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

Everyone will believe what they want to believe and I don't blame you. All I can say is I'm going to try it and if it works thank god. It may work for others.

Basically my daughter started having intrusive thoughts around age 12 yrs she had private CBT which helped a bit. She had CAHMS assessment where they said it was high anxiety and that was that with them. She had counciling that was useless and has also seen seen a psychologist. Over the past couple of years she has had issues with eating disorder, she is always agitated and snappy and has self image issues. She wont go into school because of her anxiety and when she does she gets in trouble allot. It's my daughter's first session with her mentor tomorrow and I don't know if she will engage or it will help but I am going to try.

@emmamccabe01

Everyone will believe what they want to believe and I don't blame you. All I can say is I'm going to try it and if it works thank god. It may work for others.

Basically my daughter started having intrusive thoughts around age 12 yrs she had private CBT which helped a bit. She had CAHMS assessment where they said it was high anxiety and that was that with them. She had counciling that was useless and has also seen seen a psychologist. Over the past couple of years she has had issues with eating disorder, she is always agitated and snappy and has self image issues. She wont go into school because of her anxiety and when she does she gets in trouble allot. It's my daughter's first session with her mentor tomorrow and I don't know if she will engage or it will help but I am going to try.

From what you’ve said, your daughter sounds like she is quite mentally unwell. I can see why you’ve chosen to pay for this programme, you’re clutching at straws because so far nothing has worked. You are exactly the sort of parent charlatans like this prey on - desperate for something to make a difference to your child. Think about it though, you think that she’s so unwell because of the level of adrenaline coursing through her body, do you not think that all the professionals she has seen over the years would have picked up in this of it were true? Do you not think that all the expert professionals would put in place whatever quackery this programme advocates in order to ‘cure’ all these mentally unwell teens? How is having your daughter speak to another unqualified teen who also suffers from a mental illness going to help her? If anything, it will probably damage her already fragile mental well-being even more. Do you think that your daughter would be able to mentor other teens like her? Because that’s what actually is happening with this programme. It’s mentally ill teens supposedly ‘curing’ other mentally unwell teens. Eating disorders kill people, that’s not something to play about with. Intrusive thoughts kill people. Please, save your money, take your child back to your GP and keep banging on their door until she gets the right support she needs. Messing with her mind will only cause her more, not less anxiety and could cause lasting damage to her mental health.

emma I really hope it works out for you, (however skeptical I am). Would be interesting to hear more details of how they help as you get into it.

The phone call is a sales pitch to get you sucked out of your desperation. Please dont be gullible. If CAMHs are useless you can get your money's worth from accredited private therapists who usually dont claim success rate. Every child is different. When they tell you the cost , if you cant afford they recommend a lender and guess what it's their own lender & you pay interest. They offer another option £1000 upfront and what seems another life time hooked to the programme. Please dont be intimidated challenge Carole on the phone, she likes to dominate the call- very unprofessional. Don't be polite grill them on the phone after all if they are asking for £5500 of your money you have every right to ask questions. They also use so called recovered teenagers. Who monitors what they do & the relationship with your child? Please dont put your children at risk even if you are desperate. Report them to your local paper, BBC panorama they need to be investigated and stopped. Carole tries to claim they were established in Cornwall pre- Covid to make you think it was a well established company.The founder lives in Hertfordshire according to her LinkedIn page.They also make positive reviews to full parents. They are probably posting on this forum. The video on their Facebook are very suspicious they need to be better at it to fool ordinary people. Please Please report these people for the safety of our children and save yourselves from financial misery.

I wouldn’t blame anyone for trying it out of desperation. It’s bloody awful having an anxious child and feeling so helpless :( I really do hope it works out for you emma

The using of teens as mentors worries me. How much training do they get? Do they even properly learn things like safeguarding? Is there an interview process to see if they’re actually suitable?

Emma good luck tomorrow. I hope you signed a contract that clearly states a refund if the 100% cure doesn't materialise. I just hope it works for you. If it doesn't please dont be intimidated you can take them to Citizen Advice Consumer service and email BBC panorama for an investigation of your experiences. One just hope's all goes well for you both.

Please don't be fooled. This scam is also posting as Mums using the programme to counteract the negative posts. Just be careful especially when people use pseudonyms! How can one claim change in 2 weeks especially for an online program? Please dont be gullible. This is what they want us on this post to hear a success story. What is that they have done in 2cweeks that makes such a difference? They want you to know this when you have paid your hard earned money. I remain sceptical and will never be convinced so should you all. I'm sorry.

My daughter has been through the program. We’d tried everything, CAHMs, private , medication. We were at our wits end. We’re on our way to recovery now. It is a lot of money but for us it’s been worth every penny. I’m not saying it’s for everyone but it’s worked for us and 10 weeks in we’re in such a different place. I wish you all luck on your journeys. So sad that our young people are having to go through all this.

Fucking hell. This sounds like the scummiest scam ever, and using cult-like methods to hook people in.

It’s children’s mental health, people are desperate.

But if you have £2K+ spend it on decent, accredited therapy, not a FB marketing scheme that relies on timeshare-type tactics and has no accountability or transparency.

Not just because you’ll lose a great deal of moment but because you’re playing with your child’s mental health at a time when you’re already desperate.

