Our Mission
Embrace Sexual Wellness was founded to help people who want a more vibrant sex life. We believe all people deserve to be sexually satisfied and work with individuals and their partners to help them create the sex life they desire. We work to empower our clients to make healthy decisions by providing them with scientifically accurate sexual health information.
Who We Are
We are a dynamic team of sexuality and pleasure-positive professionals who love what we do (a.k.a. helping people thrive in their intimate relationships and empowering individuals to make healthy choices by providing them with scientifically accurate sexual health information).
We are trauma-informed, healing-focused and social justice-oriented sexuality educators and clinicians who have advanced training in sexual health and treating sexuality related concerns.
Our core values include authenticity, compassion, integrity, intersectionality, and pleasure.
Authenticity. We won’t sugarcoat it - we believe the most transformative change takes place when we take a close look at the original, unfiltered version of ourselves. As clinicians and educators, we recognize our clients are the experts of their own lives and work collaboratively towards their goals with respect for their value systems.
Compassion. We exude compassion for ourselves and for one another - to learn, to grow, to blunder, to hold ourselves accountable, to repair and to grow again. Compassion functions as permission to ourselves to be human first and sexuality professionals second.
Integrity. We stand by our commitment to providing specialized comprehensive care in sexual health across all domains of wellness. In psychotherapy, we incorporate a blend of holistic and science-based practices to honor each of our clients’ needs. Throughout our educational initiatives, we center developmentally appropriate, inclusive, anti-oppressive, and shame-free perspectives along with scientifically accurate information to close the gap between illness and sexual wellness.
Intersectionality. It’s impossible to embrace our sexuality without exploring the intersections between our identities. At Embrace Sexual Wellness, we take an intersectional approach to our work by recognizing how privilege, power, marginalization and oppression impact wellness and work collaboratively with our clients to foster healing in ways that honor their unique personhood. As a proponent of social and reproductive justice, Embrace Sexual Wellness is committed to making sex therapy and sexuality education inclusive and affirming of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), neuro-diverse individuals, transgender and gender expansive individuals, kinksters and BDSM practitoners, people with disabilities, immigrant and refugee communities, sex workers, people who are consensually non-monogamous or polyamorous, and all LGBQIA+ individuals.
Pleasure. We believe everyone deserves access to pleasure in their lives and that pleasure should never discriminate against who we love, what we look like, or how we identify. We view pleasure as a vehicle for liberation from anxiety, fear, trauma, stress and shame and work supportively with our clients to use pleasure to promote healing and greater self-efficacy.
Our Story
Established in 2018, Dr. Jennifer Litner saw a need for sexual wellness in both clinical care and education. Nearly a year after opening her doors, Dr. Litner began expanding the ESW team, which continues to evolve along with the call for mental health care. She has always seen a need for telehealth services, which has proven to be instrumental in making psychotherapy accessible especially in a socially distanced world.
In 2020, Dr. Litner launched another entrepreneurial initiative, transitioning her sexuality education curriculum to a digital program (and online platform) supporting parents and caregivers through conversations with the young people in their lives about sexuality and healthy relationships in a developmentally appropriate way. Hence, Building Ease Talking About the Birds and the Bees® was born.
Dr. Litner strongly believes that the quality of our sexuality education can determine the quality of our relationships and significantly impact the caliber of our lives. This is also the epicenter of her research and a guiding vision for ESW's business model - a collaboration between mental health, relationship health, sexual wellness and sexuality education.
As ESW grows, Dr. Litner hopes to facilitate new community initiatives to broaden the scope and accessibility of the services her team offers while supporting causes that are central to ESW's mission.
Our Call to Action
In the United States, sex is everywhere (advertisements, song lyrics, magazines, social media, conversations with peers) yet we do not know how to talk about it when it comes to our intimate relationships. Many people have received confusing messages about sex that encourage them to be sexual, but not too sexual, or are championed or shamed for having several sexual partners. However, when it comes time to discussing likes or dislikes with partners, fear often keeps people from doing so with ease. Similarly, parents and caregivers struggle to initiate these conversations with their children, leaving silos where there could be connection. Embrace Sexual Wellness is here to help people navigate their sexual relationships with more confidence.
As psychotherapists, we take a proactive approach to help individuals and their partners develop tools to help them navigate life transitions and conflicts, so they can become self-reliant in coping with mental health and sexuality concerns. While we treat concerns related to intimacy and sexual dysfunction, we also recognize and affirm that people can work to enhance their relationships without having a major problem. We encourage people to deepen their self-awareness to help them recognize patterns that may not be working for them and understand themselves and their partners better in relationships.
As educators, we help provide scientifically accurate information about sexuality, enhance individuals’ confidence in talking about sensitive topics like sexuality, and encourage proactive communication within families and partnerships. With greater awareness about the human body and human sexuality, we hope to inspire understanding and compassion among our clients.
Embrace Sexual Wellness, is one-of-a-kind in offering a one-stop-shop for psychotherapy and educational services in the sexual health field. No other psychotherapy practice or education businesses in the area offer this combination of services with a tailored integrative approach and strong foundation in human sexuality.
