**Content Warning: This episode discusses bullying, emotional abuse, childhood trauma, and mentions of violence. Please practice self-care while listening.

Welcome to The Shadow Side with Safrianna, where we illuminate what others too often keep hidden in the dark. I'm Safrianna Lughna - licensed therapist, CEO of Living LUNAs, and your guide into the world of shadow work.

In this powerful episode, I sit down with Dāli Rivera, parenting coach and bullying awareness advocate, to tackle one of the most pervasive yet under-addressed issues facing our children and communities: bullying. With a mental health epidemic affecting young people and bullying playing a significant role, this conversation couldn't be more timely or necessary.

Dāli shares her expertise on recognizing bullying behaviors, understanding their long-term impacts, and most importantly, giving parents and kids practical tools to stand up against bullying wherever it appears. We explore how bullying erodes self-worth over time, creating patterns that follow people into adulthood and affect everything from career choices to relationship dynamics.

What We Discuss:

— How bullying impacts develop over time, from childhood through adulthood

— The connection between self-love, boundaries, and standing up to bullies

— Practical scripts and responses kids can use when facing bullying

— Why some populations face disproportionately higher rates of bullying

— The importance of teaching emotional regulation and conflict resolution

— How cultural patterns around authority can enable or prevent bullying

— Why bullies need help too, and what happens when they don't get it

— Red flags for parents to watch for in their children's behavior

— How to respond when your child reports being bullied (and what NOT to say)

— The critical role of at least one supportive person in a bullied child's life

— Digital citizenship and cyber bullying in our connected world

— How self-advocacy for ourselves advocates for everyone else

Dāli brings both professional expertise and raw honesty to this conversation, breaking down the micro-habits and cultural patterns that allow bullying to thrive. From recognizing backhanded compliments to understanding gaslighting, she provides vocabulary and frameworks that help both kids and adults name what's happening to them.

We also address the uncomfortable truth that bullying isn't just a "kids being kids" issue - it's a form of abuse with serious, lasting consequences. The 84-year-old man still crying about high school bullying. The parent triggered by their child's experience because of their own unhealed wounds. The patterns of accepting mistreatment that begin when we're told we're not worth standing up for.

This episode is essential listening for parents, educators, anyone working with children, and adults still carrying the weight of childhood bullying experiences. It's also for anyone who wants to understand how the patterns of accepting abuse begin early and how we can interrupt those cycles.

About Dāli Rivera:

Dāli Rivera is a parenting coach specializing in bullying awareness and prevention. She founded her organization and the Diversity and Anti-Bullying Academy in 2017, though her work in this space began long before. Dāli is passionate about teaching families that bullying is a form of abuse that can be life-altering, starting as early as preschool and contributing significantly to the current mental health epidemic among young people.

Through her work, Dāli provides parents, educators, and children with concrete tools for recognizing, responding to, and preventing bullying. She emphasizes teaching self-love, boundary-setting, and emotional intelligence from an early age. Her book, Confident Bulletproof Kids, offers scenarios, prompts, and practical scripts to help families...

Resources:

Join the Passionista Sisterhood: https://go.lunatrk.com/aff_c?offer_id=2695&aff_id=2966

The Passionistas Podcast - https://www.thepassionistasproject.com/passionistaspodcast

Passionista TV Network - https://www.youtube.com/@ThePassionistasProject/

Contact: Guide@Safrianna.com | Safrianna.com | LivingLUNAs.com

---

Episode 15: Creating Inclusive Community with the Passionistas

Welcome to The Shadow Side with Safrianna, where we illuminate what others too often keep hidden in the dark. I'm Safrianna Lughna - licensed therapist, CEO of Living LUNAs, and your guide into the world of shadow work.

In this episode, originally recorded in early 2025, I sat down with sisters Amy and Nancy Harrington, co-founders of the Passionista Project—a truly inclusive community that launched in 2024. We dove deep into the messy, beautiful reality of building spaces where women from all backgrounds can show up authentically without perfection.

I've been a member of the Passionista Sisterhood since late 2024, and throughout 2025, this community became one of my anchors. Amy and Nancy's approach to building inclusive space has profoundly influenced how I show up in my own community work—and this conversation captures why.

Amy and Nancy shared their journey from entertainment industry careers to creating a sisterhood built on one core rule: kindness.

We explored the uncomfortable truth that building inclusive communities means sometimes excluding those who can't practice tolerance, the difference between healthy community and cult-like control, and why rupture and repair—not just harmony—creates real connection.

This conversation tackled the hard questions: How do you create space for difficult conversations? What do you do when members disagree? How do you handle the paradox of being inclusive while standing for something?

In This Episode, We Discussed:

- Why conformity destroys community (and Amy's experience being "one of the guys")

- The catalyst moment: how the 2016 election and Me Too movement sparked their mission

- Building community through listening rather than prescribing answers

- The difference between cults and community

- Why people weed themselves out when kindness is non-negotiable

This podcast is for anyone ready to explore uncomfortable truths, do the inner work, and contribute to collective healing. If you're tired of surface-level conversations and ready to go deeper, this is your space.

Guest Information:

Amy and Nancy Harrington are sisters, entertainment industry veterans, and co-founders of the Passionista Project. They've conducted over 1,500 celebrity interviews, host the Passionistas Podcast, run annual Women's Equality Summits, and created the Passionista Sisterhood—an online community where women from diverse backgrounds connect, support each other, and lift each other up. Learn more at https://www.thepassionistasproject.com/

Episode 14: The Season of Darkness with Camille A. Saunders

Welcome to The Shadow Side with Safrianna, where we illuminate what others too often keep hidden in the dark. I'm Safrianna Lughna - licensed therapist, CEO of Living LUNAs, and your guide into the world of shadow work.

In this episode, sex and relationships therapist Camille A. Saunders joins me to explore winter as a season of rest, reflection, and necessary darkness. We discuss how modern society's relentless productivity demands clash with nature's call to hibernate, and why honoring seasonal rhythms is essential for our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing.

Together, we examine the pressure to maintain high energy during the darkest time of year, the importance of setting boundaries during holiday obligations, and how to find balance between preparation and actual rest. Camille shares her experience navigating winter in the Pacific Northwest, while I discuss the grief and family dynamics that often surface during this season.

We explore winter through four bodies—physical (managing darkness and vitamin D), mental (resisting premature goal-setting), emotional (allowing the full range of feelings including grief), and spiritual (going inward for reflection and shadow work). This conversation challenges the commercialized holiday hustle and invites listeners to honor winter as a time for genuine hibernation and inner work.

This podcast is for anyone ready to explore uncomfortable truths, do the inner work, and contribute to collective healing. If you're tired of surface-level conversations and ready to go deeper, this is your space.

Contact: Guide@Safrianna.com | Safrianna.com | LivingLUNAs.com

Guest Bio

About Camille A. Saunders

Camille A. Saunders is a sex and relationships therapist, gardener, cat mom, witch, and bisexual human navigating life in the Pacific Northwest. She brings a holistic approach to her therapeutic work, honoring the intersection of nature's rhythms, personal healing, and relational wellbeing. Camille believes in creating space for the full range of human emotions and experiences, particularly during challenging seasons—both literal and metaphorical. https://www.camilleasaunders.com/

Looking for Ways to Connect with the Wheel of the Year? Join Safrianna and Dr. Melissa Bird for their eight ritual series. For more information, visit: https://safrianna.com/seasonal