In this candid and deeply human conversation, Cynthia Marks sits down with Mädchen Amick—actress, director, writer, and co-founder of the inclusive mental health foundation Don’t Mind Me—to talk about what happens when a family is forced to navigate a system that doesn’t work. Mädchen shares how her son Sylvester’s first major episode in college thrust their family into emergency rooms, misdiagnoses, and a long search for truly qualified mental health care. She explains why mental illness remains so stigmatized, and how education helped her separate “my son talking” from “his disorder talking,” shifting the entire family dynamic. Together they explore the staggering lack of access, the predatory cost of treatment, and why the brain needs real time to heal—more like recovery from a heart attack than a quick fix. Mädchen describes Don’t Mind Me’s mission: vetted resources, scholarships for treatment, and an ambitious brick-and-mortar “holistic campus” that bridges the gap between crisis stabilization and long-term recovery. She offers practical guidance for families—stay loving, stay present, and don’t confuse fear with leadership. The episode closes with a message of collective responsibility: mental health is not “them and us”—it’s all of us, together.

00:00 — What “Don’t Mind Me” Means + Why Stigma Persists

07:10 — The Broken System

14:20 — The Cost of Care: Insurance Gaps and “$100k a Month” Quotes

21:30 — Crisis Stabilization vs Residential Treatment

28:40 — Sylvester’s Diagnosis Journey

35:50 — Psychiatry on Staff, Tracks, and Long-Term Care

43:00 — How Families Can Help

50:10 — Genetics, “Superpower,” Community, and Support

In this thoughtful return episode, Cynthia Marks welcomes Dr. Tom Paris, a retired psychotherapist whose practice centered on dreamwork and the teachings of Dr. Bernard Bail. Together they explore “the masculine” through the lens of the mother’s imprint—the emotional and unconscious material a fetus absorbs while “marinating” in a mother’s inner life. Tom explains how the imprint becomes a lifelong survival strategy: we learn early to monitor and manage the mother’s emotional state, often at the expense of knowing who we truly are. From there, the conversation expands into power, privilege, and why gender inequality persists—sometimes reinforced by both men and women through culture, fear, and the comfort of the status quo. Cynthia and Tom discuss father involvement in pregnancy, how men can be supported to develop emotional fluency, and why mothers also need permission to raise sensitive boys. They connect personal change to cultural change: progress often comes in small steps, with backlash, and requires courage. The episode ends with a hopeful invitation—use your dreams to know yourself, clear the “trash,” and build a world where men and women share equal space.

00:00 — What the Imprint Is

06:10 — Babies, Survival, and Losing the Self

12:15 — Why Men Don’t Engage in Pregnancy (and Why It Matters)

18:20 — Power, Privilege, and the “Less-Than” Training

24:30 — Culture Change: Steps Forward, Backlash, Repeat

30:40 — Idealizing Parents, Repeating Patterns in Love

36:50 — Feelings, Empathy, and Raising Boys Differently

43:10 — What Equality Could Look Like + Closing Invitation

In this illuminating episode, Cynthia Marks and psychotherapist Dr. Lauren Dolinsky zoom in on the unconscious—the vast “unseen” mind that shapes feelings, choices, and relationships. They explore dreams as a nightly bridge from the unconscious to the conscious, and why facing the “swampland” of scary feelings actually frees us. Lauren explains personal vs. collective unconscious, notes why intellect alone can’t heal us, and shares how wisdom is emotional, embodied, and relational. Cynthia brings three striking dreams: a booming “NEVER!” from the dark (don’t look), a designer’s house with misaligned floors and doors (don’t settle), and a final vision of lifting blackness to reveal a warm, triangular light—love as invitation. Together they show how dreamwork realigns the inner “architecture,” syncing heart and mind, and how that inner shift radiates outward. The takeaway is simple and radical: ask your dreams to speak, listen for feeling, and let love lead.

00:00 — What Is the Unconscious?

05:45 — Dreams: Bridge From Night to Day

11:30 — Why We Avoid It (Monsters & “Protection”)

17:15 — Dream 1: “NEVER!” in the Dark

23:00 — Dream 2: The Misaligned House

28:45 — Wisdom vs. Intellect (Feeling Leads)

34:30 — Dream 3: Lifting Blackness, Finding Light

40:16 — Conclusion: Invite Dreams, Let Love Lead

In this energizing conversation, Cynthia meets siblings Denver and Dylan Humphrey, co-founders of the youth nonprofit Fourddo, whose mission is to amplify young voices and build real community. They share how a homeschooled, low-social-media childhood evolved into a joint platform—and then into a hub that connects teens across states with resources, mentors, and each other. The duo explains why they refuse to “be niche”: mental health, civic education, arts, equity, and storytelling all belong in the same room when you’re serving whole human beings. We hear about their Days of Mindfulness campaign, pop-up gatherings that give students a reset through movement, play, and presence—and why simply staying in touch is transformative. Denver and Dylan talk about bridge-building (introductions, DMs, late-night check-ins), making local retreats community-run, and the power of intergenerational listening. Most of all, they model sibling teamwork as a practice of empathy, fluidity, and love. The result is a blueprint for youth leadership that is inclusive, practical, and deeply human.00:00 — What Fourddo Is
04:00 — From Homeschool to Platform

