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

I'm not belittling experiences!

I am asking for information on their experiences, but I'm not getting much back apart from 'it's too complicated to explain'.

So far I have:

• there is a long chat to see if you are appropriate for the program.
• (after the new first free week) it involves a big monetary commitment up front.
• it involves first the family taking part in sessions, and then eventually the child
• the family has to change their behaviour and really work at it
• the child has to really want to get better too
• if you fail it is because you aren't committed enough

I'd just so like to know what kind of behaviour it is being recommended changing from and to what.

Have a lovely day everyone, I have a class to take now, and have nothing else to say, good luck.

@JungleMum40 - I don’t recall belittling anyone’s experience. I already stated my position on this.

As I continually state:

• It’s your choice if you want to pay YCFF and if they help you and your child that’s amazing!

• The formula appears on the face of it to have some good elements but others are not good/acceptable/appropriate

• I am not posting for a friend (as in ‘on behalf’ of them). I’m posting because my friend had a bad experience and I wish to be kind and warn others that this formula may also not work for them. My friend actually asked me not to waste my time as I’d likely get nowhere with the Robins. However I personally really dislike things being ‘unfair’ and it seems very unfair that there is not transparency of the business practices of YCFF.

Ultimately if the formula was only £100 it is unlikely any of us would be even having this discussion - but it’s not - it’s £5.5k (or £1.5k?? clarity is required on this) and this has the potential to put desperate people into serious debt, thus creating further challenges and issues for families. My friend does not have this as disposable income and so it seems unscrupulous to me that she was persuaded of the benefits of this formula when this was known by the Robins.

@EarsFlappingInTheWInd thank you for this fantastic post. I often struggle to coherently make my point and I think you made yours superbly

@GoodButNaughty
I have said all I have needed to say, I think you have to be really careful and have evidence to back up any ‘unfair’or evidence that it is not ‘appropriate’. As a mum going through it I don’t think that these people are causing any harm whatsoever. In fact I’m very happy with my choice.
I really really don’t want to get involved in this silly thread anymore, but then If it’s about the money and not about the actual formula, and then they have put up some more affordable prices, what then? I am honestly wasting my time, and I have a class. I have tried my hardest to open up and I am not getting anywhere. My gym has 50% off at the moment, please don’t mention me in anything else I won’t reply.

I just wanted to reiterate, as other posters have mentioned, you can turn off notifications / hide threads if you need to.

Jungle, I haven't made any,( in your words)" bitchy "comments.

I've clearly stated my reasons for commenting on this discussion, and you have been very aggressive and dismissive of me in more than one of your posts. As I said, I'll get over it, I'm in a fairly good place with my mental health at the moment and if I feel it's getting too much I'll step away from the thread. I get that you're upset but there are things you can do (such as turning off notifications) that will help, if this thread is taking up too much of your time and energy at the moment.

I for one have found the thread interesting and I'm okay with contributing to this in the hope that anyone thinking of using YCFF now or in future will be able to get a balanced view.

As ears said, no commercial company or organisation is above scrutiny, and how a company responds to scrutiny is also important.

NB I've consciously not "@" jungle (or any other poster), on this thread, as I know myself that it's easy to get caught up in these threads, and not everyone might have their notifications set up how they want them. I don't mind anyone @ me as I have them set up

I don't see that anyone here has said anything untoward, or that is not focussed on trying to get some clarity around this company. Please don't feel pressured to justify your presence on this thread.
The comments and unanswered questions pretty much speak for themselves.

I agree with double.

IMO the posts making accusations of bitchiness are manipulative and designed to silence criticism. Any transparent and fair company would answer these valid concerns not try to silence them.

Totally agree double and dappled.

With that sort of money you can pay for private therapy. Don't waste your money people, this is a manipulative scam.

Speed I don't think it is a scam. People do seem to get what they are promised which is a lot of support, much more so than any weekly therapy situation.
What is less clear is how transparent/ethical/effective they are and what happens if a family feel it isn't working for them, and whether they constitute 'value for money'.
Unless you have evidence otherwise?

100% agree dappled. It's not great being labelled as "bitchy" for simply criticising a company's practices. A straightforward refute of any of the criticisms and statements/evidence to the contrary would be much more useful, but nobody has been able to provide any as yet.

