A warning about Anxious to Awesome Sam and Martin Robbin’s

[Tangarinedream]

Martin and Sam Robbins have started another anxiety program. This time it is called Anxious to Awesome. They have ads on Facebook and LinkedIn and more. They were Young Vibes, Kactus Kids and many other names.

They have take £5000 from families and encouraged families to go into debt.
There is a BBC report about them https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000zt9y

They have been in trouble with trade standards.
They refuse Subject Access Requests
They promised they know how to deal with any Neurodivergence, but they have no experience or ability to deal with it.
They have no formal training and will tell you that they are the only solution and that Doctors teachers Psychiatrist cannot help.
They change their name often to hide from all the bad reviews.
They employed a name The Mumsnet . I’m assuming to confuse people.

They threaten, blame and belittle parents.

Most importantly, you will pay them and spend a lot of time with them and they won’t solve anything and when they don’t solve anything, they’ll blame you and attack you.

Look at all the messages and threads on Mumsnet. And also noticed that most of the positive reviews around them are just people that have written one review or two reviews. I’ve written about 50 reviews on Trust Pilot and Google maps and most of mine are positive.

I would recommend you stay far away from anything that Sam and Martin Robins are a part of. There are several family’s that would agree with me.

You can reach out to me. We wasted £5000 with these people. They didn’t reduce anxiety. They just added a huge amount of anxiety. The program involves watching hundreds of videos and they get aggravated if you are overwhelmed and need extra support. The tech was incredibly clunky. Sam would make new videos all the day and send them to you so you couldn’t ever catch up and it was unclear exactly what you’re supposed to do because there was so much information. Again they have no formal education or training in this, they just took a Facebook marketing class to figure out how they could make a lot of money, in an area where parents were struggling with their children during the pandemic . Charlie Waller Trust is a better place to start.
If anybody speaks out, they threaten to sue you with a son who isn’t even an attorney.
They promise moneyback guarantee, but then they will always find a reason why it’s your fault. My daughter was so uncomfortable talking to Sam because Sam told her the most ridiculous unprofessional things. Sam has done that to many children and parents. Run, don’t walk from this group. Try Charlie Waller or anything else but not these people. They prey on desperation.

@3xteens I think the website is still young vibes (youngvibes.com), which is now also the name of a company registered to them, young vibes ltd, in addition to Tomwill (Holdings) Ltd. Their fb group however has undergone several name changes over the last few months that I have been on there, the latest being child anxiety recovery and school return, the previous being child anxiety formula, and previous websites that I have seen are childanxietyrecovery.com / childanxietyrecovery.co.uk. I am sure when I first came across them it was your child freedom formula, and I came across a Mum crowd funding to raise money to train in 'freedom formual for children' - I was shocked to see that unregulated and unqualified people are training others to do the same for them. I am seriously considering starting a campaign to insist better regulations are put in place for mental health services. I am currently on a counselling course and within the first lesson knew more about ethics than these people. I am also a Mum to autistic children, and it is clear she knows naff all about that. I don't doubt she has helped some people, and I agree that kids are being over medicated in absence of real treatment, but the naivity that one size fits all, and that one singular and seemingly very simple approach is right for everyone is utterly rediculous to me. Some people have very complex situations, and anxiety can also be triggered by a number of other medical conditions or imabalances in the body, so the idea that you can just talk yourself out of that is rediculous.

@kh04 thank you, I have heard of most of those. A number of us have been 'keeping an eye on things'. Other agencies have too. Everything you say is right and as a parent of autistic children who tried the programme Sam and Co have no real knowledge of neurodivergance and are treading very dangerous ground even attempting to help these young people. We were left in a much worse off position than we had been before and it has taken years to deal with that. We also paid a lot of money for the privilege as we were desperate and did not do our due diligence by looking into them first.

@3xteens Bless you I really feel for you. I know how hard it is trying to navigate an educational system that isn't set up for nuerodivergent individuals, a medical system that is also sadly overwhelmed and lacking in appropriate help, and a soicety that is also set up primarily for neurotypicals (and I hate that word because who decides what is 'typical'?!). I was myself very tempted by what they offered, and could easily have been one of those parents had it not been for the fact that the way Sam carries herself in the videos really niggled me, and a nagging voice was telling me to trust my instincts. I still kept looking though, wondering perhaps if I was being hasty in my judgements. I am glad I did though because this has highlighted a real issue that we have right now, and that is that anyone can set themselves up as a counsellor or therapist with zero qualifications or experience, which is bonkers!

I have been frustrated over the years by the lack of adequate training and understanding around neurodivergence within both the medical and education system. It triggered me to homeeducate 2 of my children in the end, and seek learning for myself - I am now working towards becoming a specialist educational mentor myself for this reason. The bit that really boggles me is that, in order for me to be a specialist mentor in higher education and include mental health support, which is what I am aiming for, I need significant qualifications and registration with atleast one of the main regulatory bodies. Yet people like this are able to blindly go in and start working with vulnerable people. Whether they are genuinely trying to help, or just business people seeing this as a lucrative market to tap right now, it doesn't really matter. In my opinion it is still dangerous and unethical. The laws need changing!

