I'm Anastasia (Staci) Sprout, MSW and I'm passionate about empowering helping professionals supporting women to heal - from love, sex/pornography and relationship addictions, and other intimacy struggles!

Writing, expert quotes and video education featured in the following, and more...

40 Hours of Courses for a New Paradigm of Care for Women with Love, Sex/Pornography, and Relationship Addictions

  • BEST PRACTICES TRAINING COURSES for PROFESSIONALS TREATING WOMEN with LOVE, SEX/PORNOGRAPHY and RELATIONSHIP ADDICTION

    What are essential female-informed approaches and interventions for treating love, sex/pornography and relationship addiction? Designed by a woman, refined over 18 years personal and professional experience with intimacy recovery, these are the best practices distilled into a fundamental curriculum for helping professionals from all professions.

  • HANDOUTS, ASSESSMENTS, and FORMS you can PRINT and USE IMMEDIATELY in your practice

    Tired of adapting programs, tools and forms intended for men? Each course comes with documentation for your instant use that is designed for women based on research, field testing and detailed feedback from practitioners who already work with this population. You'll also find many links and resource suggestions to further your understanding and inspire your own research

  • LEARN at YOUR OWN PACE, from the COMFORT of WHEREVER YOU HAVE INTERNET CONNECTION

    Accessibility to these trainings is a core value, and online offerings are the perfect medium. Compared to travel, time off, and training registration fees for in-person offerings, these classes are affordable and learn-at-your-own-pace. And, you can take them from wherever you wish! Once you've purchased a course, you can log in, learn as much as you want, take a break, return later, and pick up right where you left off!

WHO ARE THESE TRAININGS AND CLASSES FOR?

All Helping Professionals Helping Women!

  • Mental Health Professionals, Administrators, and Students-in-Training

    Therapists, nurses, physicians, psychiatrists, agency administrators, counselors and students-in-training will find these courses unique and effective in the specialty of female-informed care for love, sex/pornography and relationship addiction.

  • Coaches and Coaches-in-Training

    Coaching offers a fantastic resource for supporting recovering women to focus and shine, and can compliment trauma therapy for this complex population. I invite coach participation in these courses to help you refine your skills and grow your practical tools and applications.

  • Pastoral Counselors and Counselors-in-Training

    Though these courses are faith-neutral in language, the tools may be adapted to better resonate with faith communities. These step-by-step applications can be readily applied in religious settings, and can compliment excellent faith-based material already available.

CLICK FOR MORE INFO AND TO REGISTER FOR CLASSES

*The FSLA Best Practices Membership Community includes a weekly live zoom consultation time - drop in as available!

View Course Details and Sign Up

What professionals are saying about these trainings...

Testimonials

"Helpful for female partners of sex addicts too."

Sophia D. Caudle, LPC, PhD, LPCOS, CSAT-S

"I felt validated that working with FSLA is not a typical therapy process…every class was really great…most of these strategies would be helpful with female partners of sex addicts too."

"Feeling a sense of increased confidence."

Catherine Etherington, Certified Professional Life Coach, CPC-C

[My main takeaway was] "...feeling a sense of increased confidence that there are tools, that are appropriate for coaching, that can be used to support FSLA’s. I was encouraged by how practical and tool-based your work is!"

"The piece I have been missing."

by Ann Sullivan, CSAT-C

"[Until this course]..."the piece I have been missing is having resources, assignments, tools, psychoeducation that is specifically geared toward female sex and love addicts, and not just pieced together from other things. You beyond met my expectations…it was so affirming."

"Helpful for female partners of sex addicts too."

Sophia D. Caudle, LPC, PhD, LPCOS, CSAT-S

"I felt validated that working with FSLA is not a typical therapy process…every class was really great…most of these strategies would be helpful with female partners of sex addicts too."

"Feeling a sense of increased confidence."

Catherine Etherington, Certified Professional Life Coach, CPC-C

[My main takeaway was] "...feeling a sense of increased confidence that there are tools, that are appropriate for coaching, that can be used to support FSLA’s. I was encouraged by how practical and tool-based your work is!"

