Charles Garfield, Ph.D.

Founder of Shanti

Dr. Charles Garfield has been recognized internationally as the founder of Shanti, a widely acclaimed volunteer organization, and the Shanti National Training Institute (SNTI). For over thirty years, he has pioneered the development of service oriented volunteer organizations and the training of volunteers in a wide variety of applications. For his work with Shanti and for originating the Shanti model of peer support, Garfield was named National Activist of the Year—one of America’s highest awards to individuals making voluntary contributions in public service. He has also received recognition by grateful cities and organizations large and small, e.g. a Mayor’s Day in his honor in San Francisco, key to the city of Schenectady, New York, and many others.

Dr. Garfield serves as Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California School of Medicine at San Francisco (UCSF). He is the co-author of Training Volunteers for Community Service: The Step-by-Step Guide of the Shanti National Training Institute. He is also the author of Sometimes My Heart Goes Numb: Love and Caregiving in a Time of AIDS. While on the faculty of the Cancer Research Institute at UCSF, he was one of the early contributors to the burgeoning field of psychosocial oncology. Two of his books, Stress and Survival: The Emotional Realities of Life Threatening Illness and Psychosocial Care of the Dying Patient, have been used as texts in many medical and nursing schools.

Charles Garfield began his career as a mathematician and computer analyst on Apollo Eleven, our first lunar landing. It was as a member of the team that sent the first two astronauts to the moon that he learned how mission-driven teams can band together to accomplish extraordinary results. He is the author of ten books including the highly regarded peak performance trilogy on high achieving individuals, teams and organizations—Second to None, Peak Performers and Peak Performance. His honorary speeches include: Clinton White House conference; U.S. Olympic Committee and Head Coaches of Olympic Sports; and the Leadership of Oklahoma City following the tragic bombing of the federal building.  Currently, Charles Garfield serves as an at-large member of the Board of Governors of the C. G. Jung Institute of San Francisco and as a member of the founding advisory council of the Center for Peace and Wellbeing at the University of California at Berkeley. He also serves on the editorial boards of the San Francisco Jung Institute Library Journal and Greater Good, a national magazine published by U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Peace and Wellbeing.

Dr. Garfield has helped many community based, healthcare and religious organizations in the U.S. and abroad to fulfill their missions as exemplary service agencies. Of this work he says: “The combined experience of the many hundreds of organizations around the world modeled after Shanti has shown us that volunteers, and those organizations wise enough to use them fully, are capable of delivering much needed, high quality care for people facing life’s most difficult challenges. Our work through the Shanti National Training Institute is demonstrating that volunteers – America’s invisible workforce - can learn to be tender on people and tough on problems as they serve those who need them most.”