How Child Life Can Help Your Family
Children and families struggling with troubling fears, life transitions, illness, injury, trauma and other challenging life events can benefit from the support of a Child Life Specialist. Private sessions with a specialist will focus on building rapport, comprehending the psychosocial and emotional issues, and developing a comprehensive plan with attainable positive outcomes for the child and family. These sessions will occur in the child’s most comfortable environment – their home, and, depending on the individual circumstances and age of the child, will include play therapy, developmentally-appropriate education and preparation, role play, and other helpful techniques for dealing with stressful events.
Who Benefits from Child Life?
- Children or adolescents experiencing life transitions (move to a new town or school, divorce, newly blended family)
- Children or adolescents experiencing behavioral challenges or fears (separation anxiety, difficulty emotionally regulating)
- Children or adolescents with a severe fear of doctors’ or dentists’ visits
- Children or adolescents with an acute or chronic illness or injury
- Children or adolescents whose parents have an illness or serious injury
- Children or adolescents whose siblings have an acute or chronic illness/injury or special needs
- Children or adolescents experiencing the loss of a loved one, including the loss of a pet
Services
Types of support include but are not limited to:
- Therapeutic play, including medical play
- Developmentally-appropriate education
- Preparation for medical procedures and other upcoming life events
- Self-expression activities
- Parent training
- Accompaniment to a medical/dental appointment (upon request; ultimate goal will be for specialist to utilize parent training to ensure parent is able to support child’s ability to cope)
- Bereavement support for child and family experiencing the loss of a loved one
- Advocacy support on behalf of child and family
- School support/education for new diagnoses/allergies
- School re-entry/reintegration support following a prolonged or scattered absence*
*This support can include working directly with the child’s school and providing developmentally-appropriate education for classmates, including the reasoning for the absence. Like any support, school re-entry support will be tailored to fit the exact needs of the child and family.
“Vision board” created by a teenage patient, provided self-expression during a challenging medical experience.