Cary Quashen

Dysfunctional families like those from TV and movies including the "Osborne’s" and Kevin Spacey’s family in "American Beauty" have been entertaining for many Americans to watch.

But for those struggling through turmoil, it’s not amusing at all. In 1989, a unique support group took action to reach troubled teens and families in crisis.

The group has been providing a free service ever since.

Cary Quashen, 46, of Santa Clarita has been clean and sober for almost 22 years and has dedicated 19 years of his life to Action, a nonprofit support group—for parents and teens—that provides counseling services. The group meets, free of charge, every Thursday night from 7 to 9 p.m. at Oak View High School in Oak Park.

Action, which survives on grants and donations, works with each family as a group and individually to identify and treat high-risk behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse, truancy, criminal activity and gang involvement.

"I don’t want these kids to go through what I went through," Quashen said. "All the kids are good," he said, "but they just make bad choices."

Andrea Ziegler of Westlake Village had trouble with her son, Alex (now 19), several years ago and didn’t initially know what to do. She sent Alex to Utah, hoping new friends would solve the problem. It didn’t work, Ziegler said. He still had trouble.

After visiting different support groups, Ziegler learned about Action and decided to try one more.

"It’s an amazing healing process," Ziegler said. "It saved our life, my marriage and it saved my family… Not enough people know about it," she said.

Getting there is difficult because many people are in denial, Quashen said. But with the support of the community, Action helped families out of denial.

School districts, sheriff departments and other groups have supported Action by referring families to Quashen.

The results are excellent, Quashen said. Not only have families improved their situation, but also cities all over the country have called Action, hoping that groups will form in their communities. But Action doesn’t just happen.

It takes people.

Getting comfortable with the idea of going to Action, Ziegler said, took a long time. "I cried for the first four months," she said. But she was told that she had to keep coming back, and she and her family did.

"(Alex) was out of control and had his own agenda and it was so bad that I knew he would die or be in jail," Ziegler said.

At Action, she met many other families with the same or similar problems. And she learned how other individuals dealt with the issues that faced her. Some families had worse problems, Ziegler said, but everyone was better off working together at Action. They all, she said, worked with each other.

The strength of Action is that it doesn’t just deal with teenagers in trouble, Quashen said. It takes in the whole family. And that, he said, makes it work.

"Many people call up and say, ‘Hey, fix my kid,’" Quashen said. The family must work together, he said, otherwise the teen won’t feel supported.

The Action program has been acknowledged by former President George Bush, former Gov. Pete Wilson, former U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston and former Mayor Tom Bradley, to name a few. Several school districts have recognized the program and know about its success.

Other Action support groups can be found throughout Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Ventura counties.

Ziegler still goes to Action meetings, even though her son is back on track and attending college. People should know that there’s a place they can go, Ziegler said, when there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

For more information, call the 24-hour hotline at (800) FOR-TEENS (367-8336).