Our Team

Elaine Miller-Karas is a prominent figure in the field of trauma resiliency, serving as the Co-Founder and Director of Innovation at the Trauma Resource Institute. She is also the author of the book titled Building Resiliency to Trauma, the Trauma and Community Resiliency Models, 2nd Edition (published in 2023). Her work has had a profound impact globally, as she has dedicated herself to promoting healing in communities around the world.

Miller-Karas' innovative trauma resiliency models have been introduced in 75 countries across Asia, Africa, North America, Australia, the Middle East, South America, and Europe. Her expertise as an international speaker and author has led her to present the Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® at prestigious events like the Skoll World Forum and the United Nations. Remarkably, her book has been recognized by the United Nations, and her publisher, Taylor and Francis, curated online library as a valuable resource contributing to the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In addition to her written work and public speaking, Elaine Miller-Karas launched her successful radio show, Resiliency Within, on VoiceAmerica in 2021. She is also a regular contributor to Psychology Today as a blogger.

Furthermore, Ms. Miller-Karas is a founding member of the International Transformational Resilience Coalition, where she advocates for understanding the impact of climate change on the human condition.  She is also a Consultant to Emory University's SEE Learning program, initiated by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi, India, in April 2019. She contributed to the trauma-informed and resiliency-informed chapter (Chapter 2) of this curriculum, which is rooted in the Community Resiliency Model.

In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Elaine Miller-Karas designed and led the Ukrainian Humanitarian Resiliency Project, offering online support to Ukrainian teachers, children, and community members through EdCamp Ukraine. She is also a valuable member of the advisory board of the Christopher Wolf Crusade, an innovative program addressing the opioid epidemic. Her advisory role extends to Reena Evers Everette of the Myrlie and Medgar Evers Institute in Jackson, Mississippi.

Her dedication to her work is deeply influenced by her bi-cultural family background and the experiences of her parents. Her father hails from Libby, Montana, while her mother's roots lie in Atiquizaya, El Salvador. They met in post-war San Francisco, and the family's experiences have instilled a strong commitment to supporting immigrants, refugees, and internally displaced people. Elaine Miller-Karas is a staunch advocate against xenophobia, racism, and discrimination, values that have defined her life's journey. She also holds a strong commitment to destigmatizing the impact of trauma, including combat-zone trauma, on military personnel and has presented the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM)® and CRM Skills to many military bases and conferences including Edwards Air Force Base, Fort Drum, Walter Reed Military Medical Center, the Veterans Administration, Loma Linda, and the Marine Base in Barstow, California. She presented CRM at the Wounded Warrior Chronic Pain Conferences in San Diego and Washington, D.C.

Throughout her career, Ms. Miller-Karas has traveled extensively, providing training and support to community members, mental health professionals, and health practitioners in the aftermath of disasters. She has responded to natural disasters such as earthquakes in China, Haiti, and Nepal, as well as wildfires in California, typhoons in the Philippines, hurricanes in Louisiana, and mass shootings in various locations. She has also consulted with communities affected by civil unrest in countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Northern Ireland, as well as hurricanes in North Carolina and Florida and mass shootings in many parts of the United States. These experiences have fueled her passionate advocacy for accessible and affordable healing strategies for communities worldwide.

Before her founding role at TRI, Ms. Miller-Karas served as the Associate Director of Behavioral Sciences at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center's Family Practice Residency Program from 1994 to 2006. Earlier in her career, she completed her graduate internship at Stanford University's Perinatal Outreach Program and worked as a clinician and lecturer there. She also founded and directed Helping after Neonatal Death in Santa Clara County, California, for six years, a support network for bereaved parents.

Elaine Miller-Karas currently resides in Claremont, California, with her husband, Jim. Her family includes two children, a son-in-law, and a granddaughter, along with a cherished assortment of lovable dogs.

Michael Sapp serves as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Trauma Resource Institute (TRI), where he has been actively involved since 2010, initially as Senior Faculty for both TRM and CRM. His educational background includes an M.A. in General Psychology and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, both earned at The New School in New York, NY. Dr. Sapp is deeply committed to disseminating TRI's innovative healing approaches to a global audience.

