Ford was born in New York City in 1951, the first child of John and Vivian Ford. John Ford was the first black engineer to work for IBM, and Vivian Ford taught school and directed an early childhood education program in California. At age 16 Ford traveled to Africa in the wake of Martin Luther King's assassination, attempting to adjust to the tragedy. Ford earned a bachelors of arts degree from Wesleyan University in 1971 and went to work as a systems engineer for IBM. In 1977 he returned to school, enrolling at Western States Chiropractic College in Portland, Oregon. He completed his training in psychotherapy at the Synthesis Education Foundation of Winchester and the Psychosynthesis Institute of New York, and then set up private practice, first in Richmond, Virginia, and later in Bellingham, Washington. In 1989 Ford wrote his first book, Where Healing Waters Meet, and followed in 1993 with Compassionate Touch.