I am very interested in this subject. 2 years ago my wife, along with most of her large immidiate family was drawn into Impact. We had many arguments over it, and even when I presented her with many logical proofs why it goes against what we believe as LDS, she still is convinced it was one of the best things for her. I will write more on the subject. it is good to know that the world isn't completely mad. Sometimes I feel that everyone around me is sympathetic to Impact and I am among the few who sees it negatively.

Several years ago one of my brothers and one of my sisters became involved with "Harmony Institute." Both had joined separately. My brother was and still is struggling with drug addiction. My sister had a weight problem and other baggage she evidently felt she needed to deal with by paying for a Large Group Awareness training. I do not know who put each of them in contact with Harmony, but they both went on separate occasions. My parents went to one of the so-called graduations and they felt very uneasy and uncomfortable there. A man dressed in all white, wearing Mardi Gras-type beads came gliding out and officiated. Most LDS will immediately see the connection between all-white clothing and the scared temple vestments.

To keep words short, my sister went through the core trainings but was put off by the obtrusive behavior of the individuals assigned to keep close contact with her. Constant late-night phone calls, guilt trips, etc. She was living in Hawaii at the time and needed to return to her husband. The callers expressed that she shouldn't go back, at least not until she had gone through more training. At this point she became annoyed enough to want to get away from Harmony altogether. My sister told me among other things, that she was called a 'beached whale', referring to her weight. She told me there was a lot of music and dancing dancing dancing.

My brother is still drug addicted. And he is presently in county jail. I know with every program, religion, education, course that 'results may vary' according to the determination and will power of each individual (you can lead a horse to water...), but the people I know who have each paid thousands of dollars for the training have little or nothing to show for it, only lighter bank accounts.

This brings me to my own immediate family. My wife. Her family. Her aunt. Her cousins. Her friends.

2 years ago Impact Trainings swept through my wife's family like a virus. (Hans, Sally, Justin, Pamela--you can all be proud and wipe the drool from your chins. Cha-Ching!) First it was the husband of my wife's sister. His own brother bugged him to go to a graduation. He was hooked. Next it was his wife. Then it was my wife's eldest brother. Then my wife. Then another sister. Then another sister. Then another brother-in-law. Then an aunt. Then a cousin. Then another brother and his wife. Then my wife's parents. My father-in-law was a ward bishop at the time, and it was disturbing to see him in front of the congregation the next day after his Quest indoctrination using Impact words and concepts. He then began recommending Impact to members of the ward. I do not know for sure, but I suspect he even used church funds to send individuals to Impact.

Back to my wife. She is very close to one of her sisters. She was drawn in to Impact after going to her sister's graduation night. After that her mind was set. She paid the money, she signed up. She went. The first couple of nights she came home late---1:30 AM. She was drained and depressed. Friday night she came home late as usual but she was manic. Creepily, uncharacteristically manic. She awakened me and practically attacked me---not in a bad way---we made love. But this was not my wife. The next night I went to her graduation and was disturbed by what I saw. The whole spectacle reminded me of a Pentecostal meeting, or Jim & Tammy Bakker. The setting, the program, the music is all so cheesy and cheap. The fake candles, the low lights. The obvious lack of decoration or overhead spending. Impact didn't even provide lucnhes and dinners for these poor fools. They pay $500 for 4 days of indoctrination and none of that tuition pays for meals or snacks or even water. How cheap!

During her quest training, I asked my wife what she had been spending her days doing. She refused to tell me. "I am your husband. You can tell me." "No", she said. "I signed a promise not to reveal the processes." This is the kind of wedge that breaks up marriages. My own wife to this day has not told me what she did for all those days and nights away from home.

A few weeks later my wife went back to do Summit. Same process: Depressed, then manic. She became critical of me. She began to tell me how much I need to go to Impact. She began to really let me know what was wrong with me, how I didn't talk to people like I should. I reluctantly went to her second so-called graduation. During the meeting, some fool got up and stated, and I quote, that "Impact was more purifying than my own [LDS] baptism!" At that point I got up and blasted past the thug gurading the door. He gave me an annoyed grunt, but I pushed the door open, walked out, and drove home. My wife came home later and we argued for an hour. She was hurt and so was I.

