your child freedom formula - has anyone tried it?

[lu9months]

ive seen adverts for this on fb. they claim to be able to cure anxiety in young people. im suspicious - and nowhere does it tell you the cost. however im fairly desperate since my 16 year old is very disabled by anxiety. thanks

It would be good for some feedback further down the line on how things have improved. I’ve learnt a lot over the years but that doesn’t help things improve at all, I just understand how she got into this massive hole a lot better. Learning and understanding is rubbish without strategies. She’s currently completely debilitated and unable to take part in anything. Perhaps it’s too early for you to come up with any answers right now but please do let us know in a few weeks.

@TeenMinusTests A lovely friend of mine was keen to start up a mums & daughters mutual support and open discussion group, but she moved away. I should talk to her about ideas for how to start something like this. (It would be totally without cost).

i saw lots of negative comments on Trust Pilot which have disappeared. now only effusive positive ones ( apart from 1). any idea whats happened?

I found this youngminds.org.uk/find-help/for-parents/how-to-set-up-your-own-parents-support-group/
If anyone might find it useful.

It’s the fundamental understanding etc that is making a difference! I don’t know what else to say on that matter,

I’d love to know what they teach you in order to reach the ‘fundamental understanding’. I mean, what are the fundamental ideas?

As far as I can tell, the fundamental principle is that anxiety is not a “mental health problem” but a physical problem - a stress response flooding the body with adrenaline. So far so good. In order to get out of the anxiety ‘loop’ there’s some sort of element of ‘tough love’ for want of a better expression - not ‘indulging’ the stress-provoking behaviours/thoughts - and as a family you provide this tough love.

I think?

The rest is just peer support (great if it’s regulated and trained for, or great if it’s a free support group unregulated by the organisation, but this seems a mix of the two which is muddy) and access to lots of video content and Zoom sessions.

Is it worth in excess of £5K? Who knows.

What is fundamentally problematic (to my mind) about this is that it’s not transparent, and lack of transparency is a hallmark of either a) poor business and marketing tactics, either through ignorance or deliberate manipulation for financial gain, or b) cult-like love-bombing, join us, we’re the only ones who understand the secret.

Neither of the above seem compatible with teenage clients.

As I’ve said before, I think this is a small-time operation now getting too ambitious with its online platform without having done due diligence.

Anyone who thinks there is no science explaining how anxiety is the release of adrenaline in the body needs to just search online! It is nothing to do with serotonin levels as in clinic depression, hence why SSRI antidepressants do not work and it is NOT a mental health disorder. Adrenaline affects our thoughts (it is the “fight or flight” hormone) but there is no chemical imbalance in the brain as with all mental health disorders! The science is all there in medical journals..it’s not “bollocks” as someone has suggested on here. It is scientific fact! Meds cans be given to dull the effects of the adrenaline response but unless you can reset the adrenaline level back to normal by curing the anxiety disorder, you’ll never be free of the condition. My son has this and it has torn our family apart over the past 3 years. We tried CAMHS, counselling, CBT, psychotherapy...all made him worse. I’ve been on this course for 3 weeks and it’s absolutely brilliant! There are payment plans - you don’t fork out the full amount upfront. I have no doubt that in years to come, the NHS and schools will adopt this approach as what is currently on offer simply does not work for anxiety disorders and associated OCD, eating disorders etc. It’s so sad that so many people on here are so quick to dismiss a new approach because your children will be missing a genuine opportunity to get better. The formula requires 100% commitment for the entire family to follow it in order for it to work. It’s hard work but there is support there every step of the way! I suspect the person accusing it of being a pyramid scheme on here (it’s nothing like a pyramid scheme 🙄!) didn’t follow the programme correctly and put in the effort for the time required - anxiety disorders are not cured overnight! This is not a magic wand moment - results take hard graft and behaviour changes for everyone in the family, not just the person suffering from the anxiety disorder. Keep an open mind, people!

[quote JungleMum40]@GoodButNaughty
This is in reply to that massive message - I have just nearly finished my free week, I have learnt so much already, that completely makes sense, you have the complete wrong impression of these lovely people.

The saddest thing about this post is the lack of compassion for people who are trying their upmost best from what I have seen this week, I am still baffled that you even have the time to comment such hateful words and calling people names, I don’t think that is very compassionate or caring at all, I am still not out off by these posts and will be singing up! I have nothing but nice comments to make about these people who are trying to give my daughter their life back!
Every place you go to everywhere you go is always going to have people who don’t agree or have nasty or negative things to say, but at least get your facts straight!
You are literally wasting your time if you think about reporting, if you think about taking it to a tv show ? They are just going to say to you these people are saving lives which I 100% believe they are. So I suggest if you come back in 3 months time I will update you on how we have been getting on.

