Young Vibes/Satsie Thomas. New company set up by the same people as Your Child Freedom Formula and Peaky Parents

[Hols12345]

Hello, if you're looking for information on youngvibes.co.uk child anxiety program, they are the same people as YCFF and Peaky Parents. They've set up under a new name.

See previous thread for discussion:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/child_adolescent_mental_health/4352676-Peaky-Parents-Kactus-Kids-formerly-known-as-Your-Child-Freedom-Programme-YCFF-and-other-previous-names-Child-anxiety-programme

Hey, @NickyRus How was the call? I’d agree that you need to read the threads and listen to the Radio 4 programme on it. Then you can make up your own mind about whether you think that they may be able to help your step-son.

No one has actually be able to say what the programme involves, apparently it was too complicated to explain. There are some deletions on the first thread due to ‘sock-puppeting’ which is where a person uses multiple usernames and pretends to be different people. In this case, one person was pretending to be multiple happy customers. Sam’s first ever post got deleted at she was sock puppeting.

I’ve also name changed a few times, but haven’t pretended to be different people.

There is a ruling from the ASA when the company was called Your Child Freedom Formula for making false claims. Trust Pilot also stopped people making new reviews because they’d been using them falsely. Same with Peaky Parents. They’ve also been known as Kaktus Kids, Anxiety Free You and some other things. Can’t remember them all now.

Teen has some good tips on how her daughter recovered. There is a lot lacking in NHS services and it can be hard to find support that is sufficient.

Yes, I have posted re my DD's recovery (ongoing, but so much better than at her worst Autumn 2020). However my DD does not (as far as we are aware) have autism - her anxiety is almost certainly trauma based (she is adopted).
(User name might change but always starts with Teen)

Yes, that’s true teen about there being differences as well.

Yes, interested to hear how you got on with your call @NickyRus and also to let you know of local parent support groups and organisations who can support you via signposting, local services and loads of support. Free of charge. I run a group who has parents who have paid £5k and been very let down and dissatisfied. Hence my interest in protecting and warning others praying on the vulnerability of scared parents have a look at PLACE network from Charlie Waller Trust which lists lots of local support groups for parents and carers of children and young people with mental health issues as well as this with Autism and ADHD etc.

Also, have a look at Daaxys posts. There was also one poster who was taken to court by Sam because she didn’t want to have to pay the remaining fee when it hadn’t worked on her child. So unbelievably stressful for her.

I hope Nicky is not still on the call 🙂

Hi @NickyRus. I'm glad you found these threads. I've been on them since early on. Originally as Mibb then Mibb2 and I'm also hols12345.

Theres also a thread in AIBU which has some screenshots and links www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4601299-to-warn-you-about-this-company-offering-solutions-to-childs-anxiety-and-school-refusal

I haven't used the program but I have been on the receiving end of a lot of aggression and reactivity from Sam and others supporting her on these threads.

I hope that you're able to find help for your child. There is definitely support here and useful links provided by other posters.

Just looked at Young Vibes UK YouTube account. Anyone seen it? I’m super confused as to why all the Child Mentors there have South African (?) accents? Can someone else watch it and get back with what they think? Coincidence? Something else? (I’m not very good at recognising accents)

There are other 5hings called Young Vibes I think.

It’s defo then because it’s got the same logo. And some of the women are also on their website.

*them

I’ve just had another email. They’re definitely ramping it up. 6 in 8 days now!

@BruisedSkies - they seemed to recruit a lot of staff / families from S. Africa at one point. I thought they might be trying to get around things like the ASA ruling they had had in the UK, by getting their customers from elsewhere. Not sure though.

Oh right, I didn’t know about the South Africa recruiting.

They do sounds like they’re getting desperate, Perfect Storm. That’s good

At least they seem to be moving away from the pay ££££ upfront method? That was/is a big issue because other therapies you can do on a week by week basis and stop if you feel they aren't helping.

Yeah definitely. Much better to be able to try it for cheaper and then see if it’s helping. Not to be guilt tripped into spending £5k and encouraged to take out loans or borrow from family to pay it

Unless it is like drug dealers? Give you a little bit with promises that the real good stuff will come, but then to get the apparently 'good stuff' you have to fork at thousands? I must be getting cynical

Well no doubt there would be some hard sales tactics to get you pay the full amount later on. And guilt tripping.

@NickyRus Hoping you’re ok following your call yesterday?

Hi @NickyRus my advice is beware. In our experience they/Sam does not acknowledge autism. Although we feel angry with ourselves for getting involved (Sam makes it very clear which parents she likes and doesn't like. I had all of my confidence as a parent knocked out of me by that woman), we have come away with a clearer picture of what we need to do for our child at the moment. For us just taking all pressure off, not involving any outside influences and just accepting our child for who they are. I have great faith that given time with us by their side they will find their own way. This approach probably wouldn't work for everyone but it has certainly changed things for us.

The programme pushes lots of changes, one after the other. As you know change is not great for an autistic person. It had massive expectations on parents and you are quickly put down or spoken to negatively when at your most vulnerable. They also start to question your own anxiety/depression medication and try to talk you into stopping it without any real knowledge of what it is etc ( they hadn't heard of my medication and had no idea of other medications and the interaction if I just stopped one). They then delve into you personal life and relationships, even suggesting that you block family members out of your life if they aren’t supportive or have a negative effect on you. Looking back I can see how quickly we were drawn in and how it took over our lives.

I still agree with the basis of the programme and see how it might work for some people with anxiety BUT it all seems to be based on one person's personal experience - Sam. To my knowledge she has never been a parent of a child with severe anxiety and all of the scary things that come with it. No one when questioned has been able to tell us how the programme helps autistic people! I've seen employees come and go on the programme whose children have been on the programme. Whilst the mentors are lovely they all follow the same spiel. As does the child psychologist (or whatever she is, if she's still there).

@3xteens thanks for that post, it's very measured and thoughtful and makes total sense.

I'm so sorry you went through this, and totally understand how vulnerable a parent is in that position which is why I haven't let this go.

I have a child currently in the process of ASD assessment and your approach of taking the pressure off is also what I've done. It's hard to do when everything around you seems to be telling you to do the opposite but it's genuinely the only thing that has helped. Xx

Thanks for sharing that, 3x. I’m sorry she made you feel worse as a parent and knocked your confidence out of you. She doesn’t even believe autism exists apart from us all being a bit on the spectrum. It sounds like you know what your child needs really intuitively.

Wow! Another 2 emails trying to sign me up in 8 hours!! I want to reply and tell them exactly what I think but I find it intriguing seeing just how heavy their marketing strategy now is!!

Hello, I received an email off these people today. I run a FB group exposing The Linden Method. We have nearly 500 members. Could someone confirm if these are indeed the Linden Method under a new name? Thank you.

That’s loads more email perfect. Didn’t even get that many when I was signed up to VoucherCodes.

benhoward it’s not exactly Linden method but I think was influenced by that. I can’t quite remember the link but hopefully someone else will remember.