First of all, the idea that Landmark keeps you away from your family is so opposite of what goes on…read morethere, that it can only come from people who haven't taken the course, and have seen others take it, and deeply, deeply misinterpreted things.
A good deal of the Landmark Forum is about encouraging you to acknowledge repair, find your way back to, heal, reconnect with, and find new ways of viewing & reconnecting with all relationships, but especially, especially family relationships.
And especially immediate family relationships, with an emphasis on Parents, Parents, Parents. Did I mention Parents? There's a lot of, how can you find your way back to your parents, or have a different level of relationship with parents, if it's already idyllic or amazing with your parents (This is sometimes a lie people hold onto & tell themselves and others about their parents like, "No... everything was great & amazing with my parents." And as long as they can keep up the lie and it gets them what they want, they go with the lie, to themselves and others.)
But, still, there is a lot of emphasis on, at least, forgiving your parents, if there is any act or behavior on their part that could be forgiven (and not just pretend forgiven) but really forgiven. And there is emphasis on giving parents acknowledgement & credit for anything that was good. And compassion toward anything that was not quite what you needed, or in some cases was heinous, or a complete breach of trust and safety, and something that should never been done to anyone. Least of all by a parent.
This isn't because Parents should have this or anything. But because, they rightly acknowledge that anything not faced, handled, or brought to the surface about parental relationships, or is still a resentment, unacknowledged experience, or lie, or even just a mismatch and misattunement of needs that hasn't been dealt with, is eventually, going to seep into & affect other parts of life.
Eventually, it will come to have an effect if not faced, & will keep repeating in work dynamics, money dynamics, spirituality, and most recognizably in personal relationships, both with self, and with romantic partners. Even with friendships. Oh, and also with your own children, you can or will find it showing up in different ways.
They don't say you have to have a relationship with anyone you don't want to, but a lot of people have shifts in relationships they never thought possible. And lots of parents get calls thanking them after their, even adult children, do Landmark because now they see their parents differently. But even if parents have passed away, or really should not be part of someone's life, there is a lot of emphasis on the potential freedom that comes with facing these things in a way you never have before.
However, sometimes people uncover things that give them courage to move out of their parents house, or get that divorce, or tell the truth that that friendship was never really real and isn't really working. And maybe those people when those truths come to the surface are like, Hey my son moved out and stopped letting me control his life after he did a course with friends at Landmark. So they start saying it ruins families and relationships.
What I am telling you is there is so much emphasis on generosity, new perspectives, forgiveness and compassion in relationships, that I assure you if someone separated out from a relationship after doing it that separation was a long time coming, and there must have been something REALLY not working in the relationship, or something the person had been very much wanting to end, leave or get some space from for a long time. Some bad dynamic, they are finally interrupting by leaving or changing the way of dealing with the relationship.
I do regret however, how much I took to heart the notion of being 100% responsible for relationships. And to always go to other people from the perspective of how am I causing this to be this way in relationship. I did this for YEARS and YEARS, & I regret the effect that looking from the perspective of, how might I be misinterpreting, or what can I take responsibility for, or this is something I need to now take more responsibility for, because they are never going to do it or change in the relationship. So it has to be me. Truly, I regret that sometimes other considerations, acknowledgments and recognitions were needed and I simply did not see them.
Think & pay attention to when & where you take responsibility, and for what and how is that treated.
I stayed in many relationships I should not have, kept looking to myself, when the problem was truly happening in the behavior, and honestly every now and then, just not great or honorable intentions in the other person. I do regret that.
I would still recommend the LF Weekend, and the long lasting effect on one's life. But I wish these aspects had been tempered more, or dealt with with more environmental or contextual awareness of things.