Impact Trainings

My boss signed me up for impact training (quest) as a way to help me managing some difficult moments in my life and marriage, I'm very grateful for my boss trying to help but definitely this is not something I'll like to try, btw I had very little information of what they signed me for so I was pretty much blindfolded.

Mi experience

Soon as I walked in to the facility they welcomed me with a smile, walked in to a sign in room, they offered a great deal to pay $1400 to do the next level training and insisted how great of an offer that was a least 3 times, then they put you in a line against a wall which there was 2 lines of people new trainees and some brainwashed volunteers in the other line soon as they opened te door some lady yelled "quest doors are now open, and volunteers start chanting and cheering starting with psychological pressure to make you think that is a great thing you've signed for, soon as you enter 2 quest members start yelling like if they were army Sargents seat in the empty chairs starting in the front to the back, and then if you have a bottle of water or a piece of paper in your hands they yelling at your ear"put all your belongings by the wall"repeatedly if you ask something like, me? This paper? They don't answer they yelled loudly"put all your belongings by the wall", 3 hours in to this psychological abuse and after listening other trainees private sharings like they called, I needed to use restroom and I was debating if I should ask to or just get up and go, so far he was talking about self love and self worth I decided to self love me and got up and walked to the restroom one of the volunteers followed me running behind me and said"hurry up make quick "no way I say to my self just relax a least for a minute, I sat down and I prepared for a call o attention or something negative well 10 minutes after coming back from the restroom Justin the abusive trainer picked on me since I was seated with my leg crossed yelled"seat in open position"4-6 times, I was seated that way cuz 1 week before that day I had an accident in my plow truck and injured my neck and obviously I was dealing with a lot of neck pain and I was trying to be as comfortable as possible and stretching my neck often, so he and hes cheap psychology methods make him pick on me and by the 5-6th time he yelled"seat in an open position or get out"well you guessed right I got up and walked out of the room, some volunteer followed me and ask me in a very rude confrontational way" what was that about "while I was trying to explain he didn't even allowed me to talk so I said" you know what I shaked hes hand and said thank you I'm leaving.

End of story I'm home reading through reviews and to my surprise there is a lot of bad reviews regarding the same subject and abusive methods they use, I highly recommend staying away from impact training (quest) or anything to do with it

One of your staff has conned my underage child out of 200 dollars for a seminar that he does not need, want or even have the mental capability to comprehend. She is friends with a 16 year old girl that is dating my son. She went into his work yesterday and coerced him to sign up for some 3 day seminar with you folks. My 16 year child was bullied, and lied to by this 18 year (ADULT) to sign up. He is underage, and was pushed into this by your staff. I demanded she return his 198 dollars, to which she snarkly replies."NO, too late, deal with it". I am going to his bank tomorrow as the debit card that he was bullied into giving her is under my account, and opening up a fraud investigation against your company for taking advantage of a minor, and of a child with a mental handicap, which I looked into is against the law.

--I am hoping to have you resolve this situation as amicably as possible,and return my poor childs money that was taken from him by an adult predator.

