The Foundation for Positive Change is a 501(c)(3) non-profit human services organization established in 1994 for philanthropic and educational purposes.

We are dedicated to providing individuals and families dealing with the effects of trauma or crisis with the internal resources they need to quickly and effectively regain equilibrium, and gain or regain the skills and resources to live full and satisfying lives. Our primary focus is on veterans, active military members, firefighters, police officers, first-responders and other responsible citizens who have been derailed by a traumatic event or crisis. We believe everyone benefits when those who are willing to serve their country or community are themselves well served.

A Better Solution to Post Traumatic Stress
by Dr. Sherry Buffington 

In April, 2012 at a Wounded Warriors conference I stood before an audience of 22 soldiers from Fort Hood and Fort Sam Houston to present an alternative treatment for post-traumatic stress. Each member of the audience had been diagnosed with PTSD and several with depression as well.  As they opened up and shared their experiences with me, many expressed dismay at the lack of effective treatment they had received and expressed their aversion to the typical treatment - prescription drugs. One soldier said, “I didn’t go fight for my country to come back and be turned into a drug addict.” Every head in the room nodded in agreement. They desperately wanted to get their lives back to normal and knew that the barrage of drugs they were being prescribed by the handsful didn’t provide the healing they wanted or, in many cases, any real relief.

I asked for a volunteer to demonstrate how quickly, easily and effectively the method I had developed, Rapidly Accelerated Mind Patterning (RAMP), worked for relieving post-traumatic stress and a young man named Tarson volunteered.  Tarson reported that the drugs he had been prescribed and was supposed to ingest on a daily basis could not be held in one hand and that he had quit taking most of them because he couldn’t think or function while on them. “I’m open to trying anything that could help me function better without drugs,” he reported, “because I can tell you for sure all those drugs don’t do it!”

Tarson reported he was unable to sleep at night because of horrific images that haunted him whenever he closed his eyes. In less than half an hour and right in front of 21 of his peers, this young man was able to completely eliminate the strong emotional response he had been battling for years. 

As those in the audience saw the shift in him, hope filled their faces. One young woman asked, “When can we have that?”  At the time I didn’t have an answer. I knew trying to get the method approved through the government would be a very long and arduous process, if it even got done at all. It broke my heart to have to answer, “I don’t know” and watch their hope turn to despair. 

 At the end of the day, as I waited by the front door for a friend, Tarson approached me all smiles. He had two other soldiers with him. He said, “I just wanted to let you know that I have been trying all day to call up those horrible images and the feelings connected to them because I just couldn’t believe they could be gone that easily. But they aren’t there.  I free!”

The two soldiers with him told me Tarson had been sharing his experience with other soldiers all day. “I had to,” Tarson explained, “You gave me my life back. I can hardly wait to go home and go to sleep.” He gave me a big hug and added, “I can’t thank you enough.” 

  “I'm  free!” and “You gave me my life back” echoed in my mind, and the image of Tarson's beaming smile and the hopeful faces in that room that day continued to tug at my heart, and I knew I had to find a way to help other amazing young men and women like Tarson get their life back.

In relaying this event to the members of our board, it was unanimously agreed that our priority for as long as it takes needs to be making sure those who fought for our freedom are themselves free.  The result is our PTSFree Project.  

There are an estimated 22.8 million veterans in the United States today and it is estimated that 15% to 20% of them are suffering from post traumatic stress. That’s about 4 million veterans at minimum. Every day 22 of them run out of hope and put an end to their life.  

They need our help and, if we wait for the government to realize that prescription medications are not the answer, the suffering and needless deaths will continue. We, as citizens, must step up to the plate and help, and we need to do it right now.                        

The PTS Free Project

This project has one grand goal and three phases.

The grand goal is to give veterans and military personnel whose lives have been disrupted or derailed by post traumatic stress complete relief so they can live the full, satisfying life they deserve. 

We do this by providing a therapeutic approach that clears the stress produced by traumatic events in as little as an hour.  Unlike other treatments, RAMP requires no rituals, no hypnotic trances, no revisiting the trauma, no homework, no long, drawn-out treatments and no effort to maintain. In one to three 1-hour sessions the symptoms associated with post traumatic stress are completely gone for most people.
 

The Three Phases are:

(1) Completion of an independent study to establish the efficacy and applicability Rapidly Accelerated Mind Patterning (RAMP) in treating combat-related post traumatic stress. This method has been used in private practice for over twenty years and has proven to be fast, effortless, pleasant and powerfully effective.

(2)  A campaign to reframe post traumatic stress as a natural and beneficial response to traumatic events which, when properly redirected, can become an effective success strategy for navigating everyday life and business. Our goal is to change the public perception of post traumatic stress so it is properly viewed as an effective defense response rather than a "disorder." 

(3) A training program to teach the RAMP method to professionals who regularly work with people dealing with trauma-induced stress in order to reach and heal thousands of veterans and active duty service members on a broad scale.

We are currently taking applications for participation in the study. Participants receive FREE and completely confidential treatment. To apply, CLICK HERE

 
OUR GENERAL PURPOSE

Our overall purpose is to provide individuals and families dealing with the the effects of trauma or crisis with the internal resources they need to quickly and effectively regain equilibrium and reclaim their life. We provide the internal resources (mental and emotional well-being and life skills), and partner with other organizations to provide physical resources to those in need. 

We rely on and partner with other organizations to provide immediate physical needs. Our role is to provide individuals and families with the non-diminishing, sustainable and life transforming assets of mental and emotional well-being and functional capabilities that will move them past the pain of trauma and crisis in the fastest, most efficient way and get them back on solid ground where they can stand tall and confident and move through life successfully. 


OUR FOCUS

  • Individuals dealing with trauma, grief, fear, depression or other factors which lead to personal and/or interpersonal dysfunction or instability. We work with trauma victims, including veterans of war, women and men who were sexually abused as children, victims of domestic violence, victims of human trafficking, those who have lost family members suddenly such as in an accident, those who have lost everything in storm and fire related destruction, and any others who are suffering the effects of post traumatic stress. 
     
    We also work with individuals and families who are in crisis and need mental, emotional or skills-based assistance to move past it. It is our position, and research bears out, that trauma and grief, and the stressors they exacerbate, are the leading causes of personal and interpersonal ineffectiveness. There are many events that produce trauma, grief and stress which are not typically considered catastrophic, but which can lead to catastrophic outcomes. Any event that adversely affects personal and/or interpersonal effectiveness can derail individuals, create conditions that adversely affect them, their families, their workplace, and society as a whole.
     
  • Families of veterans, military members and first responders overwhelmed by unhealthy relationship dynamics which result in high conflict and harmful behaviors and which have developed as a result of trauma or crisis related stress.


We Bring Positive Change By:

1.  Sponsoring research into methods that will positively impact individuals and families in significant and sustainable ways.   

2.  Providing training, or scholarships for training, to those who serve individuals and families dealing with the effects of trauma or crisis (mental health professionals, social workers, clergy, coaches and other professionals) so we can affect positive change on a larger scale.

3.  Providing or sponsoring programs to heal family dynamics and provide the tools family members need to gain the interpersonal skills, self-esteem, confidence, and capacity to navigate life successfully.

4. Partnering with non-profit organizations which provide immediate assistance to those in need (food, clothing, shelter, medical attention) as a first step in becoming self-sufficient.

5. Partnering with non-profit organizations which are focused on longer term training and mentoring with the goal of teaching specific life and job skills to prepare those they serve to live  an effective and self-sustaining life.