Thanks, logging out now :)[/quote]
Hi! I think the course is amazing too! I’ll see you on the drop-in zooms ;)...I’m Lauren! Xx

@MumOf2Teens2020

Anyone who thinks there is no science explaining how anxiety is the release of adrenaline in the body needs to just search online! It is nothing to do with serotonin levels as in clinic depression, hence why SSRI antidepressants do not work and it is NOT a mental health disorder. Adrenaline affects our thoughts (it is the “fight or flight” hormone) but there is no chemical imbalance in the brain as with all mental health disorders! The science is all there in medical journals..it’s not “bollocks” as someone has suggested on here. It is scientific fact! Meds cans be given to dull the effects of the adrenaline response but unless you can reset the adrenaline level back to normal by curing the anxiety disorder, you’ll never be free of the condition. My son has this and it has torn our family apart over the past 3 years. We tried CAMHS, counselling, CBT, psychotherapy...all made him worse. I’ve been on this course for 3 weeks and it’s absolutely brilliant! There are payment plans - you don’t fork out the full amount upfront. I have no doubt that in years to come, the NHS and schools will adopt this approach as what is currently on offer simply does not work for anxiety disorders and associated OCD, eating disorders etc. It’s so sad that so many people on here are so quick to dismiss a new approach because your children will be missing a genuine opportunity to get better. The formula requires 100% commitment for the entire family to follow it in order for it to work. It’s hard work but there is support there every step of the way! I suspect the person accusing it of being a pyramid scheme on here (it’s nothing like a pyramid scheme 🙄!) didn’t follow the programme correctly and put in the effort for the time required - anxiety disorders are not cured overnight! This is not a magic wand moment - results take hard graft and behaviour changes for everyone in the family, not just the person suffering from the anxiety disorder. Keep an open mind, people!

So what is the formula?

Sorry - what do you mean? The “formula” is the course. Take a look at their website - it’s all explained on there. I’ll post again in a week or so to update on our progress as a family.

@NoSquirrels thank you for articulating (much better than me!) what I think

So strange how many people can precisely articulate the negatives, but the freedomformula cheerleaders can't seem to even vaguely hint at qualitative benefits, other than "it's great"!

I've had a call, it wasn't even articulated on the call, never mind their website, which now resembles a cesspit of passive-agression; "please forgive us if you can't afford us", zoom meetings which appear scripted and the likes.

I do wonder if any of the Robins are on this thread.

Adrenaline affects our thoughts (it is the “fight or flight” hormone) but there is no chemical imbalance in the brain as with all mental health disorders! The science is all there in medical journals..it’s not “bollocks” as someone has suggested on here. It is scientific fact! Meds cans be given to dull the effects of the adrenaline response but unless you can reset the adrenaline level back to normal by curing the anxiety disorder, you’ll never be free of the condition.

That’s fine. Adrenaline = fight or flight, when it becomes chronic that’s where a natural response becomes an ‘anxiety condition’. Not secret, not controversial.

No one on this thread is suggesting it’s otherwise, as far as I know (it’s a long thread).

When anyone suffers from ‘anxiety’ they develop unhealthy coping mechanisms (avoidance etc) and when it’s a child or teenager the family (parents, caregivers) are basically co-dependent in the relationship. So makes sense that everyone sings off the same hymn sheet.

I’d be astonished if the programme wasn’t CBT based, which the NHS and CAMHS already use. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy means retraining the brain to deal with scary or anxiety inducing situations, telling the body not to react with adrenaline spikes. That’s free on the NHS.

If you pay a lot of money you invest heavily in the outcome. That’s where YCFF seems to be marketing itself.

It’s not “new”, as much as I can tell. But I can’t tell - about the science, about the ‘formula’, about anything - without signing up to an ‘introduction’ call, which (as I’ve repeatedly said) is not transparent and gives off hard-sell tactics.

And teens and hard sell tactics is Not Cool. In my (humble) opinion, of course.

I do wonder if any of the Robins are on this thread.

Yeah, me too.

@MumOf2Teens2020 ...results take hard graft and behaviour changes for everyone in the family, not just the person suffering from the anxiety disorder

I will try yet again for some insight: What behaviour changes?

MumOf There are payment plans - you don’t fork out the full amount upfront.

But you are still committed to the whole amount upfront aren't you? So if after a couple of weeks it isn't working for you as a family for whatever reason you do still have to pay the full amount.

