Life is full of the unexpected. Physical health issues, major or minor, can be the source of psychological stress and emotional turmoil. Children in healthcare settings often face overwhelming developmental and psychosocial stressors. A Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) plays a critical role in mitigating these challenges.
Jessica Boles, assistant professor at Vanderbilt Peabody College and a veteran CCLS at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, writes that stressful health experiences can affect a child’s well-being years down the line. Professor Boles states that CCLSs reduce the impact of these experiences by meeting five needs children have in the hospital: intentional play, learning and growth, support to cope with their emotions, help to understand their environment and experiences, and support for their families.
Becoming a child life specialist means easing the burden of hospital stays for children and their families.
Understanding the Role: What is a Child Life Specialist?
Child life specialists promote and protect a child’s coping skills in times of duress. Their core responsibilities are to focus on stress reduction, communication and emotional support for both the child and their family, giving special consideration to each child’s family, culture and stage of development.
Different health situations can lead to uncertainty and stress for a child and their family. CCLSs are equipped to address every child’s unique circumstances. This support can include specific education designed to prepare a child and their family for a procedure or diagnosis, coping tools, distraction and opportunities for play.
Impact on Patients
Child life specialists do more than provide coping strategies and opportunities for play. They offer expert emotional support that enhances children’s hospital experiences and decreases children’s stress, which can in turn help save on healthcare costs and even reduce pain.
CCLSs have been proven to increase caregiver satisfaction and promote more positive healthcare experiences in the pediatric emergency department. CCLS involvement not only provides support that would be otherwise unavailable, it also improves the entire hospitalization experience for children and their families by reducing the emotional stressors of health crises.
Support for Families
CCLSs play a key educational role for children and their families, helping young patients understand complex medical information in accordance with their abilities and preferences. This support eases the burden on caregivers and healthcare providers while also allowing children to participate actively in their treatment process.
Communication facilitation is critical for families in difficult healthcare circumstances. CCLSs guide effective communication between the child and family members. They may also work with children who have a family member staying in the hospital or undergoing treatment. The scope of child life practice is expanding to work outside of hospital settings as well, in hospice/palliative care, nonprofits, schools and other community settings.
The unfortunate reality of acute health issues is handling intense grief in the wake of a child’s death. CCLSs provide bereavement and grief support for a child’s loved ones, including caregivers and siblings, alleviating negative psychosocial and physiological outcomes.
Liaison with Healthcare Providers
By collaborating with the medical team, CCLSs tailor care to each child and enhance patient and family engagement. They actively advocate for child-centric healthcare practices within clinical teams, ensuring the best outcome for patients and their families.
Child life specialists also positively impact more than just the children they serve. A recent study found nurses felt the presence of a child life specialist allowed them to focus more on the child’s procedure, ensuring the physician received the right amount of assistance. Having a CCLS in the room reassured the nurses that someone was taking care of the child and their family's emotional needs.
The Vital Link: Bridging Emotional and Medical Needs
The science behind child life studies opens the discussion about uniting emotional and medical care in pediatric healthcare. Because a child’s physical health is so intricately tied to their emotional well-being, proper emotional support is crucial for effective pediatric healthcare. CCLSs can provide this emotional support through therapeutic play, art therapy, guided imagery and calming techniques.
This role doesn’t just impact the child, however. Child life specialists optimize patient outcomes, enhance satisfaction and improve overall healthcare experiences for families as a whole. Studies show that increased availability of CCLSs could significantly improve family experiences and change the way pediatric healthcare is administered.
How to Become a Child Life Specialist
Before beginning their educational foundation, future child life specialists should have essential traits such as empathy, resilience and strong communication skills. Building on these qualities, they should develop their clinical knowledge and interpersonal skills, understanding the importance of using research and data to drive professional interaction with patients and families. CCLSs should be creative and flexible with a strong knowledge of child development and family systems.
Child Life Specialist Education Requirements
One path to becoming a Certified Child Life Specialist is completing professional education in child studies or a closely related field, preferably with a program that prepares you to enter a child life internship and pursue certification. Vanderbilt Peabody College's Child Studies Applied Professional Track allows students to complete ACLP-required coursework while participating in a hospital-based child life practicum during their course of study.
Child Life Specialist Certification
Certification is a requirement for all child life specialists. To become certified, individuals must complete the rigorous CCLS credentialing program, a 600-plus hour internship and pass the Child Life Professional Certification Exam, along with meeting other specific academic and clinical experience requirements. The process doesn’t end with certification, however. CCLSs are expected to participate in ongoing education and professional development in the field, not only to maintain their credentials but to make contributions through leadership, research and academic furtherance of the profession.
Applied Child Life Specialist Degree Program at Vanderbilt Peabody College
The Child Studies Applied Professional Track at Vanderbilt Peabody College offers a comprehensive education for future child life specialists. Students have the flexibility to design their program of study around areas of interest, making them competitive for child life specialist internships and preparing them for a career in child studies.
Community Partnerships
Peabody’s Child Studies Applied Professional Program has won awards for supporting community organizations through extensive partnerships and real-world experiences. Students can participate in a SibShops chapter to support siblings of children with disabilities and medical needs, or volunteer and complete practicums with organizations ranging from children’s hospitals to medical camps and government agencies.
Renowned Faculty
Our program boasts renowned faculty in the field of child studies, including Professor Boles (Ph.D., CCLS). Professor Boles has a rich record of published scholarship relevant to serving pediatric patients and their families in ways that are aligned with current best practices. She completed the Child Studies Applied Professional Program in 2009, which set her up for an accomplished career with 15+ years in the field. She now sits on the board of several major child life organizations and continues to teach the CCLSs of the future.
Strong Alumni Connections
The alumni of Peabody’s child life specialist degree program are creating change and making major contributions to child life research. Within the last three years, several Peabody students have won prestigious child life research awards, including alumna and CCLS Maile Jones, whose research is pushing the boundaries of how play and legacy are understood in healthcare contexts.
Practical Preparation for Becoming a Child Life Specialist
Our child specialist degree is uniquely designed for students who are invested in improving outcomes for kids and families. The program provides individualized, unique paths for professional identity—our goal is to cultivate emerging child life leaders and innovators. Every individual participates in hands-on experiences that look different from the student sitting next to them.
Students graduate as evidence-based practitioners knowledgeable about pediatric patients, families, caregivers and the healthcare setting. Students learn to identify trusted scholarship to informed practice, armed with research skills and deep knowledge of best practices in areas they care about. This research knowledge applies directly to their internship setting, where the program assists every student in finding a placement that fits their unique specialty.
In choosing Peabody’s Child Studies Applied Professional Track to meet their CCLS career goals, students will benefit from:
In choosing Peabody’s Child Studies Applied Professional Track to meet their CCLS career goals, students will benefit from:
- 100% internship success rate (compared to the average of about 60%)
- Built-in child life practicum at local hospitals
- Opportunities to participate in child life research and innovation
Become a leader in child studies at Peabody. Download our guide to learn more about our child life specialist degree - applied professional track and plan your next steps in your child life career.