I have followed this long thread with great interest and can only thank everyone for taking the time to contribute as I have found it incredibly useful and informative and it most certainly made me think and research CFF at considerable length before even entertaining an hour long call. I admit to having spent too many hours trying to find out more about this company and despite several searches in the companies registry have reached my limit. The accounts posted for the Robins various business interests do not make any sense if they are charging £5500 per family? Either they have no financial expertise or an exceptional accountant as they don't appear to be making any money acc to their filed accounts 🤔Having said that I stumbled across an ad looking for " mentors" claiming wages in excess of £40k so something does not add up here . From what I can see Sam is a co Director with her husband for a signage company (everything available publicly if you search long enough) and her stated occupation is sales and creative director. It seems that the company has been in existence in various names, such as really red ltd and red hot signs and is London based. It has been operating in some form or other since 1997. My point is that Sam has run this company for years and I cannot for the life of me work out how making signs then qualifies you to "cure" child and adult anxiety ( they previously advertised both adult and specifically male adult anxiety therapy and presumably still do outside of CFF). I could find no medical or professional qualification anywhere although that does not mean she does not have one but personally I would really like to know how she gained her specialism ( other than personal experience of suffering anxiety). Having a child with anxiety disorder, ocd and various other mental health issues I do think as someone on here very aptly suggested that as parents we do our due diligence before possibly making situations worse? The fact that children are being advised to stop medications and parents and childen remove themselves from any CAMHS treatment is a serious issue and not something I am comfortable with. I hope this formula does work for those who have signed up but I personally will not be doing so without some further concrete evidence about who these people are and how they can claim to be able to cure my child after 6-8 weeks.

@Theboss52 I think it was me that mentioned it getting worse with many interventions. We’re currently at a point that she’s considering going to a zoo next week (first time in years) so the initial appointments have been deferred just in case for private therapy. I did look at really red limited too but wasn’t sure if it was the same person, even when you look on the current company there are no assets and it looks like they lost money last year. New accounting period now so let’s see what the next submission brings. It doesn’t add up, we had a call and felt like they really understood our situation, then were prying into our financial situation followed by the guilt. At no point in the call did I feel reassured that we really knew what would be expected other than attend calls. Unless they get a lot more open up front, we won’t be doing it either. Hope things are working out for everyone on here, it certainly has been a useful thread.

Thank you so much for your post TheBoss52 saying that the thread has been helpful to you. I personally only have the aim to inform and provide transparency for others so they don’t experience what my friend has.

(Btw I’ve not @ tagged you as I’m taking Mibb2’s very sensible approach now and not tagging posters so I don’t set off any notifications).

I’ve ascertained the same information as you from publicly available records however I have some further awareness regarding accounts: the new business model (circa 150 clients @ £110pcm according to their own claims) is relatively new and given the last submitted accounts are only made up to March 2020 and also only state 2 employees these accounts won’t reflect their recent business ‘success’.

I await with interest the following years accounts although we won’t learn much as they’ll come under micro accounts so will only include limited information.

My ‘file of evidence’ is growing larger by the day, with people PMing me additional useful information and experiences (some of which I’ve been asked expressly not to share here and for which I completely accept and honour that request).

I will be meeting with my therapist friend again soon and passing the updates I have to her. I expect this will allow various things to happen in order to assist in gaining some clarity and transparency (she has kindly said she will do these things as I simply don’t have the time).

I have put together a list of these actions but am reticent to post it here for fear of being criticised and attacked (again) by the YCFF advocates. If you’d like to see the list I’ll happily PM it to you. Similarly if you have any information that would support my actions I’d welcome you PMing me. I promise to respect your privacy and confidentiality and if it is asked (as others who have PMd me have asked) I will not share the information anywhere publicly save for reports to organisations such as HMRC.

Now to say good night all - I’ve spent hours on this today so need a break and a G&T

I think it's time we all conclude these investigations and agree this is a scam. Those who choose to use this program it's at own risk. The 60min call tell it all- a sales pitch to recruit desperate parents. Perhaps moving forward we might all need to petition the Education & Health secretary to improve and look into effective management of anxious kids in school provision, support & understanding by teachers, effective therapeutic interventions in schools and revamp Camhs- it's not fit for for purpose. Let's demand better services locally and nationally.

GullibleTwo - while I agree with your fabulous suggestions to petition and seek improved services, this is not going to resolve the current issue of YCFF acting in an unscrupulous and potentially harmful manner in a timely way.

My aim is, has been and will remain to be, to call YCFFs business practices into question to save any further parents experiencing what my friend did.

