We're Thovelig Media, igniting conversation.

We're thrilled today to be joined by Anna Sonoda, who is an author and a child psychologist,

and she wrote a book called Duck, Duck, Groom, that caught our attention at CrimeCon, and we felt like we needed to have her on to discuss the topic in general. So, Anna, thanks for joining us today.

No problem, guys. It's such a pleasure to be here with you, both Jamie and John. And as a licensed

clinical social worker who's trying to make an effort to improve the way that people understand grooming.

This is an incredible step in the right direction for the movement that I'm trying to create

and build across the country. So thank you for having me on. Yeah, and we'll get more into that

movement in our state here in Kentucky in just a moment. But first, I want to start with the basics about the book.

Can you tell us a little bit about what it's about and then also what inspired you to write this book?

Absolutely. So ducked up groom, understanding how a child becomes a target, was born out of my

frustration with a repeated conversation I kept having with parents on the playground

and coffee shops or at birthday parties because my background as a clinical social worker

is a former therapist to convicted sex offenders.

And so when I left that position and started raising my own family, I recognized that

something had been left within the clinical space. And it hadn't made its way to the forefront of

everyday parents. So I came into parenting recognizing risks of something called grooming that

is the perversive courtship process that happens

in advance and alongside physical child sexual abuse.

And what I realized is parent after parents that I would interact with would say, oh,

I'm worried about that guy over there or I'm worried about the guy in the

van. I'm not necessarily thinking about a family member, an older relative who maybe lives in the

house, an older sibling who might be in a home. And what I recognized was there's a gap.

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