PHOENIX, AZ — Sean Walsh, President and Chief Operating Officer of Meadows Behavioral Healthcare, has announced that Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., has joined the organization as a Senior Fellow for its continuum of inpatient treatment programs and outpatient services. In this role, Schwartz will be instrumental in supporting the program’s leading-edge approach to neurobehavioral health treatment, which is integrated with trauma services. He will also share his knowledge, experience, and expertise with patients and staff.
Schwartz began his career as a family therapist and academic at the University of Illinois at Chicago. There, he discovered that family therapy alone did not achieve full symptom relief, and in asking patients why, he learned that they were plagued by what they called, “parts.” He also found that as they focused on, and thereby separated from, their parts, they would shift into a state characterized by qualities like curiosity, calm, confidence, and compassion. He called that inner essence the Self, and was amazed to find it even in severely diagnosed and traumatized patients. From these explorations, the IFS model was born in the early 1980’s. IFS is now evidence-based, and has become a widely used form of psychotherapy, particularly with trauma. It provides a non-pathologizing, optimistic, and empowering perspective, and a practical and effective set of techniques for working with individuals, couples, families, and, more recently, corporations and classrooms. In 2013, Dr. Schwartz left the Chicago area and is now on the faculty of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
“We are honored and thrilled to have Dr. Schwartz join our team and are confident his expertise will continue to keep Meadows Behavioral Healthcare on the cutting edge of best practice interventions and techniques to ensure we are providing world class care to the patients we are entrusted to care for,” said Sean Walsh.
“I am honored to become a Senior Fellow with this organization,” Schwartz said. “I have had great respect for their trauma-based approach to treating a wide range of patients using IFS-compatible treatments, such as neurofeedback, EMDR, and SE, as well as the groundbreaking work of other Senior Fellows like Pia Mellody, Dr. Patrick Carnes, and Dr. Claudia Black. I am also thrilled that we will be training staff so that IFS can be added to the treatment approach.”
About Meadows Behavioral Healthcare
The Meadows Behavioral Healthcare system is a network of specialized behavioral healthcare programs, individualized addiction recovery centers, and acute psychiatric care centers located throughout the United States. Meadows Behavioral Healthcare is the industry leader in providing evidence-based healthcare treatment for people struggling with emotional trauma, drug and alcohol addiction, sex addiction, eating disorders, psychiatric disorders, and co-occurring conditions. The full continuum of programs and services deliver personalized treatment plans to people of all walks of life, meeting them at their point of need to help achieve long-term recovery. This treatment approach, which is rooted in decades of clinical experience treating childhood and relational trauma, addiction, eating disorders and mental illness, has established a strong foundation of trust among its patients, referring healthcare partners, and the local communities served. For more information on the Meadows Behavioral Healthcare continuum of treatment services, please visit www.meadowsbh.com or call 800-244-4949.
Richard Schwartz, Ph.D.