Speaking & Media

After 26 years in law enforcement and diplomatic security, K.L. Sadler began asking questions she had spent a career avoiding—about trauma, faith, healing, and what it really means to serve others without losing yourself in the process.

Her talks explore the intersection of service, nature, spiritual inquiry, psychedelic healing, and personal transformation, as well as the courage it takes to question the beliefs and institutions that shaped us. Her 780-kilometer walk on the Camino de Santiago with Nona has become part of that conversation—not simply as a pilgrimage, but as an experience in integration: surrender, rest, community, asking for help, and learning what we truly need to carry.

Common speaking topics include:

First Responder Trauma & the Cost of Service, Healing After High-Stress Careers, Faith, Nature & the Search for Meaning, Sacred Plant Traditions & the Future of Healing, Reinventing Identity After Public Service, The Camino as Integration: Surrender, Rest, Community & What We Carry.

Signed copies of From the Badge to the Vine can also be made available for speaking engagements, book clubs, and live events upon request.

Meet the Author — Bentonville, Arkansas

The Quantum I | July 2026
Hosted by the Psychedelic Society of Arkansas

K.L. Sadler discusses From the Badge to the Vine, psychedelic healing, and the journey that followed publication—including walking 780 kilometers of the Camino de Santiago with Nona.

The Camino portion begins at approximately 23:00.

Psychedelic Culture 2026 — San Francisco

Chacruna Institute | April 2026

K. L. Sadler served as a panelist for “Changing the Story: Psychedelics and Narrative Power” and moderator of the film discussion “Ayahuasca Now: Voices of a Silent War.”

Psychedelic Culture 2026 Agenda

Resilience in Action: PART II: A Retired Officer Shares How Ayahuasca Opened the Door to Grief Healing
April 22, 2026

Resilience In Action: PART I: A Diplomatic Security Agent On Trauma, Clearance Fear, And Getting Help
April 15, 2026

Resilience In Action Contributors Page/BIO

Brangardt Law’s Lagniappe: Trauma Comes in Many Forms, as Does Healing: A Conversation with Kemmi Sadler
April 21, 2026

Nona’s Way Interview on Beach 105.5 St. Augustine
April 7, 2026

From the Badge to the Vine: “A Missed Connection”

MAPS Bulletin | August 21, 2026

An excerpt from Chapter 21 of From the Badge to the Vine, following K.L. Sadler’s preparation for her first ayahuasca ceremony and what happened when decades of training herself to remain in control met a sacred plant that required surrender.

How Psychedelics Helped Me Manage Grief From a Career in Law Enforcement

Marijuana Moment | April 22, 2026

In this personal op-ed, K.L. Sadler reflects on how a career built around evidence, discipline, and control eventually led her to question what she had been taught about trauma and psychedelics. She writes about unresolved grief from her years in law enforcement, her decision to explore ayahuasca after extensive research, and what the experience taught her about surrender, forgiveness, and the limits of simply pushing through.

Also published by Cannabis Cultivator News.

CiCi, Pocholo, and the Consul Lot

Written as K. Wilder | Illustrated by Leslie Rennolds | 2021

Before From the Badge to the Vine, K.L. Sadler published this true story under the name K. Wilder. CiCi, Pocholo, and the Consul Lot follows two street dogs who made their home on the site of a new U.S. consulate construction project—and captured the hearts of the people working there as they tried to hold onto their place in a rapidly changing world. An earlier piece of Sadler’s writing, it reflects themes that continue to appear in her work today: animals, connection, place, and the unexpected relationships we form along the way.