An indispensable, compassionate end-of-life resource After four decades of training volunteers to sit at the bedsides of the dying, psychologist and Shanti founder Charles Garfield has created an essential guide for friends, family, and healthcare professionals who want to ease someone's final days but don't know where to begin. Garfield presents practical advice about finding connection, honesty, and peace while being of the greatest service to those at the end of life. By focusing on the reciprocal and healing relationship between the living and the dying, which continues until the last breath, he offers a path toward clarity and wholeness, and even growth. Life's Last Gift is an emotional lifeline for anyone who feels lost and filled with grief during this final stage of life. “In this finely written and immensely useful book, Charles Garfield offers all of us the concrete guidance we’ll need to skillfully and compassionately support those we love at the end of their lives. Dr. Garfield knows the terrain intimately and his book will help family members and friends of the dying negotiate this difficult and confusing time with grace and kindness.” ―David Sheff , author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Beautiful Boy and Clean “Caring for someone during the last months of life is among our most profound―and daunting― responsibilities. Drawing skillfully on decades of professional experience and his own personal relationships, Charles Garfield’s practical wisdom transforms caring for a dying person from a problem to be solved to a journey to be walked, shoulder to shoulder, with the other. In Life’s Last Gift , the path Garfield offers is the way of the heart.” ―Ira Byock, MD , palliative care physician, author of Dying Well and The Four Things that Matter Most “Dr. Garfield has written a highly practical and useful book―packed with moving stories, deep wisdom, and inspiring insights. This accessible volume is a genuine gift that demonstrates how we can all be effective, supportive caretakers for the dying.” ―Roger Walsh, MD, PhD , professor of psychiatry, University of California Medical School and author of Essential Spirituality: The Seven Central Practices “ Life’s Last Gift is a masterpiece of caregiving wisdom! It is a legacy of ideas, some of the most vital information I’ve ever read on dying―and living. Dr. Garfield’s beautifully written book is a wise and loving work that you’ll not be able to put down. This book belongs on every adult’s required reading list.” ―Jim Santucci , Executive Director of Kara: Grief Support for Children, Teens, Families, and Adults “For decades, Charles Garfield has been a leader in the compassionate care of loved ones at the end of life. His moving teachings show us how we can open our hearts and minds, and bring peace and fulfillment to the person who is dying and to all those who are affected. This is a rare and remarkable book, one that all of us will need. It is a genuine blessing!”―Karin Evans, author of The Lost Daughters of China “I am absolutely confident that Dr. Garfield's invaluable book Life’s Last Gift will be important to you in your life. Its heartfelt and poignant stories, and superb guidance offer us all a treasure trove of unique insights. This is a deeply compassionate work that speaks directly to all those who hope for greater peace and comfort at life’s end.” ―Kaushik Roy , Executive Director of Shanti Project “ Life’s Last Gift is a distillation of wisdom gained from a lifetime of service in care of the dying. Dr. Garfield’s authentic, eloquent sharing of personal experiences and guidelines for the reader make this book a heartwarming treasure to be read and shared with others right now, before it’s too late.” Charles Garfield, PhD, founded Shanti, an internationally honored volunteer organization dedicated to the care of the dying and those living with cancer and AIDS, and the Shanti National Training Institute, which takes Shanti’s model to organizations around the country and world. He has been teaching the skills of serving dying people for more than forty years and was named National Activist of the Year for his work with Shanti. Garfield has worked as a clinical professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California School of Medicine at San Francisco (UCSF) for more than three decades. 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. A Fellow of the American Psychological Association, he is currently a research scholar at the Starr King School of the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. He also teaches courses on the end of life at the Metta Institute in San Francisco, where he is a founding faculty member of the training program for end-of-life counselors, and at the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. Garfield writes for and serves on the editorial board of Greater Good, a national e-ma