My wife insisted over and over that what she learned at Impact was "the gospel". She had always known what she was taught there (an oxymoron, I know) but she needed Impact to show it to her. I asked her that if it was the gospel being taught there, did the classes open with a hymn and prayer? Are the meetings conducted under the authority of the Priesthood? Are the core doctrines of the gospel taught [faith, repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost], and in the Name of Jesus Christ? Why isn't the LDS church recommending potential converts to Impact? Why aren't the missionaries taking people to Impact?

My wife's mother and sister came back saying the same thing: "They are teaching the gospel at Impact."

So I am inferring that for most LDS Impacters, the conclusion they arrive at in Impact is that they are receiving the gospel as they know it. The Impact experience enhances their spiritual experinces. I often heard that "now that you have gone through Impact, you should go to the Temple. Your eyes will be opened." I don't have the time to go into how much Impact contradicts the LDS experience, faith and doctrines. Not now anyway.

One other claim I heard my wife's family repeat over and over is that Hans Berger says he was told by an LDS General Authority that Impact is not included in the statement by the Churchn (1993) which advises against participation in such groups like Impact. "Hans Berger is a former Stake President." "He is active LDS." Lies. All lies.

And here is one more bit of historical truth:

I work at an insurance agency where the names Hans and Sally Berger, as well as Pamela Bushman are well known. We still have Harmony Institute in our files. About 6 or seven years ago, Hans convinced one of the agency principlals (who has since branched off into his own agency) who knew Hans to float him liability coverage, after a promised payment by Hans of some $10,000. This coverage was for the ropes course. Hans NEVER paid for the insurance coverage rendered. The agency sent bills, the carrier canceled the coverage, but the agency had to eat the $10,000 premium. Repeated calls to Pamela, Hans, Sally went unanswered. The name changed from Harmony to Impact. As of now, Hans Berger owes the agency $10,000. Now, is that integrity? Is that how Hans takes personal responsibility? Is that how Pamela "takes on" her life? Poor, poor examples.

Hans Berger, his wife Sally, their kids, Pamela, Justin, et al are crooks.

The whole Impact thing with my wife has cooled off. It's been a couple of years since her last involvement with Impact. But her sister, with whom we share a home, has a cheap wood square above her stove that shows a red heart, in the middle large words shout: Choose Easy---Impact Training feb. 2007. I just want to grab that thing and throw it in the trash. My wife's sister has a 5 year old, an 11 year old, and a 14 year old. She is now going through a divorce from her TIT3 husband (still a drug user and wife beater). She is gone most nights--out with boyfriends, and leaves the youngest daughter with her 5 year old. She has shifted her responsibilities as a mother to her daughters while she "Chooses Easy." Her life is a mess, yet she still will talk about Impcat as if it was as important as air and water.

The other day my wife received a letter from Impact. I don't know what the letter is, but I suspect it is a solicitation to come back to the advanced courses.

I cannot keep my wife from making her own choices about Impact. But if she again decides she wants to continue, I will make it known that I do not want her to go back. We are not wealthy. For her other sister who is well-off and can spend the money, $10,000 to go to the advanced Impact courses is easy to spend. Not for us.

I will post more about my expeience with Impact. I am trying to be as objective as possible. I do not want to sensationalize and speculate about the facts. I am speaking from the point of view of an active LDS. This and the financial issue are what matter most to me in this subject. My points are that the Bergers prey on LDS because they have shaped and designed the indoctrination so well to draw in LDS. At the same time, Impact draws in uneducated and mentally slow people. More on that later. The other point is that my wife spent nearly $2,000 of our savings to get.......what? To get manic for a few days, to learn some new words, only to fall back into old patterns. I see no change in her. I see no positive change in the people I know who have all spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on Impact. They are all their same selfish, petty, normal selves, with thinner wallets and a few fond memories of bleary, late-night "breakthroughs."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/2008 01:25AM by Catbus.