08:00 — Checking In & Staying Connected

12:00 — Campaigns & Days of Mindfulness

16:00 — Safe Spaces, Not Isolation

20:00 — “Not Niche”: Move Freely Across Issues

24:00 — Retreats, Local Partners, & What’s Next

28:01 — Closing: Love, Bridges, and How to Reach Fourddo

In this riveting session, Cynthia Marks and Dr. Loren Weiner unpack masochism as a deep, often invisible style of living driven by unconscious guilt—the felt sense that we “deserve” to suffer or deny ourselves good things. Loren traces the guilt back to Dr. Bernard Bail’s imprint theory: the fetus unconsciously takes on the mother’s unprocessed pain and wrongly concludes, “it’s my fault,” a “first lie” that later fuels self-sabotage, procrastination, and staying in punishing relationships. They show how dreams reveal this pattern—from lost purses and missed deadlines to violent head blows—mapping the original psychic “blast” and the mind’s attempt to wall it off. Cynthia shares personal dreams (like a book titled “Life Is Torture”) that capture resistance to joy and the pull toward old operating manuals. Loren explains how this inner guilt scales up into culture—why groups, institutions, even nations repeatedly choose policies that make everyone suffer. The antidote isn’t moralizing but honest dreamwork, daily self-questioning, and claiming the birthright to love and pleasure. Start inside, they insist; shift the inner operating system and the outer systems begin to change.

• 00:00 — What Is Masochism?

• 07:20 — The First Lie

• 14:40 — Head-Trauma Dreams

• 22:00 — Working the Pattern

• 29:20 — “Life Is Torture”

• 36:40 — Self to Society

• 44:00 — Allowing Love & Pleasure

• 50:49 — Closing Invitation

In this gripping and hope-filled conversation, Cynthia Marks sits down with Adonai Melendez, a Homeboy Industries trainee and reentry advocate, to trace his journey from childhood trauma and gang life to accountability, faith, and service. Adonai describes fleeing civil war, a painful break from his grandmother, and an adolescence that made gangs feel like the only family offering safety and belonging. At 16, he committed a murder; decades in prison followed, where he learned the “politics” of survival, and then, through a searing moment of empathy, began transforming from the inside out. He chose programs, accountability, and love-based action, discovering that giving others power made him truly powerful. Released after nearly 31 years, Adonai rediscovered the world in color, found purpose in community work, and entered Homeboy Industries, where therapy, structure, and dignity anchor his new life. Today he serves people facing homelessness, mental health challenges, and reentry barriers; living proof that we are not defined by our worst act but by what we do next. His message is simple and radical: every person is meant to be loved, and we always have a choice.

00:00 — Homeboy & Purpose: What reentry looks like when it’s love-based08:41 — From El Salvador to LA: Childhood rupture, abuse, and the pull of gangs17:22 — Escalation: Guns, “power,” a murder at 16, arrest, and a life sentence26:03 — Prison Rules: Race politics, riots, fear—and the cost of belonging34:44 — The Turning Point: Seeing the victim’s family and choosing another path43:25 — Programs, Accountability, and Self-Love: Becoming free before release52:06 — Reentry in Action: Campaign work, therapy, school, and Homeboy1:00:47 — Closing: Your trauma is yours—and you’re meant to be loved

In this intimate conversation, host Cynthia Marks turns the mic on herself to share the love story and life lessons behind And Now Love. She recounts meeting psychoanalyst Dr. Bernard Bail at age 92, the dream that foretold their partnership, and how dreamwork helped her peel back imprints and find her true voice. With Dr. Loren Weiner, Cynthia traces Bail’s arc—from WWII POW to paradigm-challenging analyst—showing how his experiences shaped a theory that the “war inside” must be healed to end the wars outside. They reflect on spirit, courage, and why genuine love is action, not lip service. Cynthia offers raw, moving examples of dreams that expose locked-in patterns, and the freedom that comes from naming what love is (and isn’t). The episode also explores Bail’s battles for intellectual openness in psychoanalysis and his insistence on women’s equal place at the table. It’s a tender, candid look at the man, the method, and the marriage that sparked this podcast—and an invitation to look within.

In this gripping episode of "And Now, Love," Cynthia Marks sits down with Owen Hanson, author of The California Kid, to unpack his extraordinary life story. Owen takes listeners on a journey through his transformation from a USC athlete to running a high-stakes underground betting empire. The conversation dives into his struggles with identity, the pursuit of belonging, and the adrenaline-fueled decisions that led him to incarceration. Owen reflects on his time in confinement, his eventual path to self-reform, and his remarkable ability to rebuild his life. This episode offers an unflinching look at the consequences of ambition, the pursuit of redemption, and the lessons that come from finding purpose against all odds.