This makes me feel really angry.

Sapla Can you tell us about the help you have received? What sort of advice?

Anyone who trusts their child's mental health to someone with an A level and no other qualifications has pretty questionable judgement.

I know it's very hard having a child with poor mental health but there is support variable if you pay from trained professionals. Not some chancer from Rickmansworth.

I totally get where everyone is coming from but as with the post from @Saplamoj1972 I believe in the formula and unless you actually try it you won't understand why. It is a big commitment for the whole family and it isn't just the children that get the help. So far in our journey it's worth the money.
I am not going to post on here now for a while as I'm going to see how it goes. So good luck to everyone with your childs anxiety, it is an horrendous thing to do through.

@Saplamoj1972

My daughter has been through the program. We’d tried everything, CAHMs, private , medication. We were at our wits end. We’re on our way to recovery now. It is a lot of money but for us it’s been worth every penny. I’m not saying it’s for everyone but it’s worked for us and 10 weeks in we’re in such a different place. I wish you all luck on your journeys. So sad that our young people are having to go through all this.

Ok so what actually happened? What worked? How did it work?

@Saplamoj1972

My daughter has been through the program. We’d tried everything, CAHMs, private , medication. We were at our wits end. We’re on our way to recovery now. It is a lot of money but for us it’s been worth every penny. I’m not saying it’s for everyone but it’s worked for us and 10 weeks in we’re in such a different place. I wish you all luck on your journeys. So sad that our young people are having to go through all this.

What happened over the 10 weeks? How did it make a difference?

I believe in the formula and unless you actually try it you won't understand why.

Why not? Surely the company want to have glowing reviews that talk in detail about how the process works? Building trust and increasing the likelihood others will sign up? If you can’t explain why something works so that others understand it is not an effective evidence-based treatment but more akin to something faith-based and can be wide open to cult-like manipulative practices.

The other thing is, is that although camhs is shit and some therapists might not be good, no one ever calls them a scam. Maybe ineffectual, pointless, or underfunded. But most things that have to defend themselves against being a scam, are a scam. And terrible to talk about loans if you can’t afford it. Financially stressed parents really won’t help the situation.

And why wouldn’t I understand how it works? There’s lots of things in life that I’ve not experienced but they can be explained. Apparently this can’t even be explained.

Surely it can't be too hard to say:

• they talk about A, B and C in the sessions
• they recommend that between sessions we do X, Y and Z

or whatever.

Wow, your daughter has been through a lot teen. I hope she continues to improve

I am not going to engage in tit for tat. I have been a member of mumsnet since my daughter was born. I’ve never had reason to post before. I am only trying to help people in a similar situation! The program focuses on the future not the past. We acknowledged the trigger and have moved forward. I could not liken this to a ‘method’ and there is only the stories from others to validate it. A lot have mentioned private therapy, we did all that and medication and weren’t any further forward. It works for some and I would encourage every one to do what is right for them. Ideally this would be available in the nhs. Please remember the program is for anxiety only. Again I can only share my experience. I have offered to speak to others and share my experience.

How do we find help for our young people? Both my DDs have needed support over the past 4 years. Went privately to a Psychologist - part of a highly qualified team, apparently - she only reflected back what I told her, that my DD was suffering with anxiety. We had two meetings with her, and the insurance co were charged £400. £300 was for a ‘report’. The only report we’d had was a single sentence in a letter she’d written for us to show to our insurance co to secure funding for sessions of CBT. I didn’t take it up. I have supported DD myself, with the support of a better environment in a new school.

My older DD is currently with Cahms, which seems to be I report her information every week, and they tell us what we can’t do, with a zoom every two weeks with someone who reads from a CBT manual. It’s a process of form filling, data gathering, and box ticking, as far as I can see. No actual support for the fundamental issues. I am her support and counsel, 24/7.

Where do we go? The whole system feels like such a racket :(

Sapla Can you tell us a bit more please? It is not surprising that people are cautious when there is so little info forthcoming about what it involves.
You say I could not liken this to a ‘method’ and there is only the stories from others to validate it but you could give us your experiences. What kind of things are discussed in the sessions? What advice are you given?

Double I know what you mean about it being hard to find the right support. Why didn't you take up the CBT? Even if you think you know what you want it is difficult to find the right practioner.

That sounds really hard Double

@Saplamoj1972

I am not going to engage in tit for tat. I have been a member of mumsnet since my daughter was born. I’ve never had reason to post before. I am only trying to help people in a similar situation! The program focuses on the future not the past. We acknowledged the trigger and have moved forward. I could not liken this to a ‘method’ and there is only the stories from others to validate it. A lot have mentioned private therapy, we did all that and medication and weren’t any further forward. It works for some and I would encourage every one to do what is right for them. Ideally this would be available in the nhs. Please remember the program is for anxiety only. Again I can only share my experience. I have offered to speak to others and share my experience.

Except it's not is it?

They make a pretty big claim to be able to cure 100% several mental health illnesses, that are completely separate even if sometimes they can be linked.

Right from their website .

We are the only company of people in the UK providing a solution for children and young people suffering with Anxiety, OCD, Agoraphobia, Emetophobia, Pure O, Anorexia and self-harm.