Testimonies of Cary Quashen and Action
Here's What The Community Has To Say About Cary Quashen
and ACTION
• Here’s what Steven M. Jarvis says about ACTION and Cary
Quashen…
“A few words about Cary Quashen and the ACTION Program: As
a father of twin High School drug addicts, I can only say these
words through a story of my life:
I had married and moved to Santa Clarita when my twin girls
finished Junior High in Simi Valley. After one year of things
progressively getting worse for me, my girls and our new
family (4 teenaged girls), there was a light at the end of the
tunnel - ACTION. We heard about ACTION through some
friends, and decided that we should try it out. My wife and I
went to our first meeting - without any children.
I was still in denial that my twins were using drugs. I was
afraid, I was embarrassed, and I was lost in a world that was
unfamiliar to me as a 48 year old man! Then after several
introductions of other adult "guests" my fears started to
subside, and I felt that my wife and I were not alone in this
unfamiliar world.
Then after all the introductions of the "guests" of ACTION,
Cary introduces himself as an ex-addict that has been clean
for twenty plus years, and that he has work with "at risk teens
for a long time. He also states that we are glad you are here,
but we are sorry you have to be here, but this is a good place
to be! By this time, the feelings have changed to a more calm
and hopeful feeling that I can help my teenagers fight the
addiction!
I have been a loyal ACTION participant with at least one of my
twins for 2 1/2 years. One twin is thankful for the help of Cary
and ACTION, and is now in a year long program, and the other
twin has been in and out of 8 treatment and mental health
facilities, and is on the LONG road to recovery.
Cary's calming voice has been heard by me many times, at
all hours of the day and night, giving me the strength to fight
the addiction with my twins and not against them. Cary and
the ACTION team are credited with saving the lives of my
twins, and helping me, the parent of twin addicts, live a more
productive life.
I am still fearful that at any time one or both of the twins
will "re-lapse," but I now have the tools, the knowledge, and
more importantly the SUPPORT I needed from Cary and the
ACTION team. Drug abuse is a community and a nationwide
problem, and with more Cary's and ACTIONs in the community
and the nation, the more this "unfamiliar" world will turn
into a "familiar" world with the parents knowing how to help
instead of being lost ...
We end the meeting with the words "keep coming back 'cause
it works if you work it, and it won't if you don't, so work it
because your worth it." Our teenagers are worth it! Thank you
Cary and ACTION.” Steven M. Jarvis – Parent.
• Here’s what parents Rob and Darlene Curran have to say
about Cary Quashen and ACTION…
“First of all ACTION saved me from losing my mind because I
thought I was the only one in the entire world that had a kid
that over indulged in smoking pot. I didn’t know what “pot”
was and how addictive is. The ACTION Parent & Teen Support
group enlightened me on what drug addiction is and how to
deal with it. ACTION taught me and my husband how to be on
the same page and be team when it came to tough parenting,
and the need to be a parenting team and a team on the same
page. ACTION gave me the tools and the how to, to created
and follow through with consequences for my kid’s actions.
ACTION enlighten me and taught me that, parents have rights
and that children have rights, and where to draw the line and
has allowed me to take action. It has taught me what kind
of ACTION to take. The reassurance that Cary has given us,
that he is only a phone call away to support our family is very
reassuring.” Rob and Darlene Curran - Parents.
• Here’s what John Krinkle, William S. Hart High School
District Principal has this to say about Cary Quashen and
ACTION…
"I first met Cary Quashen four years ago as the Passport
Academy school principal. Passport Academy students are all
high-risk students who did not graduate from the 8th grade
and were students who needed an alternative 9th grade high
school placement option. The school housed 100 students on
a yearly basis. Cary spoke yearly to these kids about his life,
his tough school transition, his drug and alcohol use. He used
his own personal experiences to transcend or bridge the gap
and created relationships with these kids to allow them to
work on their own behavior issues. Cary then meet weekly
with students who wanted to work on changing behaviors
detrimental to their school performance, as well working
with teens who wanted to be come clean and sober. Cary was
always available to counsel with kids.
Kids need to know that people care about them and Cary truly
cares about kids. He is instrumental in kids getting in touch
with their emotional and physical needs.
Cary is like the movie "Pay It Forward," he has inspired all
sorts of people to volunteer their time who have been there
before and experienced the same situations in their lives that
these teens are experiencing. He teaches them to work with
teen's needs and they have the opportunity to "pay it forward"
and give back to others what was once given to them and teach
others the ability to achieve positive changed behaviors.
