Anna Runkle, The Crappy Childhood Fairy
Keynote Speaker & Bestselling Author

Anna Runkle

Known to over a million people as “The Crappy Childhood Fairy,” Anna helps adults recognize and heal the symptoms of Childhood PTSD — and reclaim their relationships, career, and health.

Watch Anna's Speaker Reel
1M+Subscribers
2Hay House Books
25+ yrsTeaching Her Methods
GlobalOnline Community

Anna Runkle is one of the most influential voices in trauma recovery. Through her wildly popular YouTube channel, courses, and coaching programs, she teaches adults to recognize and heal the everyday symptoms of Childhood PTSD using simple, practical techniques — whether or not they have access to professional help. Her warm, plain-spoken approach has built a worldwide community of people who are, at last, feeling better and changing their lives.

Anna is not a therapist or doctor. Her methods grew out of research, her mentoring of hundreds of people over 25+ years, and her own experience healing from early trauma — a perspective audiences find both deeply credible and profoundly human.

Books

2024
Re-Regulated: Set Your Life Free from Childhood PTSD and the Trauma-Driven Behaviors That Keep You Stuck — Hay House
2025
Connectability: Heal the Hidden Ways You Isolate, Find Your People, and Feel (At Last) Like You Belong — Hay House

Two Signature Speaking Themes

Theme 1 · Healing

Healing Childhood PTSD & Calming a Dysregulated Nervous System

Anna's core expertise: simple, practical tools that help people recognize and heal the everyday symptoms of a hard childhood — and finally feel better.

  • Recognizing & healing the adult symptoms of Childhood PTSD
  • Calming dysregulation: daily techniques that actually work
  • Breaking the trauma-driven behaviors that keep you stuck
  • Connection & belonging after a difficult childhood
  • Healing without a therapist: accessible tools for real life
Theme 2 · Free Speech

The Right to Give Advice: Anna's First Amendment Fight

Anna is suing the California Board of Psychology in federal court, represented free of charge by Pacific Legal Foundation, after the state accused her of practicing psychology without a license. Her case (Runkle v. Tate) argues that requiring a license to speak violates the First Amendment.

  • When occupational licensing collides with free speech
  • Government overreach into everyday, honest conversation
  • Protecting access to affordable mental-health support
  • One creator's David-and-Goliath fight to keep teaching

Why Book Anna

Anna brings the authority of someone who has lived the experience, done the research, and guided hundreds of people through real transformation — without clinical distance or jargon. Whether she's teaching practical recovery tools or telling the story of her fight for free speech, her honesty and humor connect with audiences ready to stop surviving and start living — and she arrives with a built-in, highly engaged community.

Perfect For

Mental health & wellness conferences Corporate wellness Women’s empowerment events Personal development summits Free speech & civil liberties events Trauma-informed leadership Healing communities

Bring Anna to Your Audience

For keynotes and speaking engagements, Anna is represented by Presbourg Speakers. For podcast interviews and other appearances, send a request directly to our team.

Book Anna to Speak

Speaking events → Presbourg Speakers  •  Podcasts & other requests → direct form