Richard C. Schwartz (born 14 September 1949),[1] is an American systemic family therapist, academic, author, and creator of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) branch of therapy.
[2][3] He developed his foundational work with IFS in the 1980s[4] after noticing that his clients were made up of many different pieces of "parts" of their "Self.
"[5][6] He teaches that, "Our inner parts contain valuable qualities and our core Self knows how to heal, allowing us to become integrated and whole.
[4][3][6] He is the founder of the Center for Self Leadership in 2000, but in 2019, the organization changed its name to the IFS Institute.
[10] Schwartz has published over 50 articles about IFS,[11][12] and his authorship includes the following: