The Official And Now Love Podcast: www.andnowlove.com Friendly House: www.friendlyhouse.org Friendly House Donation: www.my.onecause.com/fundraiser/organizations/12ca3baa-ecb0-49a7-9f54-1fa7db08011f/fundraisers/fundraiser:66ff43d3-f2e2-4f02-974b-17514ebae027 Twenty years ago, a life-saving scholarship brought Christina Simos through the doors of Friendly House — the first all-women's recovery home in the country. Today, she runs the whole place as CEO. In this powerful episode, Cynthia Marks sits down with Christina for a conversation about lived experience, radical equity, and reinventing what recovery can look like when it's built on love instead of rules. Christina shares her story with striking honesty — growing up inside the family disease of alcoholism, carrying generational trauma and the weight of being the "parental child," and the long, hard road that eventually led her, terrified, through the doors of the house that would change her life. Together, she and Cynthia explore why real healing can't happen on a 28-day clock, how community and sisterhood become the ground people rebuild on, and the belief at the center of Christina's work: my healing is your liberation, and your healing is mine. They talk about the remarkable 75-year legacy of Friendly House — just four executive directors across three-quarters of a century — meeting each woman exactly where she is, and the joy Christina has reclaimed in her music, her son, and yes, even championship dodgeball. It's a story of coming full circle, and a living example of what it means to lead with love. This is And Now Love. Listen to your dreams and live from your heart. Please follow, rate, and share the podcast, and pass this episode along to someone who might need it. To learn more, donate, volunteer, or find help, visit Friendly House LA online. Friendly House's 75th Anniversary Celebration takes place Saturday, October 17th at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. This episode includes candid discussion of addiction and past suicidal thoughts, shared in the spirit of recovery and hope. If you or someone you love is struggling, the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 by call or text at 988, and the SAMHSA National Helpline is at 1-800-662-4357. Follow our socials: Instagram / / andnowlove.podcast Facebook / / And Now Love Podcast Youtube / / @AndNowLovePodcast TikTok / / and.now.love.podc Timestamps 0:41 — Welcome, Christina Simos 1:58 — Dodgeball, Music, and the Gifts That Kept Her Hopeful 3:55 — Growing Up in the Family Disease 7:20 — Finding No Escape, and Becoming Her Mother 9:45 — Walking Through the Doors of Friendly House 13:40 — Healing as Liberation and the Power of Being Seen 17:20 — 75 Years and Why 28 Days Is a Lie 21:30 — What Actually Happens at Friendly House 46:00 — Carrying the Torch and How to Help