Proprietary Tools
Synergy Foundation is uniquely authorized to use several important proprietary tools and methodologies:
The T-MODEL is a practical proprietary framework onto which relevant trauma and resilience tools can be effectively mapped and successfully integrated.
The MMATRIX Needs-to-Resource Assessment and Management Tool (The MMATRIX Tool) is sometimes affectionately called the "Expectations Matrix", a slight misnomer. Backed by sound research and know-how from multiple disciplines, it's a proprietary tool that helps people identify, differentiate among, and assess their needs, and match them to appropriate resources, which are likewise evaluated. Training on the use of this tool is available for individuals and groups, whether they are in active crisis, have experienced trauma, or are simply working toward proactive self-development, resilience building, and personal efficacy. It's for everyone.
MMATRIX readily maps onto a wide variety of existing support programs, and is a complement, not a competitor, to the work of various service professionals, such as therapists, counselors, life coaches, religious leaders, medical and legal practitioners, financial advisors, etc. In fact, MMATRIX seeks to improve those relationships, partly by empowering individuals to tap and work more effectively with their best choice of resources, understanding what to expect and how to appreciate each.
At the organizational level, MMATRIX is ideal for promoting both employee and client wellness, greater personal stability, healthier and better preserved professional relationships, more productive interactions, better employee and client retention rates.
Ultimately, the MMATRIX tool helps build Resourcefulness as a skill that people can confidently carry with them, rather than merely seeking to ensure that people are "well-resourced", which often becomes a costly though ineffective endeavor. Amidst an arguably universal mental/physical health crisis that centers heavily around trauma, this represents a significant and long-overdue shift in individual, organizational, and societal wellness strategy.
Logistically speaking, MMATRIX is carefully designed such that when delivery is facilitated by proper training, it's easy to use, cost-effective, results-focused, and broadly applicable across situations and cultures.
MMATRIX uses specific, customized components when working with PTSD sufferers (diagnosed/diagnosable or not) and their supporters. Aside from the other benefits, demonstrated reductions in helplessness and measurable reductions in anxiety represent just some of the ways the MMATRIX tool has proven to help lower the risk of overwhelm, even to the point of saving lives. It's a recommended component in suicide prevention strategies.
SES – SES (Stability-Education-Strategy) is a proprietary research-based protocol used to help the traumatized as they progress through these three interconnected stages, during or after crisis. It is accompanied by practical tools that can be utilized well into the future during solid, longterm recovery. SES is part of our first response to assist porn users and/or their partners, but its principles, and the procedure to first stabilitze, then educate, and finally strategize can be applied to many different types of crisis*. For the partner, stabilization involves personal and situational validation, in some cases an acute safety checklist and/or at least rudimentary boundary-setting, as well as a variety of other exercises that deal with our emotions, self-care, and more. It generally includes use of the MMATRIX tool to begin needs-to-resources assessment, and to reassure the individual that s/he is not helpless. Timely success in this stage is critical! For the porn user or addict, stabilization may include exercises that deal with motivation and faciliate initial sobriety in preparation for the next steps. Once participants are better able to learn, process, and apply what they've learned, the Education phase includes sharing relevant general information and delivering practical training about the issue at hand (how it works, what to expect, how to outsmart it, and best practices for overcoming the problem and moving through recovery), partly so that informed decisions can be made in a timely manner. This phase may also include a safe, assisted disclosure process for information pertinent to the specific couple/situation. Strategy is the phase in which the informed individuals are then trained in decision-making and the setting and pursuing of goals and objectives. These tasks are supported partly by the MMATRIX tool results. SES helps make the difference between merely coping (often badly and while remaining at-risk) and actually overcoming challenges, between just surviving and truly thriving.
SRT (Synergistic Response Team) for Trauma-related Change Management. Real change regarding trauma requires more than scattered, isolated, or uncoordinated efforts, ticking off boxes, or even paper certifications. SRTs involve a comprehensive model for methodically mapping out key players in a community or organization, along with their roles, responsibilities, and interfacing, in order to help them work together to achieve the most effective and well-coordinated group response possible to a given issue. Work may include consulting, training, and tools. In our case, we can create and help strengthen human wellness SRTs to address trauma in general, or to address the impact of porn and related misconduct (sexual harassment, addiction, assault, stalking, trafficking, other related crimes, etc.) on individuals and the organization. We can also assist organizations that want to shift from external referrals and outsourcing to develop their own in-house employee wellness programs and resources. Schools, community organizations, professional organizations, and private businesses are all appropriate candidates to create and implement a related SRT.