AI toys are coming.

Not just toys that talk, sing, or respond when you press a button, but toys designed to remember, respond, learn, and potentially become something a child feels genuinely connected to.

In this episode of Unmuted, Brie talks about the future of AI companions for children and a part of the conversation that may be much bigger than screen time or privacy:

What happens when a child loves something that can disappear?

What happens when a subscription ends, a company shuts down, a model changes, the toy resets, or the AI they have spent years talking to suddenly doesn't remember them anymore?

Growing up during the early internet taught an entire generation that relationships formed through technology can carry very real emotions. AI may be about to take that lesson somewhere entirely new.

This isn't a conversation about fearing technology or pretending we can stop the future from arriving.

It's about making sure that while we're building smarter toys, we're also thinking about the children who may love them.

To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

In Eyes Closed Yet Still Seen, Brie explores what it means to grow up learning that sometimes the safest thing you can do is close your eyes.

Not just literally, but emotionally too.

When experiences in childhood teach you to disappear, look away, retreat inward, or make yourself smaller, those instincts don't automatically disappear when you grow up. Sometimes they follow you into the very life you're trying to build.

For Brie, that creates a complicated contradiction. The work she does today asks her to be visible. To use her voice. To tell the truth. To share pieces of herself online where strangers can see, interpret, support, criticize, and misunderstand her.

And sometimes, every part of her still wants to close her eyes.

This episode of Unmuted is about the space between hiding and being seen, the survival instincts we carry forward, and learning that perhaps being visible doesn't have to mean being unsafe.

To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of domestic violence, childhood abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse and coercion, intimidation, and other potentially distressing experiences. Please listen with care and choose what feels right for you.

What does violence look like when it doesn’t look the way we were taught to recognize it?

In this episode of Unmuted, Brie reads an original Violence Vortex post exploring the complicated lessons she learned about abuse, fear, intimidation, and the phrase that allowed far too much harm to be minimized: “But I didn’t hit you.”

Through personal memories of childhood, relationships, and witnessing violence within her family, Brie examines how easily survivors can convince themselves that what happened “wasn’t bad enough” - especially when there are no broken bones or visible injuries to prove it.

This is the original, adult-focused Violence Vortex conversation. A separate Unmuted: Families episode explores the core message of Violence Vortex in a gentler, age-appropriate way designed to help families talk about fear, anger, safety, and healthy ways of handling big emotions.

Violence does not have to leave a bruise to leave a wound.

To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

Not every storm comes from the sky.

In this episode of Unmuted: Families, Brie introduces children and caregivers to Violence Vortex - a villain that represents yelling, intimidation, physical aggression, and the fear that violence can leave behind. Together, families will learn that violence is never a child's responsibility, explore how our bodies respond when we feel unsafe, and discover simple steps children can take to seek help from trusted adults.

Designed for children and the adults who love them, this conversation encourages open dialogue without graphic details, helping families build the language, confidence, and connection needed to navigate difficult topics together.

Conversation Starters:
• What does feeling safe mean to you?
• Who are three trusted adults you could talk to if you felt scared?
• What are some ways our family can solve problems without hurting people?

Unmuted: Families is a podcast by The Lioness in the Darkness, helping families have trauma-informed conversations about healing, digital safety, and the challenges children face in today's world.

To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

If I Was There ends at a critical moment. The story didn't end there though. Sometimes it takes a few extra years to clear your throat before you can tell the rest.

In this special episode of Unmuted, I read Chapter 21 - an additional chapter we wrote after finishing the novel. It isn't part of the original published story. Instead, it's a reflection on everything that came after the ending, exploring the lasting impact of trauma, the reality of what healing looked like beyond the final page, and the pieces of Bianca's journey that were too important to leave untold.

If you've read If I Was There, consider this the conversation that happens after you close the book.

If you haven't, you're still welcome here. This episode stands on its own as a story about memory, survival, and the promises we make to our younger selves when we finally find our voice.

Content Warning: This episode discusses childhood trauma, grooming, emotional abuse, family dysfunction, and sexual violence. Please listen at your own pace and take care of yourself while listening.

To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

Some people become monsters in obvious ways.

Others smile. They become family friends. They earn trust. They make themselves feel safe enough that no one thinks to question them.

This episode tells the story of Randy - a friend of my mother's who used technology to cross boundaries that no child should ever have to navigate.

It isn't a story about graphic details.

It's a story about manipulation, silence, confusion, and the lasting impact of digital abuse.

If you've ever wondered why conversations about online safety matter so deeply, this episode may help answer that question.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of child grooming, digital abuse, and childhood trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

If this episode brings up difficult emotions, please be gentle with yourself. Additional resources and information are available through The Lioness in the Darkness.

To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

As the host of our system, I've learned that some of the hardest battles happen where no one else can see them.

In this episode, I share what it feels like to be outwardly present with family and friends while internally trying to comfort younger parts who are overwhelmed, frightened, or hurting. It's a strange kind of helplessness - trying to keep the outside world moving while everything inside is asking for safety at once.

I also talk about a nightmare that didn't stay in the dream. For the first time in a long time, my body screamed out loud while I was asleep - loud enough for my husband Kevin to hear it. All I could see was darkness, but I could hear Buttercup's terror as if she were calling from somewhere I couldn't reach.

Screaming at the Unknown is a conversation about fear, responsibility, and what it means to carry the role of host when the people you're trying to protect live within you. It's about listening when the screams don't make sense yet... and choosing compassion over judgement.

To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

For a long time, these conversations came from one place.

A driver's seat.

Not because that's where I imagined this podcast would begin, but because it was the place where I found enough quiet to speak honestly. Between appointments, after long days, and in the middle of rebuilding a life that no longer looked the way I thought it would, that little space became the birthplace of Unmuted.

This episode is a reflection on beginnings - the ones we plan for, the ones we don't, and the ones we only recognize once we've already started living them.

Whether you're navigating change, grieving what was, or quietly hoping that something better is still ahead, I hope you'll come sit with me for a little while.

To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

Every family will one day say goodbye to someone they love. How we love each other before and after that goodbye matters.

In this episode of Unmuted: Families, we're talking about one of the Darkest Days villains: Grief Ghoul. Grief Ghoul isn't a monster that causes death. Instead, Grief Ghoul represents the grief, sadness, confusion, and questions that can arrive after we've lost someone we love.

Together, we'll explore how death can affect every member of a family differently, why there isn't a "right" way to grieve, and how talking openly with one another can help us carry both our sadness and our love.

This isn't a conversation about having all the answers. It's about making space for questions, memories, tears, laughter, and the people who continue to shape our lives even after they're gone.

As you listen, I encourage your family to pause whenever you need to. Share stories about someone you miss. Ask one another questions. Remember together. Love one another well.

Because while we can't stop grief from becoming part of our story, we can choose to love people deeply while they're here, cherish the memories we create together, and honor those we carry in our hearts long after they've left this world.

Thank you for inviting me into your family's conversation today.

To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness

What looked harmless isn't always harmless.

A bike ride.
A cactus.
A question.

Some stories take years to reveal what they were really about.

To support the mission of educating, healing, and protecting families and schools in the digital age, visit: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/support-the-lioness-in-the-darkness