@kh04 you are so right. I had to remove myself from her groups and block her ads as hearing her voice triggered me so much. One or two more got through and I noticed she's started doing just voiceovers without showing her face - just as grating because I can still picture her massive fringe and her licking her lips constantly, haha. That's very childish of me, I know, but I cannot abide her or anything she stands for. I did some of the programme and it was just a total money grab. It was weeks and weeks of videos talking about MY anxiety and so patronising. It was irrelevant to me. I didn't have anxiety and I'd read more than my fair share of articles and books on the subject. The videos had no continuity in them as her hairstyles changed so many times. It was clear she'd just cobbled together material to create a new course. Her manner and attitude are absolutely disgusting and you can tell she carries a lot of bitterness and unresolved trauma around. I'm glad we got out when we did. My son wasn't exposed to her madness as I got out before he started his sessions. We've since found a wonderful therapist who treats anxiety in teenagers and, honestly, it's like night and day compared to what Sam peddles. I think she's now called herself Anxiety to Awesome + School Refusal or something. She's a trading standards red flag and I can't believe she's still going. I now realise the reason she tells you to disengage with other therapists is because they will instantly see through what she says works. I'm so glad this thread is still going and hope that parents find it before embarking on her course.

@shockedandnumb Snap, I ended up really triggered by Sam's voice and whole mannerism which screams anxiety. Glad you son was not involved as it could have gone either way. They do also parent blame, especially mums! It our fault, it's our own anxiety, it's the weak way we parent blah blah. If only Sam knew the strength it takes to parent a young person who is disabled by this and is missing out on life.

No idea. Someone was investigating them again if anybody wants to talk to the investigator.

PERFECTLY DESCRIBES!!!!

I am new to Mumsnet, and I am not even sure how I came across this thread but I am surprised at the experiences that most people have had, I am so sorry that you have felt this way, as I genuinely understand the pressures of having a child with debilitating anxiety, having lived it.

I found this program after years of struggling with our youngest daughter who had anxiety from when she was about 7 years old through to this January (now 15). I agree that Sam is a ballsy individual, I agree that she calls a spade a spade but personally, I felt that many parents (Myself and my amazing Wife included) needed it.

I actually liked her approach having gone through CHAMS (eventually) and other private Therapists who tended to be far more PC, It was refreshing to me to be talking to someone who actually said it how it was. Sam called me out on my parenting style and how parenting roles were shared between myself and my Wife on many occasions which was tough to hear but the reality is this.

Hearing the words - "I don't feel sick any more Dad"

Was worth all of the pain.....

Since completing the programme, our daughter has so many friends, she has been engaging with College, she has a boyfriend, she will be doing her GCSE's & she is going on Holiday abroad with a friend and her family next week without us and our home situation is totally unrecognisable, she is still a bit fussy with her food but Chicken & Chips seems to be alone of her favourites, she eats so much now.

I recognise much of what people say in the threads here but I also want to say that I do not believe that we would not be where we are today as a family without the support of Sam and her team, most of whom are caring people who have either had children who have gone through the programme or have beaten anxiety themselves and followed a career in therapy.

The programme may not be right for everyone, god knows, I thought about leaving several times but that can be said for many things in life. I do feel that anyone who is experiencing life with a Child struggling with anxiety who likes to do things differently, I say it is worth a try.

I wish all the people who are posting in this thread all of the very best, I hope that your little ones come out the other end just like our daughter has, there are I am sure many ways to get through these challenges.

Kind regards

Steven (A caring Dad)

@stevenholland I am glad your family had a positive outcome. There are a couple of different threads about this company and this is the smallest! We had a very negative experience BUT I always said it will work for some families, everything works for someone!

My issue was that we were taken on by a company which did not believe autism existed, it was just anxiety. They knew autism was a diagnosis and had no idea about it or how to work with an autistic person.

Because of this we wasted £000s and had a VERY bad experience. There was a lot of blaming , parents and the young person. Sam is blunt BUT also very egotistical and unknowledgable about some very important issues (neurodivergence and medication). This is actually dangerous for some families.

I would still warn parents against this company but am glad it worked for you.

@3xteens Thanks for the message!

This was also a tricky area for us initially (mainly for my wife to be honest), as both of our Children had also been diagnosed with Autism previously. What I understood about the Autism conversation with Sam's team & messaging was they they were focused on specifically supporting Anxiety and not Autism. This helped my ADHD (diagnosed) brain to be able to separate the challenges that each of our children was experiencing in my mind.

I found it refreshing as a new way to think & only focus on anxiety as I struggled to find enough ROM previously to process everything that was going on between two very different children, with very different needs for support at the same time. I believed all along that our biggest challenge with (B) was anxiety though.

What I would also say is that my daughter who went through the programme, although she was diagnosed with Autism previously, that she might struggle to get the same diognisis now that she is not anxious and living her best life so I can see that in some cases this might be true but it is such a tricky area, not one that I would have to navigate as a service provider / business.

If you are anything like us, we were so desperate to find a solution in a sector that was underfunded and under-resourced that you would try anything. We also struggled with the medication advice but in this case she was not medicated so it did not affect us on our journey on a personal level so I can;t comment on this.

I saw Sam & her team run off their feet, trying to support Dads, Mums, Kids and often experiencing burnout themselves. I saw it as burnout from doing a great thing, they are a great team.

I guess we might be agreeing that they have a Messaging / Branding Challenge on their hands to be able to get the message across with a more considered PC / Inclusive language but that is also part of the problem with CAHMS and other Therapists that we came across, they were to afraid to call a spade a spade.

Very Tricky as they did help my daughter who was diagnosed with autism and had debilitating anxiety.

I could not stand buy and see this organisation being totally slated without sharing our journey as I will be forever in their debt with how they supported us.

I still recommend them to people.

Kind regards

Steven

Maybe they are being much more careful now about their wording and behaviour because of the slating.

Do they still claim to recover everyone from anxiety? That was too big a claim. For the money they took off us we were left worse off. As were many others. Bad experience, bad review. Good experience, good review. That's how it goes.

They should be regulated in some way so customers have some comeback. You disagree or complain to them and you get the opposite of customer service!