"The piece I have been missing."

by Ann Sullivan, CSAT-C

"[Until this course]..."the piece I have been missing is having resources, assignments, tools, psychoeducation that is specifically geared toward female sex and love addicts, and not just pieced together from other things. You beyond met my expectations…it was so affirming."

"Helpful for female partners of sex addicts too."

Sophia D. Caudle, LPC, PhD, LPCOS, CSAT-S

"I felt validated that working with FSLA is not a typical therapy process…every class was really great…most of these strategies would be helpful with female partners of sex addicts too."

More Students Testimonials!

"I really enjoyed the course. I found the tools that you provided most useful with all my patients and every time I use them.

I appreciated [how the content] dovetails with Alex Katehakis’ Sex Addiction As Affect Dysregulation which I’m currently finishing, and the concept of the therapist being in Self in Internal Family Systems (IFS).  I love it when everything converges."

-- Gord McCauley, MD, CSAT


I thoroughly enjoyed the new approach/mindset around Female Sex and Love Addiction. It felt safe, validating, humbling and practical/applicable.  

--Jade Seabrook, MA, RCC, BRI   


My expectations of learning much about current methods and personal experiences you would share to help female sex addicts in therapy were met and exceeded!  So many of your power points were pieces I immediately applied and want to learn more about!  I picked up several books you mentioned and look forward to reading and incorporating their ideas.  

I feel more relaxed about my therapy method being helpful and that I have some good ideas to blend with yours to use successfully.  A Zoom course is super helpful: 90% as good as being in the room with all of the students and the instructor, yay!  And it was more diverse, fun, and helpful than I could have imagined!

 --Denise Quirk, MA   


I was honestly tickled pink with all the handouts! They were all so thoroughly constructed and purpose-built. I'm not sure I expected tools, but I am so grateful for them! 

--Alexandra Martin MS, NCC, LPCA, ASAT

About Me

and Creating The Shadows of the Heart Online Learning Program

Anastasia (Staci) Sprout, MSW

INSTRUCTOR

Hello! I'm an intimacy coach and psychotherapist from Seattle with twenty-eight years of experience as a therapist and social worker in a variety of settings from community mental health and hospitals to private clinical practice. 

Since 2006, I have dedicated my practice to helping individuals, groups and couples in recovery from love, sex and relationship addictions, with a special focus on women and intimacy. I conduct trainings on sexual ethics for professionals, and am an experienced retreat and conference speaker. 

After publishing my own recovery story titled Naked in Public: A Memoir of Recovery from Sex Addiction and Other Temporary Insanities, requests for further female-informed clinical resources for women inspired me to create this online program. 

My goal is to reach like-minded helping professionals across the world who want to offer the best possible female-informed care to this extraordinary population. 

I hope you'll join me!

Watch Intro Video

Interview about this program

with Forest Benedict, LMFT, SATP

A Recovery Journey + A Life's Work + Current Research = Distilled Into the Best Courses For You!

Why do I Care So Much About Helping People Heal from Love, Sex, and Relationship Problems?

by Anastasia (Staci) Sprout, MSW

I began personal therapy in 1991 at age 21, for binge drinking and an active eating disorder. I started recovery in 2001 to get help for a relationship that was out of control...again. My sexual acting out had alienated my boyfriend, I was broke and isolated, and I was regularly self-harming physically. In other words, I fit a fairly typical profile of a classic female love, sex and relationship addict--including porn problems. A combination of 12-Step recovery, trauma therapy, intense inspirational study, and gradually building a loving support network helped me turn my life around. In 2005 clients began to show up in my therapy practice needing help for sex and love addiction. I knew I needed more training, and started study for a Certification as a Sex Addiction Therapist at the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP). I began to build a woman's program at the specialty sex addiction/sex offender treatment clinic where I worked, but quickly found that as helpful as the tools and training I'd received had been, I needed more. I began adapting what had worked for my own successful sexual and emotional sobriety. Through trial and error over 20 years of experience I crafted what worked for me and my clients into these classes - both for professionals and for anyone who cares about these topics.