I recently just had a friend of mine ask me to attend training's at Impact recently. I liked that they spoke about positivity, and about looking for the good in others, etc. Which is what I think I needed to hear after I have been summoned to go to court for Custody and could only pay my lawyer small increment payments, and also recently just filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy due to taking out loans for my Custody case that I couldn't pay back to my lenders. So you could imagine that I was going through a very difficult time financially.
My friend's intentions were good and honest and I do not fault her for that. Nevertheless, what she did not tell me was that it was over $500 to attend all 3 days of the "Quest" training's that you had to ask work off for, and the training's were 14 hours a day. When I would ask her, the staff, or members who graduated from "Quest" at the orientation why they really liked attending or being a member at Impact, they all gave me the same hesitated vague answer. "It's better than Therapy” or "It makes you see life differently." Which are great responses, but I felt like I needed more of an explanation of "WHY" before I committed.
Well after hearing other people's stories about what they struggled with in life, I thought to myself; "They are going through a hard time just like me, maybe this training is what I needed to get through this hard obstacle I am going through?" Therefore, I caved in and signed up for a 3-day weekend for "Quest." I did not have much money, so I only paid $50 upfront. I was talked into paying down more to reserve my spot, but I just did not have it since I have already committed to both my lawyers to make payments on both my cases. Some of the staff suggested: "If you can't pay the whole amount, you can make payments. And if money is an issue, you can weave baskets, sell make-up, make blankets, and create a craft to sell for money?" I actually liked the suggestions and was convinced that this training was going to help me feel better, and hopefully make these major issues go away or somewhat not so stressful. I figured it was karma's way of saying, "This is what you needed." When I found out how much "Quest" was, I asked where the money went. Again, I got the same vague hesitated response from multiple people. "It pays for the building, the training's, the staff and people who work here, etc." Which is probably true, but it still did not sell me. I thought; "I better find out for myself."
After a few weeks went by, I had called the training center in Bluffdale, Utah several times recently, and left several messages for someone to call me back. The reason of my call was on the message, so I did not know if that was because I did not get a call back or if maybe, they didn't get the message? However, I finally got a hold of someone and it was Christine Wolf. I explained to her my financial situation and that I could not attend the upcoming weekend training's because I could not pay the $500 in such short notice. This was 4 days prior to the training's which typically start on Thursdays, and I have been leaving messages for weeks prior to when I actually spoke with Christine on the phone. She suggested if I wanted to reschedule for a later time to reserve "My Spot.” And I said that, "I was not interested in this time because of Financial difficulty, and every cent I am earning has to go towards both of my court cases." She simply said; “I am sorry, there are no refunds I emailed you explaining that and the form you signed at orientation explains that as well." My reaction was in shock. After I explained that, I was a single mother, who lived in their parents’ house, and is filing Chapter 7 Bankruptcy and is going through a Custody battle on top of that. Not to mention that I had NO control over my financial situation. She still would not refund my $50. At that point I was grateful that I did not pay more than $50. Then, I remembered the staff the month prior at orientation hounding me to put down more money to reserve my spot in Quest. In addition, that is when I realized; "I just got scammed." Christine probed questions: "Well what interested you in Quest, What made you want to join?" To get a feel of why I wanted to attend. Moreover, I answered them honestly. I told her that I liked what everyone spoke about, etc. But insisted, "That if she couldn't refund $50 from a single mother, then that is just simply poor customer service." In addition, her response was; "Well maybe this isn't for you?" Then she closed the conversation with; "I hope you seek for what you are looking for and have a nice day."
Well folks, even if they teach you to look at life positively, or to help you succeed in life. The moral of the story is that they just want your money. Not exactly sure where that money goes, but if they can't refund your money for any reason or simply DON’T EXPLAIN THAT IN THE BEGINNING, or if it's just physically impossible to attend or afford for that matte. Then that explains why they really don't want to help you, even if you need the money for a court case. Because in reality that is how they CAN and SHOULD help you. I guarantee they have been turned into The Better business Bu Rue and that is probably why there are many reviews explaining why they are rumored to be a Cult. Remember if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. I rest my case.

I enrolled in the Impact Trainings several years ago and watched my quality of life decline dramatically until I finally pulled out. All the while my bank account was being drained as I paid for trainings that not only failed to add value but encouraged me to live and act in ways that tied me to Impact while disregarding everything else in my life.

No rational or sane person would choose to be involved with the Impact Trainings if they were able to see what went on behind those doors before having to pay a fee and allow the trainers and staff to slowly condition them over a period of several days. When I finally realized what was going on around me I was forced to choose between continued involvement with the group or severing several close family relationships. Impact's marketing strategy makes it very difficult to leave because every trainee is enrolled by someone close to them and severing contact with the training means (in most cases) that the relationship will be severed as well.

Impact begins initiating trainees into its community in the Quest training. When I attended the Quest training it cost $550. Quest consists of four days of mostly intense and degrading activities that are designed to teach trainees obedience to the trainer. Once that obedience has been established the trainers and staff are able to manipulate the trainees emotions at will. This emotional control is used repeatedly through out the rest of the series to keep people paying for more training and enrolling their family and friends. After several days of degradation and a final day where the Impact trainers begin to espouse the early stages of their religious beliefs, the Quest training ends with a "graduation" and a final activity where all of the Quest trainees are either enrolled into the next stage of the training or publicly chastised for "selling out".