Dr. Sapp's journey within TRI has been marked by his dedication to its vision and his leadership qualities. In 2016, he assumed the role of Associate Executive Director, and his exceptional leadership skills led to his appointment as CEO in 2020.

A notable aspect of Dr. Sapp's work lies in his keen interest in neuroscientific approaches to trauma healing. This interest culminated in his co-authorship of the chapter "The Nervous System, Memory, and Trauma" in Ms. Miller-Karas' book, Building Resilience to Trauma: The Trauma and Community Resiliency Models, first published in 2015 and subsequently in its second edition in 2023.

Dr. Sapp has made significant international contributions by training clinicians and community leaders in various parts of the world. His humanitarian efforts have taken him to regions affected by earthquakes, typhoons, mass shootings, and crises, where he has displayed exceptional leadership skills in guiding teams and contributing to TRI's growth and success.

In collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund, Dr. Sapp played a crucial role in establishing a CRM Teacher Training program for Angola in 2023. This program aims to educate 180 Young Adult Social Mobilizers (YASM), impacting up to 6,000 Angolan Youth. His humanitarian work was further shaped by experiences in Istanbul, Turkey, supporting Syrian refugees and assisting survivors of the "troubles" in Northern Ireland. He was instrumental in launching TRI's training programs in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and London, England, and also participated in the Ukrainian Humanitarian Resiliency Project. Currently, Dr. Sapp continues to offer support to CRM teachers in the Middle East.

His commitment to global healing efforts is underscored by his role as the team leader for CRM Teacher Training workshops in Kathmandu, Nepal, following the devastating 7.8 earthquake in April 2015. Additionally, he co-led TRI's response in Cebu City, Philippines, aiding communities affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

Under Dr. Sapp's leadership, the Trauma Resource Institute achieved the highest level of recognition from GuideStar in 2023 – the Platinum Seal of Transparency. This acknowledgment represents a testament to TRI's commitment to transparency and its significant contributions to the nonprofit sector.

Dr. Sapp's early career included serving as a supervising psychologist at the Child and Family Guidance Center in Northridge, CA, for three years after completing his Ph.D. He subsequently embarked on a private practice journey and served as an adjunct professor at a local university.

Currently, Dr. Sapp resides in Upland, CA, with his wife, Shannon, and their two sons, Christian and Caleb.

Kevin McLeod is the Director of Business and Community Development at the Trauma Resource Institute. His responsibilities include proposal development, contract management, client relationship building, identifying new business opportunities, as well as enhancing community engagement by assessing community needs, providing tools and materials specific to their needs, and celebrating community achievements. Kevin is also responsible for coordinating diversity initiatives. This work, along with the EDI Committee, centers around developing, supporting, implementing, and evaluating EDI strategies, content development, and programs serving Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® and Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM)® training team members and participants.

Having planned to create college programs for student success and retention originally, Kevin holds a B.S. in Communications and an M.A. in Higher Education Administration from Appalachian State University. He has experience working with youth and their families, and while living in Charlotte, NC, Kevin worked as the Multisystemic Therapy supervisor at ProCure Therapeutic Agency. Here, Kevin followed a model for community-based treatment aimed at decreasing anti-social behavior and reducing the risk of out-of-home placement for court-involved juveniles.

Kevin served as the Director of Operations & Strategy for the Division of Community Health at Duke University. His work aimed at improving community outcomes at the intersection of health, place, and equity by addressing social drivers of health, trauma, resilience, and other factors that influence a community’s ability to thrive. While in this role in 2018, Mr. McLeod was introduced to the Community Resiliency Model and completed a CRM Teacher Training Program later that year.

Kevin has also worked for the YMCA of the Triangle as the Sr. Director for Community Outreach leading various education programs and community initiatives. He currently serves as a board member at ReCity, a non-profit incubator in Durham, NC, focused on solving systemic issues related to discrimination, economic disparity, and opportunity.

Kevin resides in Clarksville, Tennessee, with his wife Niesha, and their two daughters, Kaitlyn and Aubrey.

Leigh Hoffman-Kipp is the Director of Philanthropy with the Trauma Resource Institute. Leigh's responsibilities include cultivating authentic donor relationships and expanding fundraising while sustaining TRI's core values of accessibility, inclusion and justice. By further documenting local, national and international program delivery, Leigh works to sustain and grow current projects as well as facilitate the creation of new initiatives. 