Cary is the critical component to finding outside placement for
kids in need of other health service options. When Cary and
ACTION is asked to come in and intervene in a crucial situation,
Cary comes in with an objective manner and has the ability to
assist in the personal/private lives of at risk teens and their
families.” John Krinkle, William. S. Hart High School District
Principal.
• Here’s what Robin Giesler, Bowman High School Principal
has to say about Cary Quashen and ACTION…
“The ACTION program a tremendous resource for teenagers
and families who experience the heartbreak and family crisis
of teens who are experiencing at-risk behavior. Cary is a caring
individual, dedicated and committed to helping families in
trouble. Bowman High School is often thought about as a
school campus for misfit kids. Cary and his school counselors
visit on their own time as volunteers at our campus every
Tuesday and works with a group of kids who are battling
drug and alcohol issues as well as truancy issues. Thanks
to Cary and his program we have a number of students
who have achieved sobriety and have once again become
motivated students who are working hard enjoying school both
academically and socially. Robin Giesler, Bowman High School
Principal.”
• Ed Redd has this to say about ACTION and Cary Quashen
….
“I have been working with teens for a number of years as well
as teaching parenting classes for the City of Santa Clarita. I
constantly refer families to the ACTION Parent & Teen Support
program who are in need of long-term intervention and
support. Be it defiant teen issues, truancy issues, or drug and
alcohol issues, parents who attend ACTION report they walk
away with
on going support day or night. They tell me they have gained
strength and wisdom from the program and are able to put into
ACTION the new
parenting skills they have learned. But what's more important
to me is the feedback I receive from teens who tell me they
are comfortable attending ACTIOIN meetings and look forward
to being there every Tuesday evening. I have witnessed many
teens attending these meeting alone with out parental support.
That's testimony enough to the good works of a program
when teens are willing to attend all by themselves.” Ed Redd,
Parenting Instructor City of Santa Clarita.
• DeDe Kelly has this to say about ACTION and Cary
Quashen …
“What do you say about a man who voluntarily picks up
the phone every time you call with a kid in crisis? As a
school counselor I find the services of Cary Quashen and
ACTION invaluable. Be it a teen in severe depression, a teen
threatening suicide, or a teen who's behavior is so defiant that
we must remove him from school as not effect other students,
Cary is there. He has been there to provide counseling services
to school counselors, school physiologists, teachers and more
importantly students and parents. What is amazing about
this is, that he volunteers his time. He hosts a class weekly
for Saugus students who are struggling with sobriety and are
working on various aspects of changed behavior be it grades,
attitude or self esteem issues. When it seems that parents
have exhausted all options it gives me great pleasure to refer
families to the ACTION Parent & Teen Support Group Program.”
DeDe Kelly, Saugus High School Counselor.
• Here's what Mary Chester has to say about ACTION and
Cary Quashen
"Cary Quashen is a hero who needs to be acknowledged. He
is a very rare human being who never asks for anything, but
continues to give. He is my 911 when I can't figure out how
to help a family in crisis. He is always there to help and he
never gives up on families. As a child and welfare attendance
specialist for the William S. Hart High School District, I make
referrals to ACTION from the School Attendance Review Board
and the way that we judge an organization's performance
is, and whether or not they are helpful, is by assessing their
success rates and monitoring changed student and family
behaviors. As a professional, I can make referrals to ACTION
and see families change, families willing to make changes in
how they discipline their kids and become responsible in taking
ACTION for their teen's behavior. It has been the use of the
ACTION program, which is free and volunteered to us, that
we have seen our greatest interventions and changed family
behaviors. We see families getting healthy. We send
Cary Quashen and ACTION our most difficult cases. He never
gives up. Day or night, he is available to our office. When you
only have two professionals serving a high school population
with over 17,000 students it is estimated that 10 percent of
that student population is an at risk population. It takes a
village to raise these teens and Cary is an integral part of
that village. Cary is truly a humble humanitarian and serves
our community selflessly." Mary Chester, Child and Welfare
Attendance Specialist for the Wm. S. Hart High School District.
