Interim Director/Associate Professor: School of Behavioral Science and Counseling
Every challenge you face and overcome in this program strengthens your ability to help others. Believe in your potential to make a difference.
Dr. Larry Ford received his Bachelor of Science in Behavioral Science and Ethics from Mid-America Christian University in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Dr. Ford received his Master’s in Counseling with an emphasis in Human Relations from the University of Oklahoma, and he received his Doctorate in Behavioral Health from Arizona State University.
Inspired by the volumes of studies Dr. Ford completed on how infinitely the psyche affects the body, Dr. Ford founded Hands to Guide You as he fulfilled his doctoral studies in November 2011.
Dr. Ford centers his practice on the certainty that there is no physical health without mental health, and correspondingly Dr. Ford has advanced Hands to Guide You as a preeminent leader in Integrated Care and Population Health. Hands to Guide You, with Dr. Ford at the helm, enjoys distinction for engendering unparalleled patient rehabilitation and recovery rates, and expansive patient health literacy.
Providing and teaching the necessity of integrated care, and the entrenched correlation between emotional well-being and physical health have become Dr. Ford’s trademarks. Hence, Dr. Ford’s esteemed reputation in integrating behavioral and medical health has yielded him requests from all over the nation to serve as a keynote speaker imparting erudition, expertise, and patient success stories. Dr. Ford has spoken and continues to receive invitations to lecture before hundreds of fellow clinicians and additional medical and behavioral health professionals including engagements at:
- Cummings Graduate Institute 2015 and 2016 Behavioral Health fall conferences in Phoenix, Arizona
- The Clinton Foundation
- The Oklahoma Department of Human Services
- The September 2014 Behavioral Health Conference in San Antonio, Texas sponsored by the National Alliance of Professional Psychology Providers
- The April 2017 Glendale Community College Mental Health & Behavioral Science Conference
Dr. Ford’s expertise on the impact of chronic diseases such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, depression, and anxiety on physical health have been peer-reviewed in articles at Arizona State University in October 2015.
Dr. Ford enjoys eminent respect from both his patients and contemporaries as an authority on decreasing excessive health care costs in the state of Oklahoma, which therein has significantly reduced health insurance coverage denial due in great part to Dr. Ford’s accomplishments in holistic treatments. Dr. Ford’s integrated treatment has also decreased hospital re-admission by 30% in southwest Oklahoma City alone.
It is for Dr. Ford’s principal leadership over the compassionate interdisciplinary treatment team at Hands to Guide You, that epitomizes skilled behavioral health services in Oklahoma, and numerous other notable achievements that the Cummings Graduate Institute honored Dr. Ford with the prestigious Biodyne Life Change Award in October 2016.
Additional Recognition
2021 – Cummings Graduate Institute for Behavioral Health Studies (CGI) Appointed to the Board of Directors, Member and Faculty Associate
2020 – Awarded Doctor of the Year
2019 & 2020 Hands to Guide You received the Oklahoma City Small Business Award
