The speakers were introduced by Todd.
- Allen Kanerma, a trauma recovery expert, with Inspyrd Inc.
- Katrina McLeod, founder and executive director of Rising Angels.
Katrina is a survivor of 15 years of sexual exploitation, trafficking, and abuse, who now supports women seeking to rebuild their lives. Allen, a former military pilot and humanitarian worker, has dedicated his career to helping trauma survivors, especially victims of human trafficking.
Alan shared his own trauma history and emphasizes that trauma is an injury that can heal. He explains how trauma often steals sleep first, triggering a cycle of mental, physical, and relational decline. Poor sleep disrupts the brain’s ability to process traumatic memories, leading to chronic stress, illness, and emotional instability. Katrina confirms she endured 25 years of severe sleep deprivation, constant hypervigilance, and addiction, while struggling to help others in similar situations.
Working with Alan through trauma-informed, visual-spatial tasking methods, Katrina began sleeping deeply for the first time in decades. This sparked profound emotional release, physical improvements, and the ability to tell her story without re-traumatization. She also overcame specific phobias linked to past abuse, enabling her to face previously impossible medical procedures.
Alan critiqued conventional trauma therapies, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), for low long-term success rates. He stresses the importance of drug-free, brief, evidence-proven methods with high efficacy—highlighting that his approach achieved over 92% success in a recent pilot study with trafficking survivors.
Katrina’s transformation inspired her to help other women experience similar healing. She stresses the need for approaches that move beyond coping strategies toward genuine recovery, so survivors can reclaim their sleep, mental clarity, health, relationships, and futures.
The overarching message: trauma does not have to be a life sentence—effective, accelerated healing is possible with the right approach.
Questions
Wayne: Many of his clients have experienced trauma. Does this org (Inspyrd) work with any other community assistance agencies?
A: No. But, it has trained people that do work in some of those agencies.
Paul C: Any involvement with the Waterloo Regions Police Service?
A: No. They orient toward registered psycho therapists
Todd: Extractions of trafficked individuals by ex-military was mentioned, what's the background there?
A: A friend of Katrina's is setting up an organization that will facilitate these extractions, largely based upon programs currently operating in the United States.
