Marissa Moore, LMHC

Founder & Clinical Director of Therapy Brooklyn | Couples Therapist | Sex Therapist

I am a licensed mental health counselor, couples therapist, and sex therapist, and the founder and Clinical Director of Therapy Brooklyn. My work focuses on helping individuals and couples better understand themselves, their relationships, and the patterns that can leave them feeling disconnected.

I specialize in working with couples navigating communication difficulties, infidelity, differences in sexual desire, and changes in emotional and physical intimacy. I also work with individuals experiencing anxiety, depression, relationship concerns, and major life transitions.

My approach is relational, culturally responsive, and grounded in curiosity. I believe meaningful change begins when people feel understood, but therapy also requires us to examine the ways we relate to ourselves and others, including patterns that may have developed long before our current relationships.

My Work With Couples and Sexuality

Much of my clinical work centers on the challenges couples face in sustaining emotional and sexual intimacy over time. Some couples come to therapy after years of feeling disconnected, while others are navigating a more immediate rupture, such as infidelity, a change in sexual desire, or uncertainty about the future of their relationship.

I work with couples experiencing desire discrepancies, difficulties communicating about sex, infidelity, and the loss of connection that can emerge during major life transitions. My work also includes supporting individuals and couples exploring consensual non-monogamy, polyamory, and kink. I approach these conversations without assuming there is one right way to experience sexuality or structure a relationship.

I am particularly interested in how parenthood changes the experience of intimacy. Becoming a parent can alter how we relate to our bodies, our partners, and our sense of ourselves as sexual beings. As a parent of two young children myself, I understand that these changes can be profound, and that the emotional and sexual dimensions of this transition are not always given the attention they deserve.

In my work with couples, I aim to create space for each partner's experience while helping them recognize the relational patterns that keep them feeling stuck. Rather than focusing solely on communication skills, I am interested in what happens beneath recurring arguments, sexual disconnection, and moments when partners struggle to reach one another.

I also work with individuals exploring their sexual identities, relationship patterns, and the influence of cultural and social expectations on how they experience desire, pleasure, and intimacy.

Clinical Training, Teaching, and Research

My clinical work is informed by extensive training in couples and family therapy, sex therapy, and relational approaches to mental health.

I completed a two-year Sex Therapy Certificate Program at the Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy (ICP) in New York City. This advanced training expanded my clinical work with sexual concerns, including desire discrepancies, sexual functioning, intimacy, and the ways psychological, relational, and sociocultural experiences influence sexuality.

I also completed advanced training in couples and family therapy at the Ackerman Institute for the Family, where I later served as a faculty member, teaching and supervising clinicians in training. My teaching included advanced clinical seminars focused on couples and family therapy. This experience continues to inform my work as Clinical Director of Therapy Brooklyn, where I provide clinical supervision and support the professional development of therapists.

I am currently pursuing a PhD in Human Sexuality at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). My academic interests focus on postpartum sexuality, particularly the intersections of lactation, embodiment, erotic identity, and the ways individuals and couples renegotiate intimacy after becoming parents. I am also interested in how cultural expectations, gender, race, and relationship structures shape people's experiences of sexuality.

My research interests have grown directly out of questions that arise in my clinical work, particularly the experiences people struggle to find language for or feel they cannot openly discuss. I hope to contribute research that deepens our understanding of sexuality and informs more responsive, inclusive therapeutic practices.

I earned my Bachelor of Arts from the University of Rochester and my Master's degree in Counseling for Mental Health and Wellness from New York University.

Earlier in my career, I worked in community-based mental health, providing crisis intervention to at-risk youth, counseling individuals and couples living with HIV, and supporting families involved in the child welfare system. I also participated in research at New York University, the University of Rochester, and the Mt. Hope Family Center, examining child development, domestic violence, emotional expression, and parent-child relationships.

These experiences continue to shape how I understand the relationship between personal experiences, family systems, and the larger social conditions that influence mental health and relationships.

My Approach to Therapy

I believe that relationships are shaped not only by the people in them, but also by the families, communities, cultures, and social expectations that influence how we learn to love, communicate, and experience sexuality.

As a therapist, I bring curiosity, warmth, and a willingness to engage in conversations that can feel difficult or uncomfortable. I want clients to feel that they can speak openly about the parts of their relationships and sexual lives that they may have struggled to share elsewhere.

My goal is not to prescribe what a healthy relationship or satisfying sexual life should look like. Instead, I work collaboratively with clients to understand what they want for themselves, identify what may be getting in the way, and develop more intentional ways of relating.

I currently see clients in person at Therapy Brooklyn in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and virtually throughout New York State.

Interested in working together? Contact Therapy Brooklyn to schedule a consultation and explore whether we would be a good fit.