Why do I Care So Much About Helping People Heal from Love, Sex, and Relationship Problems?

by Anastasia (Staci) Sprout, MSW

I began personal therapy in 1991 at age 21, for binge drinking and an active eating disorder. I started recovery in 2001 to get help for a relationship that was out of control...again. My sexual acting out had alienated my boyfriend, I was broke and isolated, and I was regularly self-harming physically. In other words, I fit a fairly typical profile of a classic female love, sex and relationship addict--including porn problems. A combination of 12-Step recovery, trauma therapy, intense inspirational study, and gradually building a loving support network helped me turn my life around. In 2005 clients began to show up in my therapy practice needing help for sex and love addiction. I knew I needed more training, and started study for a Certification as a Sex Addiction Therapist at the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP). I began to build a woman's program at the specialty sex addiction/sex offender treatment clinic where I worked, but quickly found that as helpful as the tools and training I'd received had been, I needed more. I began adapting what had worked for my own successful sexual and emotional sobriety. Through trial and error over 20 years of experience I crafted what worked for me and my clients into these classes - both for professionals and for anyone who cares about these topics.

Why do I Care So Much About Helping People Heal from Love, Sex, and Relationship Problems?

by Anastasia (Staci) Sprout, MSW

I began personal therapy in 1991 at age 21, for binge drinking and an active eating disorder. I started recovery in 2001 to get help for a relationship that was out of control...again. My sexual acting out had alienated my boyfriend, I was broke and isolated, and I was regularly self-harming physically. In other words, I fit a fairly typical profile of a classic female love, sex and relationship addict--including porn problems. A combination of 12-Step recovery, trauma therapy, intense inspirational study, and gradually building a loving support network helped me turn my life around. In 2005 clients began to show up in my therapy practice needing help for sex and love addiction. I knew I needed more training, and started study for a Certification as a Sex Addiction Therapist at the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP). I began to build a woman's program at the specialty sex addiction/sex offender treatment clinic where I worked, but quickly found that as helpful as the tools and training I'd received had been, I needed more. I began adapting what had worked for my own successful sexual and emotional sobriety. Through trial and error over 20 years of experience I crafted what worked for me and my clients into these classes - both for professionals and for anyone who cares about these topics.

Why do I Care So Much About Helping People Heal from Love, Sex, and Relationship Problems?

by Anastasia (Staci) Sprout, MSW

I began personal therapy in 1991 at age 21, for binge drinking and an active eating disorder. I started recovery in 2001 to get help for a relationship that was out of control...again. My sexual acting out had alienated my boyfriend, I was broke and isolated, and I was regularly self-harming physically. In other words, I fit a fairly typical profile of a classic female love, sex and relationship addict--including porn problems. A combination of 12-Step recovery, trauma therapy, intense inspirational study, and gradually building a loving support network helped me turn my life around. In 2005 clients began to show up in my therapy practice needing help for sex and love addiction. I knew I needed more training, and started study for a Certification as a Sex Addiction Therapist at the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP). I began to build a woman's program at the specialty sex addiction/sex offender treatment clinic where I worked, but quickly found that as helpful as the tools and training I'd received had been, I needed more. I began adapting what had worked for my own successful sexual and emotional sobriety. Through trial and error over 20 years of experience I crafted what worked for me and my clients into these classes - both for professionals and for anyone who cares about these topics.

Why do I Care So Much About Helping People Heal from Love, Sex, and Relationship Problems?

by Anastasia (Staci) Sprout, MSW

I began personal therapy in 1991 at age 21, for binge drinking and an active eating disorder. I started recovery in 2001 to get help for a relationship that was out of control...again. My sexual acting out had alienated my boyfriend, I was broke and isolated, and I was regularly self-harming physically. In other words, I fit a fairly typical profile of a classic female love, sex and relationship addict--including porn problems. A combination of 12-Step recovery, trauma therapy, intense inspirational study, and gradually building a loving support network helped me turn my life around. In 2005 clients began to show up in my therapy practice needing help for sex and love addiction. I knew I needed more training, and started study for a Certification as a Sex Addiction Therapist at the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP). I began to build a woman's program at the specialty sex addiction/sex offender treatment clinic where I worked, but quickly found that as helpful as the tools and training I'd received had been, I needed more. I began adapting what had worked for my own successful sexual and emotional sobriety. Through trial and error over 20 years of experience I crafted what worked for me and my clients into these classes - both for professionals and for anyone who cares about these topics.