Interviews

Name: Danielle

Hospital: St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho

1)      What is your job as a child life therapist?

I do a variety of things. The basic premise of what we do is to help children through their hospital stay. If a child has to go through a procedure, we try to help them through that with books that show what will be done to them, or even by using dolls. We basically just try to create a sense of normalization in their lives and that can be done in their hospital room as well. We will give them things to do in their own rooms while they stay here, or we allow them to go to our play room and spend time with them there. We also provide family support while their children strive to get better.

2)      What kind of play do the therapists use with the Children?

Well we aren’t play therapists per say, but we use play to help children cope with their feelings and also to give them something normal. So we use play in helping kids cope through difficult situations and reach normalization. We also help the children with play by helping them get stimulation. And of course we use play to see that they are properly developing. They can also use the play room where there’s medical play to get the emotions out.

3)      How often do you meet with the children?

It really just depends on the child. The first day we do what we call a ‘meet and greet’. We meet the child and their parents and give them a toy. Some children will just take that toy and will be fine for the rest of their stay. Other children need more attention. The longer they stay, the more attention we give them. Obviously the seriousness of their state of health and their procedures effects this greatly.

On a daily basis that can be anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour.

4)      So for those children you just described, how often do you visit with them in particular?

On a daily basis that be anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour.

5)      What qualifies someone to become a child life specialist?

A lot of the qualifications and information is found on childlife.org. This really is the only organization that governs our profession. It tells you what you need to do in order to be able to have this kind of a job. I’m pretty sure it asks for something like 10 child development credits, and definitely a Bachelor’s in some form of child care whether it’s child development, child life, or even elementary education. They are actually considering changing it to requiring a masters degree now though. 

Another Interview