Chelom Leavitt:
Dr. Chelom Eastwood Leavitt grew up in Yakima, Washington with seven sisters and one brother. She attended BYU as an undergraduate in Economics and then went to J. Reuben Clark Law School. One the first day of law school Chelom met David Leavitt and they married after their first year of law school. Chelom practiced family and estate law for years and then returned to get her Master’s degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development. In 2010 Chelom was invited to be a Fulbright Fellow in Ukraine and teach in Schevshenko University in Kyiv. She also ran a research study in Ukraine on how religious and secular traditions were associated with couple and parent-child relationship well-being.
Chelom Leavitt received her PhD from Penn State. She is an Assistant Professor at Brigham Young University. She studies healthy sexuality in committed relationships and focuses on how mindfulness during sex may be associated with positive outcomes for both men and women. Dr. Leavitt’s work on sexual mindfulness included an intervention to teach couples how to be mindful during sexual experiences. This research taps into how the sexual experience is full of meaning, emotions, as well as physical sensations.
Additionally, Dr. Leavitt’s examines how women experience and contribute to sex differently than men–and that’s great for both women and men! Dr. Leavitt’s recent publications include cross-cultural work on sexual mindfulness, women’s sexual response cycles, and a study examining the role of orgasm in sexual and relational satisfaction for men and women.
Chelom and David Leavitt have been married for 31 years and they have eight children ranging from 29 to 4 years old. Four of their eight children are married and these wonderful couples have brought Chelom and David four granddaughters.
Rebecca Clarke:
Rebecca W. Clarke is working on her PhD in Marriage, Family, and Human Development at Brigham Young University, studying with Dr. Chelom Leavitt. Her research interests include religion and sex and how people seek for and create healthy intimacy. She is currently working on research projects that focus on sexual sanctification and sexual flourishing in religious couples. She has a master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from BYU and has taught Writing and Rhetoric courses at BYU for almost 20 years.
Rebecca grew up in Provo, Utah, and served a mission to Guatemala. She loves mothering her four children who range in ages from 10 to 21. Rebecca’s husband, Sam, is an accountant who runs ultra-marathons (Rebecca can be found supporting him at finish lines, but asleep whenever he starts one). Rebecca also enjoys reading, making meals for her family, planting flowers, and slowly fixing up one of the oldest homes in Orem. Whenever they get the chance, Sam and Rebecca love to travel with their family.
Amber A. Price:
Amber A. Price is working on her master’s degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development at Brigham Young University studying with Dr. Chelom Leavitt. Her research interests focus on an individual’s sense of self and how it is associated with intimate relationships such as sexuality and emotionally intimacy relationships, with a particular interest in women’s experiences. Some current research projects include examining how individuals form a sense of self through outside influences such as social comparison or objectification and body image and how this relates to a person’s capacity for emotional intimacy and sexual and relational satisfaction. She is also interested in women’s experiences of self and how those experiences are shaped by current societal expectations.
Amber has been married to Josh (a chemistry professor) for 19 years and they have 4 sons ranging from 17 years old to 9 years old. Amber is addicted to chocolate and she loves to bake (and eat!) cookies, play games with her family, travel, read great books, go for walks with family or friends, sit on the beach in the sunshine, drink hot chocolate year round, and be around people!
Jenna Lawlor:
Jenna M. Lawlor is a master’s student at Brigham Young University working with Dr. Chelom Leavitt on a degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development. Her research interests include adolescent sexual health, sex education, and preventing sexual abuse. She is currently creating a mindfulness sex education intervention for middle school students to test if mindfulness can be utilized in sex education to help adolescents develop healthy sexual attitudes. She loves working with teenagers to help them see their worth and potential.
Jenna has been married to her sweetheart James for a year. Along with Oli, the sidekick Goldendoodle, their first year of marriage has consisted of lots of laughs (mostly from watching Brooklyn 99), snowboarding, hiking, and camping. Jenna spends her free time writing, being outside, and volunteering for a local rape crisis center. She aspires to become a mother and Family Life Educator, both of which will fulfill her lifelong goal to help children and adolescents develop healthy and happy relationships.