To continue what I have seen with Impacters:

My wife's sister, with whom we share a home, is going through a divorce from her husband of about 9 years. Her soon-to-be ex has had drug problems for a long time, one of the causes for the divorce. Their marriage was always flimsy, always contentious, so it is no surprise they are finally calling it quits. Two years ago when the Impact virus swept through my wife's family, this particular sister of my wife and her husband both went to Impact. My opinion of them is they are both weak-willed, not very educated. They both are dysfunctional and do not know how to manage money. Perfect targets for Impact. My wife's sister took to Impact like a long-lost friend. Her husband also. While the sister stopped after Lift Off ( I may be wrong--she may have gone further), her husband, having no real devotion to the LDS religion--enthusiastically went forward with the voluntary staffing then the TIT group trainings. How he was paying for all of this I do not know. They lost their home a year and a half ago and were always struggling financially.

We would frequently see them at family gatherings and the brother in law (now ex) would talk about all the psotive changes in his life. He was excited to do what is right, and he was now engaged in the TIT levels of Impact. Late last year I talked to him and he told me about how he went up to Mt. Shasta. I did not make the connection with Imapact and Mt. Shasta until I read this thread. What the hell is going on at Mt. Shasta?

The now ex brother-in-law in February came to his estranged wife's apartment (my wife's sister) and threw her against the wall, told her he would no longer support her. Basically he beat her up. I'm going to venture a guess that he still uses drugs. He never had the will to give it up, even when he saw himself failing as a husband and father. I know that drug addiction is a serious thing, and is no easy struggle. My question for both my wife's suster and her ex is this: What do you have to show for all the money and time you spent on Impact? A divorce? Further dysfunction? Meaningless slogans and feel-good concepts? Choose Easy? How about this for a slogan: CHOOSE TO LOVE, PROTECT, NURTURE AND SACRIFICE FOR YOUR CHILDREN. Neither of these Impacters seems interested in their children in the least.

From my point of view, Impact is a diversion for many from their normal lives. They see it as a way to short-cut the way to building character. The high they get as the natural drugs produced in the brain are stimulated through the processes will keep them paying and returning for more. This is big-business manipulation, but it is not harmless. The Bergers and their business partners are profitting off the human frailties and fears of their target market. It is peer pressure like I have never seen it before.

I am going to expose the Bergers. I will bring them the kind of unwanted attention they fear. I want to see their business run into the ground. I want to see their fad evaporate into an unpleasant memory.

Catbus,

I'll respond in more detail later but I can empathize...

In case anyone is interested, this is the email address for "Get Gephardt", GEPHARDT@kutv2.com. Maybe they would be willing to investigate Impact if they got bombed with a bunch of requests.

Hi Catbus. I really feel for your family. Impact catches people at weak moments, especially at life changing and trying times. My group had several people including myself who had just been divorced, lost jobs or just had some kind of unease that made it sound good to try to make their lives better. I didn't get to the TIT classes, but I finished lift-off, unfortunately. The end result is that I am no longer LDS. I didn't have to go through TIT and hear all the weird crap to feel like the Mormon church was too similar to stomach. If the LDS church wants to keep members from having the same experience I did (leaving), it needs to say the Impact name straightout when warning people about destructive groups. I had someone compare Impact to the Arbenger group which is also touted as life enhancing seminars, but is very closely connected to BYU. Impact is cheaper to strart and actually seems to have fewer total classes, until you learn that TIT3 is ongoing. I didn't know much about either except what I heard from other people and read in the literature. They seemed similar enough that I chose the "cheaper" one.

The thing to know about Impact is that as soon as someone sits still to listen to friends and family talk about their experiences, they are being manipulated. We were given scripts of what we could say to potential recruits and to anyone we "angeled." These were the beginning of the "love-bombing", guilt, flattery and condescention. I read today about how so many adults are getting pulled into LGATs by their friends questioning their ability to "be adventurous" (not unlike Impact's "take on your life"). This is the adult version of "I double dog dare you". People want to feel strong, independant and capable. Impact uses any means to convince a person to join up and continue. Are you aware that most lift-off "families" now have a yahoo group dedicated to them? They perpetuate Impact philosophy and challenge each other to continue more training. In effect they have almost continual daily contact with Impact through those yahoo groups. Most likely your wife does as well. It's like a flesh eating virus. I'm still figuring out how to get my mom out. She's the only one still in contact with them.

