Director of Center for Love and Sex
Therapist
Coach
Clinical Supervisor
Speaker
Founder and Director of Center for Love and Sex, Sari Eckler Cooper, LCSW is a licensed individual, couples and AASECT-Certified Sex Therapist, sex coach, writer, trainer, supervisor and media expert. She specializes in working on issues such as sexual disorders, sexual avoidance, couples communication, affairs, separation, depression, anxiety, and alternative sexual interests.
Sari works in person at her private practice office on NYC’s upper west side and via telehealth. She is also a relationship and sex coach for clients who live in other states and countries and for professionals who travel frequently who want to focus on present and future goals. Sari is licensed to see clients based in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and as a Telehealth therapist for clients living in Florida.
Sari is recognized as a relationship and sexuality expert and has been a regular commentator on television shows like CBS This Morning, The Better Show and Dr. Oz to discuss relationship issues. Sari is continually called upon to discuss issues in modern relationships in the press including The Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Greatest, Vice, Bustle, Cosmo, Men’s Health, Shape, Brides Magazine, Barron’s, New York Post, and Marie Claire.
Qualifications and Areas of Practice
Sari holds a Masters Degree in Social Work. Her post-graduate work was completed at The Ackerman Institute for the Family and the Human Sexuality Program at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Sari graduated with a BFA in dance from The Juilliard School. She has been in private practice for 20+ years in New York City. In addition to her therapy and sex coach practice, Ms. Cooper is a clinical supervisor for general and sex therapists.
While a specialist in the area of sexual issues, Sari has years of training and experience treating many psychological issues including: anxiety disorders, mood disorders, panic attacks, trauma, divorce, pre-marriage counseling, assertiveness issues, anger management, career adjustment or guidance and other diagnoses in the DSM 5 of the American Psychiatric Association.
Theoretical Orientation
Sari has been committed in her career to helping people connect more authentically in their emotional and sexual relationships. She utilizes a combination of techniques in her practice including: psychodynamic, family systems, CBT, meditation, as well as exercises she has reconfigured from her background as a professional choreographer and dancer to help individuals and couples re-start and re-create a new erotic connection.
She views the therapeutic process as an active collaborative process in which she and her clients can work towards meaningful behavioral and mood related shifts which are meaningful in their intimate, professional and communal relationships. While she view herself as an active therapist with a lot of expertise, she also values the active insights and assignments her clients bring into the therapeutic and coaching process.
Her understanding of body/mind integration, her many years of experience and continued education profoundly informs her practice. She has a direct, warm style of engagement and is an active type of therapist willing to give feedback, assignments to do at home and give advice on other professional referrals if appropriate. She has deep respect for her clients’ strengths and views therapy and coaching as a means for them to re-connect them to their best selves and to revitalize their primary relationships.
Professional Associations and Media
She is an active member of Society for Sexual Therapy and Research, Association of American Sexual Educators, Counselors and Therapists, the Ackerman Institute Alumni Association, the American Family Therapy Academy, New York State Society for Clinical Social Work, Occupational Clinical Practitioners Group as well as a founding member of the Manhattan Sex Therapy Peer Group.
She writes about sexuality on her blog Sex Esteem® on this website, as well as on Psychology Today. She is a featured blogger for Huffington Post on Divorce and Sexuality. Her published paper, Issues in Psychoanalytic Psychology is titled: Some Like It Not (about couples who struggle the problem of sexual avoidance).
Sari has given many talks, seminars and workshops for professionals at conferences on many topics including: Sexual Avoidance, Compulsivity, Affairs, Discrepant Desire, ADHD and Sexuality in long-term relationships. She also presents to the general public on how to explore new sexual avenues in long-term relationships and how to talk to children about sex, as well as how a healthy sex life improves ones work life. She was a featured speaker in “Project Respect”, an educational program of the Sex Crimes Unit at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office on the topic of compulsivity.
