Karla is an author, speaker, and counselor. She has a strong background in recovery, having been a member of Twelve Step programs for many years and a part of the leadership team of Friends in Recovery, a Christian Twelve Step program, at Yorba Linda Friends Church. Karla’s passion is to see individuals, marriages, and families set free from the chains of dysfunction, misunderstanding, and emotional pain. She also desires to equip ministry leaders and lay counselors to reach out more effectively to hurting people.

She is the author of 10 Lifesaving Principles for Women in Difficult Marriages, published by Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City (2003). 10 Lifesaving Principles received a 2004 Silver Medallion Book Award from the Evangelical Christian Publisher's Association and has been published in Nigeria, Indonesia, and China. Her second book When Love Hurts: 10 Principles to Transform Difficult Relationships (2004) applies the same principles to all close relationships. Her third book The Truth in the Mirror: A Guide to Healthy Self-Image (2006) is a practical and scriptural guide to developing a real self-image untarnished by damaged, projected, stained, reflected, and false images. Karla has also written numerous articles for women’s ministry leaders for LifeWay International including a chapter titled “Ministering to Women Whose Husbands Are Not Spiritual Leaders” in Women Reaching Women: Beginning and Building A Growing Women’s Ministry and two downloadable web articles for the Women Reaching Women in Crisis series on substance abuse and domestic abuse.

She holds a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy from Hope International University and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist at the Center for Individual and Family Therapy.

Karla also holds a Master of Arts in Communicative Disorders from California State University, Fullerton. As a licensed Speech Language Pathologist, she has practiced speech therapy in hospitals, private practice, public schools, home health, and rehabilitation programs.

She and her husband manage a family-owned construction company.

Karla Downing lives in Southern California with her husband and three daughters.