Summit is the second stage and cost $795 at the time that I took the training. Summit begins with a day of degradation where trainees are assigned "alternate names" such as "Daddy's Joy Toy", "Womb for Rent", "Still Nursing", "Pee wee pervert", etc and then required to visualize themselves dying and being placed in coffins because they do not deserve to live. The next 3 days involve building the trainees back up and further creating a strong sense of community inside the center by assigning people to small groups and requiring them to act out embarrassing skits (for example a group of heavy set women may be required to dress as cows, whales or belly dancers). Like Quest, the Summit Training ends with a graduation and hard-sell commitment activity designed to get people to pay for the next level. At this stage in my training there were several trainees who's finances were so tight that they resorted to begging for money from other people in the group.

Lift-Off was the third stage of the training and cost $695 at the time that I was involved. Unlike the first two trainings, which were conducted over a 4 day period, Lift-Off consisted of 4 weekends that were spread over a 13 week period. The four weekends all had different themes, one of which was "enrollment weekend" where trainees went out as groups in an effort to fill seats at the next Quest training. Each Trainee in Lift-Off was assigned a specific staff member that they were required to call 3 times a week. Lift-Off was not as dramatic as the other trainings and as a result there were not as many break downs among the trainees. Lift-Off seemed to solidify much of the conditioning that occurred in Quest and Summit as well as provide a bridge between the first two trainings and the next series.

After Lift-Off, trainees are encouraged to "keep their training alive" by volunteering to work on the staff in future Quest, Summit and Lift-Off trainings. Impact Trainings does not screen their volunteer staff at all. I was aware of several registered sex offenders that were allowed to be leaders over new trainees, one of them even staffed a training for teens. I knew of 4 staff members, in my 2 years with the company, who engaged in sexual relationships with trainees. Despite these egregious actions by staff members, I never saw Impact make any effort to screen their staff members for the protection of the new trainees. Since the Impact community claims to value love and forgiveness above all else, the lack of screening is justified by the "everyone deserves a second chance" philosophy.

The next step for the trainees is to begin the "Trainer in Training" (Now called Life Mastery Training) program. Trainer in Training 1 cost $1500 and was the first training specifically designed to influence the trainees' religious beliefs and spirituality. Hans Berger spoke openly in my training of his alleged communications with spirits. He also claimed to have worked in "Intelligence" for the US government. One of the processes in this training involves Hans giving detailed, non-biblical, accounts of the life of Jesus. Later on in the Trainer in Training series Hans claimed to have learned this information and the processes of the Impact Trainings themselves through face to face communicatons with Jesus, Buddha and other "Ascended Masters".

Trainer in Training 2 cost $1800 and further developed the trainees belief that they had the power to create miracles and talk with the deceased. Many trainees at this stage begin to revere Hans Berger as a prophet. The Impact trainers would periodically make statements such as "Hans is not a Prophet" or "Impact Trainings is not a religion" but those statements only served to change the trainees' language as they still continue to build their lives around every word that came out of Hans' mouth.

The Impact Trainings is a manipulative self improvement training that grows into a religious cult where the trainers revere themselves as infallible deities (this is not hyperbole, statements like "I am Perfect" and "I am God' were stated regularly by Impact Trainings staff at the time that I was involved). I personally heard Hans (the owner) state on several occasions "I am God". If you are considering attending the Impact Trainings I highly recommend consulting a trained and licensed therapist. In my 2 years of involvement with the training I never saw anyone leave the group in a state of emotional health. Those that stayed continued to pay large amounts of money to the group and spend several weeks each year providing free labor on the volunteer staff.

In regard to the positive reviews on the company it is worth noting that Yelp has excluded many negative ratings that can still be viewed but do not factor into the rating score. Additionally it is worth nothing that Impact is a Large Group Awareness Training with processes and procedures largely taken from a company called LifeSpring. In regard to LifeSpring participants, it was reported that while participants claimed to have a heightened sense of well being, the phenomenon was largely pathological. I submit to you that Impact Trainings positive reviews are similarly flawed.

Haaken, J. and Adams, R., "Pathology as 'Personal Growth': A Participant-Observation Study of Lifespring Training", Psychiatry, vol 46, August 1983.