Leigh comes to TRI from Mayor Bass' administration in the City of Los Angeles where she served as Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives in Housing and Homelessness Solutions. Leigh has also held leadership positions with Hands4Hope LA, Silverlake Conservatory of Music, Los Angeles Unified School Board President Jackie Goldberg, and Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy. 

 Leigh earned her M.A. in Urban Planning at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and holds an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University.  A lifelong Angeleno, Leigh continues to reside in Los Angeles with her family. 

Rebecca Cleland is the Training Team Development Manager. Rebecca’s responsibilities include overseeing the development and management of Training Team Members — including Senior Trainers/Faculty, Facilitators, and TRM Consultants — as well as creating, staffing, and managing Training Teams for CRM and TRM trainings, ensuring high-quality delivery and continuous improvement of the training programs.

Rebecca completed her Bachelor's in Human Services and a Masters of Science in Marriage Child Family Therapy from the University of Phoenix. She is currently a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and has been working the last several years at REACH, formerly Center Against Sexual Assault, as a program manager and direct service provider specializing with survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and neglect. Rebecca was first introduced to the Trauma Resiliency model in 2016 and found it so useful personally and professionally that she returned to get certified as a Community Resiliency Model Teacher in 2018.

Ms. Cleland is a single mom to three boys and lives in Southwest Riverside County, California.

Heather Lilly serves as the Humanitarian Response Coordinator for the Trauma Resource Institute. Her work focuses on furthering TRI's longstanding commitment to global humanitarian efforts to support the resilience and well-being of individuals before, during, and after a humanitarian crisis. She is a Certified CRM Teacher and the co-founder of Yoga Village, a Wilmington, NC, based non-profit whose mission is to increase access to evidence-based, trauma-sensitive and resiliency-focused yoga and mindful movement programs to support their community's resilience, personal strength and wellness. 

Since 2013, Heather has been offering trauma-sensitive and resiliency-focused body-based interventions to support individuals with trauma healing. Some of the populations she has worked with include the unhoused, survivors of sex trafficking and interpersonal violence or sexual assault, formerly incarcerated, oncology patients, inpatient and outpatient individuals with mental health diagnoses or substance use disorder as well as the staff who serve these populations within support services organizations. In addition, she served as Executive Director of Yoga Village from 2020-2024 and leads advanced level workshops and trainings in Prenatal Yoga and Trauma Sensitive Yoga in southeastern NC. 

She holds a BFA from New York University and is an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher at the 500-hour level, a Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator and a Certified MNDFL Mindfulness Facilitator. Before her work in non-profits, she held a variety of managerial roles within small to mid-sized organizations focusing on project management and customer service. Her passion for humanitarian work has been a consistent theme throughout her life and career and she is honored to support TRI's mission through her current role. 

Stephanie Branscum is the CRM Certification Manager. She supports the CRM training team in bringing the Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® to more people and assisting with the teacher certification process. Stephanie earned her Bachelor’s of Political Science and her Master’s of Social Work degrees from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Stephanie’s graduate research focused on the impact of shared learning environments on the reduction of trauma symptoms among newly resettled refugees in the U.S. While earning her MSW, Stephanie’s internships focused on working with newly resettled refugees, particularly in the areas of employment and access to other resources. Stephanie was instrumental in developing the Knit Together program with Refugee Support Services of the Carolinas, which created a safe space for refugee women to learn a new skill and earn additional income, all while increasing their support network within their community. After receiving her MSW, Stephanie went on to work for a nationally recognized refugee resettlement agency as a Department of Justice certified specialist in Immigration Legal Services. During her time working in Immigration Legal Services, Stephanie aided hundreds of refugees and immigrants in the Triad area of NC with applications for Permanent Residency (Green Cards), Citizenship, Work Authorization, and Family Visas.

Stephanie began perusing her associate licensure in clinical social work (LCSWA) in 2021 and became a certified CRM teacher that same year. Stephanie used her CRM certification to offer classes through a non-profit working with individuals in rural communities impacted by chronic and generational poverty. Stephanie found the CRM skills to be incredibly effective, both as a group intervention in a professional setting and also in her personal life.