• Here's what Lori DiAcri has to say about ACTIONand Cary
Quashen…
“I was amazed and thankful there is a program like this when
your family is hitting rock bottom. Carrie (my daughter) had
been in trouble at school but we were we were in denial. I
knew something was going on because I saw all the changes
and the signs, but didn’t want to believe them. The first sign
of trouble became apparent when she was busted at school for
holding “pot.” She told me she was holding it for a friend. I had
no reason not to believe her because she had never been in
trouble and smoking was not in her nature. She was grounded,
and began to change and we felt
like we were on the road to a straight and narrow path. This
is when, we as a family, and I as a parent learned how strong
the lure of peer pressure is and about the herd mentality of
kids. We had just found our way to ACTION(a school principal
suggested we attend a meeting) and had just attended the City
of Santa Clarita’s Blue Ribbon Taskforce Teen Scene Unplugged
event, to begin working on our denial issues and to begin to
learn to strengthen our parenting skills. We had just met Cary
Quashen and Cary gave his business card to my daughter Carrie
when the unimaginable occurred and we got that dreaded
phone call from school, “Mrs. DiAcri, your daughter is being
taken away in an ambulance to Henry Mayo Hospital, she has
just overdose on some kind of drug, but she is still alive.”
It’s obvious that my kid not only had a problem, but a sever
problem. Before I made it to the doors of ACTIONI had so much
shame that everything in my life was so upside down. How
could I not be meeting the needs of my kids when I was so
successful in my life? As a family, when you are in crisis, you
are fragile and it’s tough to walk into a room and seek help.
The ACTION Parent & Teen Support Group Program gives me
and my family a forum to discuss our problems, to say “this is
where my life is” and a place to be safe, a place to be accepted
and not judged. Cary has been a blessing in our lives (parents
and daughter). He has not only provided the help we needed
when we needed it. He has, through numerous resources
to provide Carrie with the help she needed when it came to
finding her the medical and psychological help she needed.”
Lori DiAcri - Parent
• Here’s what Dell Schillec has to say about Cary Quashen
and ACTION…
“Without this program I have no idea where my daughter
would be at this point in time. Not to get dramatic, but she
would probably be dead by now.
With one phone call and conversation Cary enabled me to put
her in a lock-down facility in Los Angeles. He and I had never
spoken up to this point, as a matter of fact we were working
with with another group at the time and they are the ones who
recommended Cary.
My daughter was out of control using drugs, drinking and
failing high school-previously she had been an A student. She
ran away, changed her circle of friends and generally started
down a path that looked endless...until we came in contact with
Action.
Carey had trained counselors to handle the kids and to handle
the parents. Being able to walk into a room with other parents
going through the same kind of behavior you are dealing with
and having the same kinds of feelings you are feeling made all
of the difference. Our counselor, Vinny, was a gem. He had
great insight and was able to give each person in the group
some hope that there is really an end to all this & it can even
be a positive one! We were taught different parenting skills,
what, by law was mandatory for us as parents to provide, how
to set limits and stick to them and most of all we learned that
we were not alone-VERY IMPORTANT!!!
Without Cary & this group I know that I would not have
(almost six years later) a beautiful, successful, happy, healthy,
& sober daughter now. She has since graduated high school,
and attended a few years of college and is perusing a career
in finance...all thanks to Action, Carey, & her counselor.” Dell
Schillec – Parent.
• Here’s what Robin Bateman has to say about ACTION and
Cary Quashen…
“When I called and spoke to Cary the first time I knew he
would help us. He was reassuring and kind hearted. I felt
desperate and he shared my concerns about my daughter. He
knew exactly what I was talking about with little explanation.
He spoke to my husband and I individually and also to my
daughter the first night we went to ACTION. I noticed his pager
and phone were going off constantly and he was overwhelmed
with parents seeking his advice and guidance during their
times of crisis. The difference
he makes in addressing the concerns, education and emotional
needs of addicts and their families is amazing. Cary is a man
who gives and gives of himself to better our lives, and that of
our community.” Robin Bateman – Parent.
• Here’s what Kim Stroh says about Cary Quashen and
ACTION…
“Attending the ACTION Parent & Teen Support Group Program,
and meeting Cary Quashen specifically, has changed my life
considerably. Cary played a key role in my recovery as a parent
of a drug using, defiant teen. Yes, I went through a recovery
just as my daughter did. He has educated me about drugs,
teen behavior, discipline, consequences and consistency. And,
he's taught me that guilt gets you nowhere. That it's not my
fault. With the parenting tools that I've learned from almost
10 months at Action, I've become a better parent. I've learned
techniques that other parents have used and had success with.
Cary is always reachable by phone during times of crisis. When
my daughter relapsed, Cary returned my frantic call with the
calm, reassuring manner that you can always count on. When
I hung up the phone, I felt at ease, and didn't fall apart as I
had in the past. During the next weekly ACTION meeting, we
worked through the reasons for my daughter's relapse and I
walked away with tips on how to get through the next week.
My daughter has been clean and sober for 9 months now, and
we're both so blessed to have been (and, still are) a part of the
ACTION Parent & Teen Support Group Program.” Kim Stroh -
Parent.