Sometimes My Heart Goes Numb: Love and Caregiving in a Time of AIDS - Softcover

Garfield, Charles; Spring, Cindy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 015600495X ISBN 13: 9780156004954

Publisher: Harvest, 1997

Synopsis

Drawing on the real-life stories of twenty exemplary caregivers, Dr. Charles Garfield explains the widely used Shanti caregivers model he originated-and shows how to set limits, avoid burnout, accept gratitude, and grapple with issues of life and death when caring for people with HIV/AIDS.

About this title

About the Author:

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 nearly 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 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.
 
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."

From Library Journal:

Extraordinary times bring out extraordinary people. AIDS caregivers are such people; they deal with fear, ignorance, and prejudice, as well as opportunistic diseases and death. Garfield, who profiled top business achievers in his 1986 Peak Performers, highlights 20 of these remarkable caregivers, many of whom were affiliated with San Francisco's Shanti Project, which Garfield founded, at some point in their work. Yet most, if not all, would probably brush off the notion that they are extraordinary. They perceive themselves as people who see a need (both in themselves and around them) and fill it. But their work is not without a cost. Garfield also discusses caring for the caregivers, who often suffer from burnout, fatigue, and traumatic stress syndrome. "The best caregivers," he writes, "are those who come to work not out of guilt or professional necessity, but because they have been touched by the soul of another human being." Recommended for most collections.?Lee Arnold, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harvest
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 015600495X
• ISBN 13: 9780156004954
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336