While the word ‘scam’ could be used in the context of YCFF I think as TeensMinusTests stated in a post further up, the service offered is the service provided ergo not a ‘scam’, however (and I’m at risk of repeating previous posts here):

• the content and approach is questionable, potentially very damaging and being offered by unqualified people
• the way clients are ‘chosen’ (often anxious/desperate) and ‘signed-up’ is akin to being manipulated and it seems scarcity is often cited (e.g. there may not be a space for your family if you don’t sign up now...)

• gathering financial information about potential clients is a worrying and inappropriate practice
• there’s not an appropriate cooling off period (thinking about it, isn’t there a law about this! Distance selling i think??)
• a weeks free trial is not sufficient to ascertain if the service is right for the client
• The fee is disproportionate to the service offered, etc etc

So, for those reasons I intend to continue my planned course of action as per my earlier post.

As I get responses to those actions or if I ascertain anything materially relevant I will report back here.

I’d love to help @GoodButNaughty but I’m not sure we can be moles unless someone wants to pay the £5.5k.

@GullibleTwo we tried many of these suggestions, I’ve had meetings with the PM and a follow up email that told me everything that was in place. I responded with a list of each reason why EVERY ONE on the list was not possible and got no response.

It seems that the hype they all tell themselves (decision makers in power) about the amazing systems they have in place is more believable than any of us can understand. They just can’t see the many, many flaws and gaps.

Can't this be reported for it's inherent safeguarding issues? To CQC or similar?

channeltwo I don’t know the answer to that but if it can, then I’d be happy to add it to my ‘action list’ (see my previous post).

Does anyone know if we can report to them in this way?

Hiya all, I noticed they've dropped their free week offer, they changed it to a free 48 hours and now it's gone but prices now start at £2000. No new activity on Trustpilot. I don't know about CQC either.

@JungleMum40

The best advice ladies I can give to you is go and find out for yourselves, there is so much information and as I have just now realised it is a process and one you all have to work at! It is not something I can simply say in 3 steps because it’s not that easy! But it’s about learning and understanding what it is and how to get your child’s life back to how it was before anxiety, honestly I cannot put into words steps etc because it’s impossible jist like all the other mums will say who have been going through it it’s not just a quick fix or a tablet to make you better! It’s the fundamental understanding etc that is making a difference! I don’t know what else to say on that matter, Everything I have tried just gives out information etc etc, this is completely different and everyone is different! Thank you

You do realise that by NOT letting us have your top 3 pieces of advice that you have come away with from your free week you may be adding to the growing numbers of kids who are suffering, who’s parents just don’t have £5k to step up to save their child’s lives?

Either that, or else it’s all bullshit.

[quote GoodButNaughty]@Mibb2 - I think yours is a fabulous post. Thank you for sharing this amazing resource.

My freind just shared this link with me:

www.yourchildfreedomformula.com/post/a-secret-technique

Objectively, what do you think and feel when you watch this?[/quote]
Horrific!

I’ve worked in education for over 30 years. Never have I heard such emotive drivel as that which she spouts on the videos. One particular video - The Boy and The Letter- enraged me. Sharing confidential details of a child on the internet, accessible to the whole world, is surely going to cause that boy even more anxiety. It’s not her story to share. It’s private and confidential. The first rule of counselling is that of confidentiality.
She then goes on to make a comment about the same child’s father putting money ahead of his child’s mental well-being. So not only has this boy’ mental health difficulties been exposed to the world by her, he’s also being told in a round about way that his father doesn’t give a damn about him because he’s not prepared to pay money out to make him better!
She talks about secret meetings in car parks whereby the mum has brought her child because they won’t go online. That’s just weird and slightly worrying.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch any further.
This woman is very very dangerous.

Please email BBC watchdog, Panorama, Oneshow etc. The more we all do this and if BBC investigates they might be exposed nationally & maybe they will stop. They have obviously failed to convince any one. The key is once you pay your money and put your child at risk there is no going back. They are not regulated by anyone. They are just there online, no address, invisible if things go wrong with no evidence of checks etc unlike other MH platforms from the NHS, Mind etc who are regulated & monitored.
As mentioned b4, you use them at your own risk and that of ur child. If it works for your child then good luck. Please dont use this platform to promote these people.

Agree 100% & they need reporting and she should be stopped. Even the way she talks over the so called parents. Some who just don't say anything on the online platform- all staged one will conclude.