remaining mindful of the impact of past trauma.
- EMDR Intensives
  For some individuals, extended in-person sessions allow for deeper focus and momentum than traditional weekly therapy. EMDR Intensives range from half-day to multi-day sessions in Carlsbad, California, and are designed for accelerated, immersive trauma processing, integration, and nervous system regulation.
- Support for Therapists and Clinicians
  Holding space for others can make it easy to neglect your own internal landscape. Individual and group settings offer room to explore personal patterns, countertransference, and burnout within a supportive, trauma-informed, relational context.
1. By scheduling a free 20-minute phone consultation. I want to make sure both of us feel confident in our ability to meet your therapy goals together before we start unpacking your history in sessions. We can decide together if weekly sessions, twice a week sessions, or an intensive is the right therapy container for you at this time.
2. We will choose the day and time that works best for your emotional availability for this deeper therapeutic work. Consistency is a key ingredient in felt-safety and trust. We will build safety within predictability, knowing that each week we will meet and attune to your inner world together, on the same day, at the same time, whenever possible.
3. In our first sessions, we’ll explore together the influences on who you are today–the significant people and places that leave you feeling your most confident, secure, and calm self. We will begin with resourcing through imagery, resource tapping, and somatic movement to encourage felt-safety in your attachment and nervous systems.
4. Together, we will set your goals and direction for your healing. We will discuss which formal diagnosis makes the most sense if you are seeking reimbursement on a PPO insurance plan.
5. Healing takes time and trust. We’ll unpack the stories and, with time, find the freedom to move your body and find the flexibility to think more kindly of yourself–past, present and future.
- Individual therapy: 50 minutes – $200 | 80 minutes – $320
- Couples therapy: 50 minutes – $200 | 80 minutes – $320 | 110 minutes – $440
- Extended or deep work sessions: 3 hours – $720 | 4 hours – $960
- EMDR intensives: Half day – $900 | Full day – $1,700
Extended sessions and intensives are prorated. Sliding fee options may be available. Upward Roots is out-of-network for insurance, but Superbills are provided for PPO reimbursement for standard sessions.
At this time, Upward Roots is out-of-network with all insurance providers. If you plan to seek reimbursement, you can contact your insurance company to ask about your out-of-network benefits. Sharing the billing codes used in sessions will help them provide clear and accurate information about your coverage:
- 90791 - All first sessions
- 90834 - 50-minute individual sessions
- 90837 - Individual sessions, 53-60 minute sessions
- 90847 - 50-minute couples session

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