Stuart Saves His Family

Stuart Saves His Family

STEVE FRANKLIN, M.S.W., L.C.S.W. 6829 Gravois Ave. 314-517-8383

St. Louis, MO 63116 FAX 203-738-4036 www.SteveFranklinMSW.com SteveFranklin@JUNO.com

Stuart Saves His Family

• Introduction: Steve Franklin, MSW, LCSW

• Movie• Chris Clark, Artistic Director

Cinema Saint Louis ( CinemaStLouis.org )• Dan Duncan, NCADA ( ncada-stl.org/ )• Steve Franklin, moderating Q&A and

audience comments

Stuart Saves His Family

Based on Saturday Night Live character

Created and Performed by

(Senator) Al Franken

Adapted from his book:

Stuart Saves His Family

I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough,

and Doggone It, People Like Me!

Daily Affirmations With Stuart Smalley.

Stuart Saves His Family

Stuart is a member of several

“12-Step Groups”

Stuart Saves His Family

Programs designed to help people recover from

addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems…

Based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous

• Step 1 - Powerless • 2 - Greater Power • 3 – Decide to turn over problems • 4 - Searching and fearless moral

inventory • 5 - Admit to our wrongs• 6 –Ready to have God remove

defects

• Step 7 - Ask God to remove shortcomings

• 8 - List of persons we harmed, willing to make amends

• 9 - Made amends wherever possible• 10 - Promptly admitted new wrongs• 11 - Conscious contact with God as we

understood God

• 12- Carry this message to other addicts

12-Step Groups• AA - Alcoholics Anonymous

STL: http://www.aastl.org/index.php http://www.aastl.org/search_bb.php

• ACA - Adult Children of Alcoholicshttp://www.adultchildren.org/ http://allone.com/12/aca/

• Al-Anon/Alateen, friends/family of alcoholicshttp://www.missouri-al-anon.org/ http://www.missouri-al-anon.org/where&when.html

• CA - Cocaine Anonymous http://www.ca.org/ http://www.camissouri.org/ http://www.camissouri.org/meetings3.php

• CLA - Clutterers Anonymous• CMA - Crystal Meth Anonymous

http://www.crystalmeth.org/ http://www.crystalmeth.org/find-a-cma-meeting/cma-meeting-search.html

• Co-Anon, for friends and family of addicts

• CoDA - Co-Dependents Anonymous,

for people working to end patterns of dysfunctional relationships and develop functional and healthy relationships http://www.coda.org/ http://www.coda.org/ajax_control.php?action=load_translation&language=1

• COSA - formerly Codependents of Sex Addicts

• COSLAA - CoSex and Love Addicts Anonymous

• DA - Debtors Anonymoushttp://www.debtorsanonymous.org/ http://www.debtorsanonymous.org/admin/index.php/find

• DRA – Dual Recovery Anonymoushttp://draonline.org/ http://draonline.org/meetings.html

• EA - Emotions Anonymous; mental and emotional illness

http://www.emotionsanonymous.org/ http://allone.com/12/ea/

• EHA - Emotional Health Anonymous • FA - Families Anonymous-relatives/friends of

addicts

http://familiesanonymous.org/ • FA - Food Addicts in Recovery Anonymous

http://www.foodaddicts.org/ http://foodaddicts.org/meetings.php

• FAA - Food Addicts Anonymous• GA - Gamblers Anonymous

http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/ http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/locations

• Gam-Anon/Gam-A-Teen—friends/family members of problem gamblers

• HA - Heroin Anonymoushttp://www.heroin-anonymous.org/ http://www.heroin-anonymous.org/HApage2.html

• MA - Marijuana Anonymoushttp://www.marijuana-anonymous.org/ http://www.marijuana-anonymous.org/meetings

• NA - Narcotics Anonymous http://www.na.org/ http://www.na.org/?ID=home-content-fm

• Nar-Anon-friends/family members of addictshttp://nar-anon.org/Nar-Anon/Nar-Anon_Home.html

http://nar-anon.org/Nar-Anon/Meetings.html

• NicA - Nicotine Anonymous

http://www.nicotine-anonymous.org/ http://www.nicotine-anonymous.org/meetings.php

• OA - Overeaters Anonymoushttp://www.oa.org/ http://www.oa.org/membersgroups/find-a-meeting/

• OLGA - Online Gamers Anonymous• PA - Pills Anonymous-prescription pill

addiction.

• SA - Sexaholics Anonymous http://sa.org/ http://www.orgsites.com/mo/sa-of-st-louis/

• SCA - Sexual Compulsives Anonymous• SIA - Survivors of Incest Anonymous

http://www.siawso.org/ http://www.siawso.org/Default.aspx?pageId=7166

• SLAA - Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous

http://www.slaafws.org/ http://www.slaafws.org/meetings

• UA – Under-earners Anonymous• WA - Workaholics Anonymous

I go to Al-Anon, a 12-step program for

family members and friends of alcoholics.

----Al Franken

Franni Franken: Campaign Ad

When I was struggling with my recovery, Al stood right by my side and he stood up for me.

After what we went through, Al wrote two beautiful movies. And he wrote them because

he wanted to help people…. “

The other movie:

“When A Man Loves A Woman”,

1994

Al Franken:

One valuable thing I learned in Al-Anon is that you can learn stuff from people

who aren't necessarily smarter than you.

Which is kind of an obvious thing, but I didn't understand that.

Al Franken:

I'd be in an Al-Anon meeting and I'd hear somebody say something

and I'd be very judgmental and say, "Oh, that person's an idiot,"

and a month later that same personwould say something

that would touch me very deeply.

Al Franken:

I was brought up to do well in school, and you learn from people

who know more than you, and that's about it.

So Stuart is kind of a character that people can learn stuff from,

even though he's an idiot. For every hundred steps forward,

he takes 99 backward, but he does end up one step ahead.

Al Franken:There's a part of me that's definitely

Stuart … that's very lame, that worries

I'll never live up to my expectations for myself and that I'm a lousy father.

I worry about all sorts of stupid things I don't need to worry about. I have a real love for Stuart…

And I think what's funny about him is just externalizing

all this lameness I have inside me."

Questions to Ponder• How much is Stuart’s family

realistic or an exaggeration?  • Does it feel OK

to laugh at the dysfunction? • Does Stuart have a clinical psychological

disorder? (Personality Disorder? PTSD/Trauma? Anxiety Disorder?…???)

Melody Beattie

In all his struggles and innocence and sincerity, and dedication, Stuart made me laugh.

He helped me see myself in a new light. He gave me hope.

He helped me appreciate the Stuart in me.

And that’s okay.

Stuart Saves His Family"You'll laugh

because it's not your family,

Stuart Saves His Family"You'll laugh

because it's not your family,

you'll cry because it is.