Karla McLaren is an award-winning author and pioneering educator whose empathic approach to the emotions has taken her through the healing of her own childhood trauma into an empathic healing career, and now into the study of sociology, neurology, and cognitive and social psychology. She is the author of the upcoming book and audio learning set The Language of Emotions (Sounds True, May and June, 2010).

Karla has taught at such venues as the Omega Institute, Naropa University, and the Association for Humanistic Psychology. Additionally, as a prison arts educator with the William James Foundation, she has utilized singing, drumming, and drama to help men in maximum security prisons explore and heal long-held emotional traumas.

In her academic career, Karla served as a researcher and editor on the books "When Killing is a Crime" by Tony Waters, Ph.D, and "Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships" by Janja Lalich, Ph.D. With Dr. Lalich, Karla has co-authored a sociological research study on the multiple stigmatizations that gays, lesbians, and bisexuals experience in fundamentalist religions. It will be published in 2010.

Karla lives in California with her husband, Tino, who is a Master's level nurse and Hospice Admissions Services Manager.