Stephanie lives in Rockwell, NC with her husband, Chris, child, Ava, and Ava’s two gerbils, Orville and Redenbacher.

Lori Eisenberg is the Private Training Coordinator for Trauma Resource Institute. Her responsibilities include liaising with agency point of contacts, coordinating training logistics, monitoring training registrations, and post training support and follow up.

Lori received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Redlands. Her past work experience has included working with unhoused individuals, the juvenile justice system, and volunteer management and relations. She currently resides in the Pasadena area.

Fiorella Contreras is the Executive Assistant at the Trauma Resource Institute. Fiorella provides high-level administrative support to TRI’s Co-founder/Director of Innovation and TRI’s CEO.

Fiorella is originally from Peru and is an accomplished professional with over 20 years of administrative experience. She earned her degree from the Peruvian Institute of Business Administration.

Throughout her career, she has demonstrated exceptional organization skills and a strong commitment to supporting the smooth operation of various organizations.

Fiorella’s passion for making positive impact led her to work for nonprofit organizations, where she played a pivotal role in advancing their mission. Her dedication and contributions were recognized when she received the prestigious Peace Award for her outstanding service.

Fiorella’s expertise, combined with her unwavering dedication to fostering positive change, continues to make a lasting impact in the field.

Fiorella lives in Loma Linda, California with her husband, Adolfo, and their two sons, Sebastian and Nicolas.

John Waterson works as the Training Team Coordinator for the Trauma Resource Institute. His responsibilities include the creation and communication of training teams in collaboration with the Training Team Development Manager. This role includes managing logistical communications, follow-up, and relationship-building to support training teams.

John was first introduced to the Trauma Resiliency Model in 2016, when he participated in a training. The experience inspired him to pursue a career as a mental health therapist. John earned his Master’s of Social Work from California State University San Bernardino. His graduate thesis studied the effects of the Community Resiliency Model among K-12 educators. He currently holds his ACSW and has worked as a therapist for young adults and middle schoolers.

John currently lives with his family in Claremont, California.

Karen Chatt is the Administrative Assistant for the Trauma Resource Institute. She manages the TRI Office Monday-Thursday. She Coordinates with Trainers all the materials that are needed for trainings. She also handles all the merchandise on line if you have questions in regards to online purchases. In addition she also coordinates referrals about Trained TRI Practitioners for those who are looking for a TRM- or CRM-trained therapist in their area.

Drew Pledger is TRI’s Regional Coordinator for the State of North Carolina. Drew has come to us after retiring from the Wake County Public School System in Raleigh, NC where he was Coordinator of Mental Health Services. In this role, he was essential in developing and implementing a plan for CRM throughout the school system. He has several years’ experience as a CRM teacher and currently is a CRM Senior Trainer and has provided trainings across the Southeast.

Drew has a long and inclusive history in the mental health field. He received his MSW at UNC Chapel Hill and has followed that with his ACSW certification as a clinical supervisor and is a Board Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work. His work history has covered a wide range of roles across multiple systems. He began his work in the field as a house parent in a group home for emotionally challenged children. He went on to lead multiple residential treatment facilities both community-based and institutional. He also has experience with foster care services having been both a foster parent and a director of a foster care program. He was Coordinator of Children’s Services at Durham County Mental Health before establishing his own independent private practice, which he ran for thirty-plus years. He worked to develop mental health services within the school system for nearly thirty years before recently retiring.

Drew has established a longstanding history of leadership and advocacy within the field. He is a past president of the NC Association of Community Alternative for Youth. He has served twice as the President of NC Society for Clinical Social Work and was a founding board member for establishing The National Association of Clinical Social Work. He has also served as a board member on the national board of NASW. Drew was awarded the NC Clinical Social Worker of the Year and the NASW social worker of the year. In addition, he has been active in policy-making efforts. Drew served as Chair of the Juvenile Justice Committee and member of the Governor’s Crime Commission. He was also appointed as a member of the Governor’s Executive Cabinet for Children. Drew was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine by Governor James Hunt. This is the highest civilian award given for public service to the state. He is currently serving as Chair of the Governor’s Social Service Commission which establishes policy for government and public social services.