Re: IMPACT Trainings
Date: February 28, 2017 09:05AM
Hey everybody, I’m new here and thought I’d share my experience of Impact Trainings. I attended Quest in August of last year because my now ex-girlfriend wanted me to go. Honestly, if it wasn’t for her I wouldn’t have gone. I had a slight idea of the kinds of things that happened at this place but was way too caught up in my feelings for her. I’m LDS and she isn’t so I thought if I invested some time in something she was interested in (Impact) then she would consider going to church with me… (lol, little did I know). Honestly, after my experience at Quest, I can say I have never seen anything like it before, so the manipulation totally caught me off guard. Immediately at the beginning the trainer, Justin, projected an authoritarian figure and seemed to place an iron grasp on the trainees. I have really bad anxiety, so this freaked me out. Any opposition was crushed or you got degraded until you submit, or you get kicked out. I think it’s ironic that Justin talks about unconditional love in the Quest training, he lashes out with so much hatred and anger.
After Quest I was a totally brainwashed. I felt so strange, and I started doubting my faith. I started experiencing major cognitive dissonance and had a nervous breakdown of sorts. My experience, (coupled with anxiety) was the most traumatic of my life. I don’t understand how anyone can think that yelling at people and degrading them is a form of self-help therapy. These trainings are self-destruction therapy, which isn’t a therapy at all. How can people think Impact is a good thing? This place is the devil’s playground. It’s no wonder the First Presidency has told us to stay away from these kinds of places. Passing through Quest was an extremely painful experience, and the psychological harm Impact causes takes a lot of time to heal from. More people need to see this place for what it really is, and that starts with USING YOUR HEAD. Impact preaches to stop using you head, this is just so the trainees can be brainwashed more easily. I’ve realized something now; Quest is designed to create a predictable response in the trainee so they will sign up for Summit, thus creating the next cash flow to Impact. This place is a business and puts money first, not people - If they did put people first then there would be no Impact Trainings. I posted a review of Impact on google reviews with included one of the First Presidency’s statements about self-awareness groups as well as my own brief review of Impact. I thought it was interesting that almost right after I made my post there was a flood of five star reviews, (probably to combat my one star review of Impact). It is beyond me how people can see Impact as a good thing, whether or not you are LDS. These trainings are very mentally damaging and extremely traumatic. Shortly after Impact I opened the Book of Mormon to read one day and opened to the book of Helaman which I wasn’t reading in at the time. My eyes scanned over Helaman 13: 25-29 which talked about real prophets and false prophets. I found it interesting that the description of false prophets described Justin very well.
I’m glad I found this website; it has helped me because I know I’m not alone in what I had to go through. As for my girlfriend, she dumped me on Quest graduation night… go figure. I’ve done some reading and learned that Impact puts a lot of pressure on staff members to recruit more people to Impact. I’ve wondered if that was why she waited until after Quest to end the relationship, so my feelings for her would increase the likelihood she could recruit me to Impact. I’m not sure about it though. Oh well, that’s life. I’ve forgiven her whether or not she used me though; I know how tight the hold is that Impact can have on people’s minds. Now I need to forgive Impact and myself for allowing myself to get pulled into these trainings. But honestly, more people need to see this place for what it really is. I’ve done a lot of reading about Impact and the later trainings which I will not be attending and it’s really obvious that these trainings are not coming from a good source. It’s no wonder the First Presidency has counseled us to stay away from these places. If you or a loved one has been hurt by these trainings, I highly recommend you say something about it on Google reviews, on this cult education website, etc. If people who have been hurt by these trainings speak out about it, then others could be spared the suffering and deception of these trainings. If we don’t say something, then Impact will continue to take advantage of desperate people with no opposition. People need to be warned.
Sincerely and with the best regards.