@lu9months

i saw lots of negative comments on Trust Pilot which have disappeared. now only effusive positive ones ( apart from 1). any idea whats happened?

lu I suspect that comments accusing them of being a pyramid scheme have been removed by TrustPilot. Pyramid schemes are a very specific thing and YCFF isn't one. Possibly also reviews saying they are a scam.

I think any people who have used them and have been unhappy need to be very specific and dispassionate in their reviews, things that can't be refuted, and not throw around generic accusations.

e.g. (And I am completely making this up) 'We found our DC just couldn't do the tasks they were saying she had to such as lie on the grass or touch a lamppost. When we tried she crumbled and then refused to even go outside the door. We didn't get much support from the zoom sessions on how to overcome this, just advice that seemed emotionally manipulating saying we weren't trying hard enough'

I’m not on here to convince anyone of anything - that isn’t my job lol. I’m just giving my honest opinion on the course which my family are trying and so far, I feel incredibly positive about it. I’m not going to spend hours explaining the course - also not my job and there’s a website to do that! Good luck to everyone on here in getting their kids and teenagers back to a healthy place - we all have the same goal. It does appear that a couple on this thread are just attacking the programme because they are sceptical...okay...don’t commit to it then! But I have chosen to and am pleased with my decision. Bye all...and good luck!

Honestly, given the length of the posts of the people who are using the programme, you'd think they would write something helpful instead of a load of waffle saying they don't have time to write anything.

Yes I'm skeptical.
But I'm not attacking, I'm asking for information.
The more my questions remain unanswered the more skeptical I get.

[quote TeenMinusTests]@MumOf2Teens2020 ...results take hard graft and behaviour changes for everyone in the family, not just the person suffering from the anxiety disorder

I will try yet again for some insight: What behaviour changes?[/quote]
Why are you expecting me to spend hours explaining the course to you? I don’t work for them, that’s not my job. Plus I don’t think anything that I’d say to you will change your mind on the course...also not my job! It’s sad because you are stopping other people from benefitting from something that really can help but I don’t have the time or energy to worry about that either, I’m afraid. People need to make their own decisions but will always be swayed by negativity online which is a shame. I get that though as there ARE many scams out there...it’s just that this isn’t one of them. I’ll not be posting on this thread anymore - I have much work to do in order to help make my teen well again! Good luck and wish you and your family all the best!

Mum In the same time you have taken to write your emotive paragraphs you could have posted some helpful pointers instead saying what kind of behaviour changes you as a family have had to make. It won't take 'hours'. Just a few bullets on what you have had to change.

I don't understand why you won't. This board is about sharing thoughts and experiences, and trying to help our young people. You are using a 'formula' that claims great things, and yet you seem unable to give any insight to us.

@TeenMinusTests

MumOf There are payment plans - you don’t fork out the full amount upfront.

But you are still committed to the whole amount upfront aren't you? So if after a couple of weeks it isn't working for you as a family for whatever reason you do still have to pay the full amount.

One more thing - they do a payment plan over 3 years...if people are really unhappy then they can just stop payments! There are laws in place to protect the consumer. They say money back if unsatisfied but I’ve not tried as I’m happy on the course. I’ve wasted thousands of pounds on private CBT and psychotherapy for my son over the years with zero results...this is 100% worth every penny for us and I hope over time, it becomes more affordable and therefore available for all (which is the aim!). Bye again.

Mum They say money back if unsatisfied

@GoodButNaughty Can you confirm whether Mum is correct? Has your unsatisfied friend had their money back?

@TeenMinusTests

Mum In the same time you have taken to write your emotive paragraphs you could have posted some helpful pointers instead saying what kind of behaviour changes you as a family have had to make. It won't take 'hours'. Just a few bullets on what you have had to change.

I don't understand why you won't. This board is about sharing thoughts and experiences, and trying to help our young people. You are using a 'formula' that claims great things, and yet you seem unable to give any insight to us.

I can’t explain in “bullet points” or posts! It’s very involved! Would you expect a conventional CBT therapist to explain to you how to get well in a few bullet points? That’s impossible! Over time the behaviour of the anxiety sufferer changes to become more extreme/negative and unfortunately the behaviour of those around them alters negatively due to a lack of understanding in what is happening to the sufferer, causing a vicious cycle. This awful condition has all but destroyed my family over the last few years. The course teaches you how to break this cycle with strategies and behaviour changes...there are hundreds of videos which teach you how to do this - I can’t explain in a post! There are also 3 daily zoom parent meetings with a mentor and other parents which have been invaluable to me (I do one or two a day) as well as mentoring for the child. I really do wish you all the best and hope this helps.

@TeenMinusTests sadly this is not my friends experience but I understand she paid over a shorter timescale... certainly not over 3 years (3 years..???!!)