Serving a Unique Role in Helping Children and Families Cope With Medical Experiences
There are probably few things that are more stressful for parents and children than when a child has to go to the hospital—which is typically unexpected and involves trauma, injury or illness. The experience can be wrought with anxiety, fear and isolation for children and their families as they are suddenly immersed in a world of medical language, equipment, sounds and smells that can be overwhelming and confusing.
Enter Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS), healthcare professionals who are uniquely trained to help children and families deal with the stress and uncertainty of illness, injury, disability, trauma or hospitalization.
As a highly trained healthcare professional with deep knowledge, education and experience in child development coupled with specific training in these areas in the medical environment, a CCLS provides children with increased coping skills and understanding of their medical situation, thereby helping to relieve the pressure that comes from being in a medical setting.
March is Child Life Month, which recognizes these specialists and the unique role they play in turning a difficult experience into a manageable one for families.
Here’s what parents need to know about what they do and how to advocate for this kind of help during their next hospital stay.
Through A Child’s Perspective
“Coming to the hospital with a child can be overwhelming. Children and families may not understand what is happening, which can cause fear and anxiety,” says Shannon Joslin, CCLS, child life manager at University of Maryland Children’s Hospital (UMCH) in Baltimore.
“We work with the child and family to educate, empower and allow self-expression, with a focus on reducing fear and anxiety while helping them develop coping skills.”
In many large hospitals—and some community-based hospitals—in the region, teams of Certified Child Life Specialists focus on the child first, aiming to reduce trauma and stress by promoting positive coping through intentional play, self-expression activities, age-appropriate preparation and explanation of medical procedures and diagnoses, use of developmentally appropriate language, building rapport with hospital staff and helping create a positive experience for the entire family, thereby reducing fear and anxiety.
For one Maryland family, their child life specialist at UMCH made all the difference in helping their 7-year-old daughter cope with the heart surgery of her newborn baby brother.
“Brooklyn (Burke) was afraid to see Aryn (Burke) after his surgery; she was scared because she did not understand,” says Summer Porter, their mom. “But the child life specialist created a doll that looked like Aryn—complete with the tubes and scars—that she used to explain his condition to Brooklyn. It was brilliant and absolutely changed the situation for her. The child life specialist made her feel safe and heard.”
A minimization of stress also extends to the family and helps them cope with the visit, Joslin says, but it’s helpful to have the approach tailored to a child’s needs.
“We approach the hospital experience from the child’s perspective by focusing on who the child is and how we can build in support, activities and resources for them to learn and grow even though they are in the hospital, and to promote normalcy,” she explains.
Where Can You Find a Child Life Specialist?
A CCLS works in a variety of settings in the hospital, and many develop a specialty area in which to support children. They help in the emergency department, with cancer treatment, intensive care, imaging (X-rays, MRIs and CT scans); bereavement of a sibling, parent or other loved one; broken bones, having stitches and surgery, to name a few.
“Child life provides support to children across the age spectrum from infants to young adults, and even in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU),” Joslin says. “For long-term patients, such as children living with cancer or other long-term medical conditions, we come alongside children and families during their medical journey, celebrating the highs and supporting during the lows.
For short term care, we assess stress points to effectively provide social and emotional support for procedures in the emergency department or for surgery or other treatments.”
Child life specialists are good communicators, are effective at building relationships, excel at working in high stress environments as they partner with all care team members and are exceptionally adaptable, as no two days are the same and their involvement is timely.
Child life specialists also educate co-workers on the child’s medical team about stress mitigation techniques in the event a child life specialist is not available.
A Customized Approach
“Our approach is customized based on what the child needs,” Joslin adds. “For children with longer hospital stays, normalizing the hospital environment is key … Bringing in snow for a child sad about missing playing in the snow, playing a child’s favorite movie or music, being prepared with a joke of the day for a child who uses humor to help with coping are examples of ways Child Life normalizes the hospital environment. We provide family support, memory making for milestones, help parents cope and maintain connection, provide play aimed at learning and growing while in hospital and provide a custom play room and teen room where children can make choices and have control, which they otherwise do not often have when they are hospitalized.”
According to Regina Macatangay, MD, a pediatric hematologist and oncologist at the University of Maryland Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, child life specialists make all the difference in the world.
“Child life specialists are always prepared,” Macatangay says. “They are an integral part of the care team that we could not do without. They connect with children and families to effectively explain the medical situation, provide education and support to prepare them for procedures and support them to relieve anxiety and fear.”
If You Don’t See One, Ask.
So, what should parents do if they have a hospital experience with their child and need support? Ask the staff, “Do you have Certified Child Life Specialists? Do you have anyone available who works with pediatric patients specifically to help relieve stress?”
“Parents can advocate for their child by asking for a child life specialist,” Joslin says. “We are here to partner with families and want them to feel empowered to ask questions. Our goal is to make the hospital as stress-free and comfortable as possible for your child.”
“It is such an important job,” says Porter, Brooklyn and Aryn’s mom. “It changed our situation by providing Brooklyn ‘her person.’ It felt like concierge service.”
Credentials & Training
Certified Child Life Specialists have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a related field, such as psychology, human growth and development, education or counseling. They complete a clinical internship, pass a national certification examination, follow a code of ethics and are required to complete continuing education that recertifies them every five years.
Their specialized education and training includes incorporating a medical model of play that explains what is happening in the medical setting; training to support children through bereavement; supporting preparation for medical procedures, diagnosis and treatment; anticipation of sensory experiences and understanding how trauma and pain affect children and how to mitigate those effects.