Catbus,

Hans does cater to the LDS market yet does not tell them he himself does not believe in the core LDS doctrines. It's very deceptive. This is hearsay (I've never been to Impact and will never go, just talked to a lot of people and read this thread) but he has recently become more vocal during the more advanced trainings about his belief that Jesus Christ is not a savior, he's an "ascended master" but he cannot save us. I do not believe in the LDS faith but Hans deliberately leads people to believe he does, at least initially so he can get them to open up their wallets. Then he systematically attacks the LDS faith and holds himself out as the true light. Impact becomes a substitute for any religion (or family for that matter) and all Impactees are brainwashed to believe they are so much more enlightened than the rest of society. It seems to me that Large Group Awareness Training is just a nice-sounding term for what is defined in the BoM as Priestcraft -- holding oneself out as a light to get gain.

By the way, based on some things you wrote I believe I've met your former brother-in-law. If he is who I think he might be, he's spending $200-$600 per week on prescription drugs (that he's obtaining illegally) and he is a mess. I've seen him with his kids and he's like a child himself. Given his budget for drugs, how the hell do you expect him to pay child support? It's a good thing Impact has taught these people how to put their priorities in order. (Yes, I'm being sarcastic.)

Best of luck to you regarding your wife's situation. I sincerely hope she doesn't go back and keep funding Hans' and Sally's expanding Mercedes budget. I'm seriously considering writing a book about this. The Bergers need to be exposed for the frauds they are and there is more than one way to skin a cat.

JK

I've heard that Hans tells the LMT (TIT's new name) groups that Jesus doesn't save us as well. The person who told me this said that Hans instructed them to "Put it on shelf until later." That's a thought terminating practice that makes the individual think they are not accepting the idea but in reality, they are stopping a normal line of thinking which might be something like "What?! I don't believe that, Why am I following this crazy ^%$*$?!" At least the comments are what I'd like them to think. Hans explained to my friend that we don't need to be saved by someone else so Jesus isn't a savior so much as an example.

I realize that I might still be in the impact frame of mind because the thought on Christ being just an example doesn't bother me. (But it should bother a mormon which she is.) I admit the idea is more appealing than other things I've been taught. But it's the "Let me do the thinking for the both of us" idea that makes me gag. I'd leave a boyfriend who said that to me, why is it so much harder with a religious leader? Yes! Impact is a religion! No if's and's or but's. The unfortunate thing is I understand many people will quietly leave and then never trust another church again. I've been on a few other websites, blogs and have spoken to a couple cult exit counselors. It's not the only reaction to be afraid of anyone who preaches religion after being in an LGAT like Impact, but it's common. We're afraid because we were abused by someone who ran a religion. It may not be rational to project fears created by a cult onto all religious leaders, but we were specifically trained to NOT be rational so we would stay in the group. It will take a while to heal. To me healing doesn't mean that I'll join another church (ever), but that I won't be terrified and over run by paranoia that everyone is as bad as what I just went through. I don't want to run for the hills any time someone says "God". Not the healthiest place to be. I realize that: I'm working on it. It has made finding a counselor very hard. I have a common fear of being recruited again. I've figured out that I did indeed grow up with almost constant contact some cult or destructive church. It makes recovering hard because I can't think about when I wasn't in a cult because it never happened. My mom went for every thought controling new age group, improvement movement or mlm she could find. I haven't even mentioned the destructive religions and cults.

Sorry, getting carried away again. My friend thinks that she's just "seeking all good things" in the Impact group and that she can walk away when it's no longer good. The evidence is to the contrary. What she's not seeing is that no one outside of impact can talk to her. This previously logical, industrious woman is now destroying her life in search of something that Impact can't give her. She even actively makes new friends in order to recruit. Of course they want to keep her. Sigh. I keep telling myself that she'll drop out eventually, but everytime I go over I see some new Impact thing that was mentioned on the board. Last time it was an alter with crystals and pretty rocks. But I did probe her about her business and how she manages to keep up with it while doing so much with Impact and she finally started paying attention to it again.

