Exploring the Child Life Specialist Profession

Exploring the Child Life Specialist Profession

HDFS: Assignment 10, Option 2 By: Bailey Zinn

In this presentation, I will discuss the Child Life Specialist Profession and how it compares to other fields.

What will be discussed:

• The role and purpose of a Child Life Specialist.
• The education and certification requirements (ACLP standards).
• How Child Life Specialists apply family systems and developmental theory.
• Connecting the profession to Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) principles.
• Reflecting on how Auburn University prepares students for this career path.
• Comparing the field to other human development or family science professions (like Marriage and Family Therapy).

Patient

Compassionate

Empathetic

Encouraging

Understanding

Interactive

What is a child life Specialist?

Knowledgable

Warm and nurturing

Gentle

Supportive

Emotionally strong

Calm and reassuring

A CLS is a healthcare professional who helps children who may have medical conditions or be in a hospital. They use their knowledge of child development and work with the child's family to support a child's mental health while in an uncomfortable environment.

A CLS can help children and families cope with illness, trauma, or hospitalization by...

• Using play as a tool for children to understand what is happening and to help them before medical procedures
• providing emotional support to reduce feelings of fear and anxiety
• supporting the parents and siblings during any stressful situation
• providing coping strategies that could be shown in examples like going outdoors, taking deep breaths, any distraction, or maybe some expressive/calming art

So, how is a CLS any different from Marriage and Family Therapy or Social Work?

A CLS is different compared to Marriage and Family Therapy because it uses play, preparation, and emotional support in the hospital or healthcare settings during stressful moments. In comparison, Marriage and Family Therapy provides long-term family sessions in more clinical or counseling settings. A social worker focuses more on connecting families with resources, services, and support centers. Among the three, the environments are all slightly different. So while all of these are connected to helping families, CLS is unique because it provides emotional support in the moment in a healthcare setting using play and coping strategies.

Education

Certification

Training

ACLP and Auburn's HDFS Program

According to the Association of Child Life Professionals (2024), individuals pursuing a certification must get a bachelor's degree, complete required coursework in areas such as child development and family systems, complete a 600-hour clinical internship under the supervision of a Certified Child Life Specialist, and then pass the Child Life Certification Exam. Coursework in child development, play, family systems, and research provides the base CLS needs in order to understand how children respond to stress, how families function under pressure, and how to create the best coping methods for the child and family. Auburn University's HDFS program offers coursework in child development, family systems, and children's experiences in health care settings. This provides students with foundational knowledge relevant to child life practices. The child life area in HDFS "meets the minimum course requirements for national certification as a Child Life Specialist," which helps students who want to apply for child life internships or child life programs in graduate school. (Auburn University, n.d.).

Theory and Practice

Describe: Child Life practice is found in both the family systems theory and developmental theory. The family systems theory views the child as part of a bigger family unit, so like the illness or hospitalization of the child affects the entire family and not just the child. So, CLS works with parents and siblings as well. Developmental theory helps CLS in understanding how children at different ages perceive illness, fear, and medical procedures. This allows coping methods to be specific to the child's developmental stage of life. Explain: CLS uses play therapy, procedural preparation, and emotional support to help children cope with medical experiences. Play allows children to express their feelings, find control, and figure out their environment/surroundings. Procedural preparation involves explaining medical procedures using comforting words and medical play to help reduce some fear when being in a hospital setting. Emotional support is provided by validating the child's emotions, showing coping strategies, and making sure to stay with the child during the procedures to make them feel safe and comforted. Discuss: It is important to understand family dynamics and cultural diversity in healthcare settings because families can differ in communication, beliefs about the illness, how they express their emotions, and their own coping strategies. Everyone also has a different past that may result in these dynamics, which is another reason why not all families are the same. CLS must create support strategies for each family's needs. This guarantees they are being respectful of the family and aligning their job with the family's personal strengths.

Settings & Services

00:00

Services Offered

Work Places

The services include (1) Procedural preparation, which is where medical procedures are explained using age-appropriate language and medical play to reduce any fear from the child. (2) Therapeutic play allows children to express emotions and gain a sense of control. (3) Family education helps parents understand their child's responses and learning how their coping strategies work. (4) Sibling support helps siblings during hospital visits cope with the changes in their brother/sister. (Mayo Clinic School of Medicine Sciences, n.d.).

According to the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences, CLS typically work in healthcare settings such as:

• Hospitals
• Medical clinics
• Hospice
• Dental offices
• Schools
• Camps
• And maybe the homes of the child

Explain: Child Life Specialists enhance family-centered care and emotional well-being by addressing the needs of both the child and their family. By providing education, support, and coping strategies for the parents and siblings, they reduce mental health side effects for the entire family. Their job encourages collaboration between families and healthcare professionals, which adds to a good atmosphere in the hospital setting. Overall, CLS helps create a supportive environment that considers the child's needs and the emotional well-being of the whole family. (Mayo Clinic School of Medicine Sciences, n.d.).

And

Career Application

Reflection

What interests me about CLS is how it combines working with children and supporting families during challenging medical experiences. Growing up, I always wanted to be a nurse, but really just to help support people and not do needles and stuff, haha. A CLS is the perfect field for this passion! This field connects directly to my goals in HDFS because it allows me to apply concepts from child development, family systems theory, and human services in a real-world/healthcare setting. Compared to other fields in HDFS, like Marriage and Family Therapy, CLS focuses specifically on supporting children within the context of offering family care rather than addressing the broader relationship or family issue. While MFTs work with couples and families on relationship therapy, CLS emphasizes coping strategies, procedural preparation, and emotional support for children. This aids in helping other professions in the healthcare setting. One challenge in the Child Life profession is supporting families with children who have chronic or life-threatening illnesses that require coping and emotional support for a long time. This leads me to my question- One question I have about how CLS impacts family resilience and emotional health for discussion is: How can CLS help families stay resilient when a child is undergoing continuous or life-threatening medical treatments like cancer? This question highlights how their work directly impacts family resilience and emotional health.

Sources (APA Format)

Alamy Limited. (2015). Marriage counseling center family support and emotions therapy 4 flat icons square composition abstract isolated vector illustration. Alamy.com; Alamy images. https://www.alamy.com/marriage-counseling-center-family-support-and-emotions-therapy-4-flat-icons-square-composition-abstract-isolated-vector-illustration-image568304403.html Become Certified. (n.d.). Default. https://www.childlife.org/certification/become-certified Child Life. (2024). Lebonheur.org. https://www.lebonheur.org/our-services/child-and-family-support-services/child-life/ Human Development & Family Science - Auburn University College of Human Sciences. (2021). Auburn.edu. https://humsci.auburn.edu/hdfs/ugrad/program.php Learn more at childlife.org/BecomeCertified CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS. (n.d.). https://www.childlife.org/docs/default-source/certification/steps-to-become-certified.pdf ‌‌Mayo Clinic College of Medicine & Science. (n.d.). Child Life Specialist. Mayo.edu. https://college.mayo.edu/academics/explore-health-care-careers/careers-a-z/child-life-specialist/ The. (2024, October 31). Family Systems Theory: Understanding Family Dynamics. ESOFT Lifelong Learning. https://esoftskills.ie/family-systems-theory/

Thank You!