As a college freshman, I spent the past year, my senior year, answering questions from family members and friends about where I am going to school next year, what my major is and what my future plans entail. My answer is always, "I want to be a child life specialist (CLS)." Normally, the response I get is, Oh that's great!" I always proceed to ask, "Do you know what a CLS is?" After the person either says yes, no or sort of, I always try and fill them in. So to all of my peers, friends and family members, here is my explanation of what a child life specialist is and everything you need to know about the career.
How did I learn about the career of being a child life specialist?
During the summer of my junior and senior years, I had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer at Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children, which, side note, if you live anywhere near the tri-state area and are in need of top-notch professional speciality care for your child, I hope you consider DuPont because there is something truly unique and amazing about this hospital. I do not have enough words to explain how great this hospital is for children. Anyways, during my time as a high school volunteer, I was assigned to the Child Life Department. I was able to visit patients at their bedside that needed someone to play with them, to hold babies who needed some TLC, and to play with patients and siblings who visited in the Child Life playroom. During my first summer was when I knew that child life was the career for me when I attended a lunch-and-learn and heard from a CLS. So thank you, DuPont, for allowing me the opportunity to serve your hospital and giving me the ability to witness the amazing CLS role in action.
So, what is a child life specialist?
The Child Life Council defines a CLS as a "trained professional who help children and families overcome life's most challenging events. Armed with a strong background in child development and family systems, child life specialists promote effective coping through play, preparation, education, and self-expression activities. They provide emotional support for families, and encourage optimum development of children facing a broad range of challenging experiences, particularly those related to healthcare and hospitalization."
The way that I explain it is simply that I am an educator in the hospital. If a child were to come into the ER, be diagnosed with a long-term disease, have to spend a long time in the hospital or have any procedure, I serve as the teacher for the child to explain anything that their experience will entail. I also would help educate the patient's siblings and parents, especially since medical terminology is not common knowledge. A lot of this education that I would do is done through play and appropriate developmental activities to help them both understand and provide emotional support.
Where do child life specialists work?
Pediatric Hospitals, mostly. However, they are starting to be employed in general hospitals as well. Child life specialists can be placed in any unit in the hospital including anywhere from the emergency room to the oncology unit.
Why do I want to be a child life specialist?
I have witnessed the overwhelming magical powers a CLS has on a pediatric patient in the hospital. As I headed on to the next chapter in my life (college), I knew that I wanted to be a teacher but I also loved the hospital environment and helping children going through challenging times. Therefore, when I saw how in child life I could combine my two passions, it hit me that this is what I was made to do. My future, and dream job is to go back and work at A.I DuPont Hospital for Children as a CLS and help inspire other future volunteers to follow in my footsteps.
I encourage you to visit the Child Life Council website to learn more about this career. Also, if you want to become a CLS, visit the website to learn more about the requirements to start on the path. I am so excited that I have begun my journey to become a child life specialist and am so thankful for my time at DuPont to show me my future.