Thanks for the responses. I would like to see this thread continued. Right now I just have a lot of questions. Like I mentioned above, the Impact virus in my wife's family seems to have run it's course. The only individual who is probably still active in Impact is the soon-to-be ex brother-in-law. What does still show up relating to the trainings are the occasional family gatherings when Impact topis are brought up. I've usualy kept my mouth shut rather than be contentious. A few weeks back my wife's sister commented that she thought the woman speaker at our main church congregation meeting on Sunday (sacrament meeting) had been an Impact graduate. "Is that why she was so annoying?" I blurted out. Other times, I get exasperated atthe behavior of some member of my wife's family and ask out loud "Why did _____spend all that time and money in Impact if they are still acting like a selfish ass?!" From what I've observed of my wife's family, the net result of their Impact involvement is just a money and time spent with no real change.

One question that has been bugging me:

Is Great Life Foundation the same as Harmony Institute?

Is Impact the same as Harmony/Great Life?

Are both Impact and Harmony/Great Life owned by Hans and Sally Berger?

Catbus,

>>Are both Impact and Harmony/Great Life owned by Hans and Sally Berger?<<

They were until August 2001 when there was a purge. You can read about that where a copy of the Salt Lake Tribune article was posted here:

[forum.culteducation.com]

Sally and others were arrested for breaking and entering, and theft of stuff from their former building, had to go before a judge. Of course Hans was not "directly" involved.

Technically GLF was owned by Pam Juback, wife of Steve Juback, former "best friends" of Hans and Sally (vacationing together, maybe more).

It was a scam to hide the reality from the IRS and other creditors that Harm-on-me (and you) was really owned and completely controled by Hans.

This is the reality of their "living in truth and integrity." They disgust me.


>>Is Great Life Foundation the same as Harmony Institute? <<

In everything other than a technicality about who owns the place (it's a "graduate owened non profit") meaning Jayson Orvis, who likes to post here as BooneTahoe, and send PM to others attempting to recruit for Grape Lite Floundation (with a "we're all the good things, and none of the bad things, of Impact" total BS) is the one graduate who in "reality" (a hard concept for them) "owns it." He is also the author of a bunch of "new" training processes there, including their advanced "Flounders" training, and much of their Lift-Off level crap.

I don't think Pam Juback owns anything anymore, but her family (including their children, Steve, Pam and others) sure seem to suck a ton of cash out of the place, for very little actual work.


>>Is Impact the same as Harmony/Great Life? <<

They are both extremely destructive cults who grind through people, suck their cash over all else, with very few long-term participants who claim "lasting value" and who don't, in some way, make money from being involved (working there directly, or using the place like shooting fish in a barrel to find new clients (real estate, energy work, massage, life-coaching, legal help, etc, etc, etc).

Whatever other differences may exist, pale into nothing by comparison.

Except Impact seems to be growing, and Grape Lite seems to be Floundering, constantly on the edge of going broke/out of business.

Hope that helps --- oops, I mean "assists,"

LOL

-----Ed



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2008 11:15PM by Impacted.

Hah! Thanks for "assisting" me. What the hell is wrong with just plain old HELP? My wife came home from Impact speaking a bunch of convoluted new vocab, but she never used the word assist.

So one of my brothers and one of my sisters went through Harmony before it morphed into Great Life. As recently as last year my brother was doing volunteer work at what he called "Harmony". Working phones or something.

My wife's family went to Impact.

I looked up Great Life and it seemd their training schedules were exactly the same. Do they--Impact & Harmony/GLF --allow videotaping at the guest/graduation nights?

I feel like I am starting to get some answers here.

Since my wife has never told me what she was doing at Impact all those days and nights, I wonder if someone can help me find out what she would have experienced. I know about the ground rules, the Lifeboat exercise, the hugging circles, the footwashings, the dancing, the guided visualization (hypnosis?). But I need to put it all into context.

My wife came home after the first two nights of Quest tired, and depressed. What happened there? What did they do to her?

My wife came home on Friday night all manic and out of her mind. What happened there to cause such a state in my wife?

Is there somewhere I can read the outline for Quest, Summit, and liftoff training? What would my wife have experienced at those trainings? If it has been posted already on this thread, please forgive me. I've read much of the thread, and I have read the description of Landmark training, but I'm looking for more specific info about Impact.

Are Impact trainees really taught there is no good or bad? Are they really taught there is no such thing as hope?