{Child Life}

I can’t believe how far behind I am on updating. Time has been getting away from me lately, but I guess that is a good thing because it means I have been busy. I’m putting the final touches on my internship applications. I also wanted to wish everyone good luck if you are applying for internships that have deadlines on September 5th.

Songs of Love is a wonderful program that is a nonprofit and provides songs personalized for unique children and adolescents who are battling medical problems. The service is free. As of August 22nd of this year, they have given 16,187 children their very own song! They have been awarded The Independent Charities Seal of Excellence. Check them out! Many healthcare professionals have great things to say about the organization.

The most recent episode of Child Life Julz showcases and discussed a wonderful organization called Child’s Play. The program coordinator, Kristin Lindsay, is Julz special guest and they discuss a lot of information regarding the charity. Her contact information is available on their website. Child’s Play was founded in 2003 and is a community based charity that revolves around the world of video games. In the five years since they have been founded, they have had over 3 million dollars of donations! Child’s Play works with non-profit hospitals. The initial inspiration for the Child’s Play charity came from an opinion article claiming all video games trained people to kill and there were no positive benefits to be gained from video games. Well, wanting to prove the author of the article wrong, an artist and a writer from an online comic strip decided to hold a toy drive for their local children’s hospital, Seattle Children’s.

To learn more about Child’s Play, check out the podcast. It is 20 minutes long and has a ton of great info!

Flashes of Hope is a wonderful organization that focuses on creating empowering photographs of brave children battling cancer as well as other life threatening illnesses and diseases. Award winning photographers visit the children in the hospital and brighten their day by creating a change of environment for the kids. All service are donated, including the time and energy of qualified photographers. There’s even a testimonial from a Child Life Specialist on their website!

“Flashes of Hope is such a powerful organization, and the positive effect that it has on our patients and families is truly remarkable.”
Jennifer Deuble, Child Life Specialist, Hospice of the Western Reserve

Flashes of Hope have several chapters across the United States including, Akron, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Colombus, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Las Vegas, New York, Orlando, Tampa Bay, and many more. All chapters are always looking for more volunteers. If they don’t have a chapter in your area, you can even start one if you would like.

University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview offers a Child Life Internship that lasts 15 weeks for a total of 600 hours. For the winter/spring internship session, the deadline for applications is September 5th. The internship includes both inpatient and outpatient rotations. They have a useful list of recommended coursework such as infant development, medical terminology, theories of play, and child and adolescent psychology, just to name a few. The internship application packet is eleven pages long and can be downloaded here in a .PDF. You should have a GPA of 3.0, 50 hours of experience with healthy children as well as at least 50 hours of experience with hospitalized children. In addition, make sure you have had experience with children of all developmental levels.

Recently I was linked at Lisa Field’s Child Life Web Page under her Child Life Resources. I am really grateful for the attention, so thank you Lisa! It’s nice to be linked and receive wonderful feedback when I am still at such an early stage in my Child Life Career. There is a truly amazing quote on Lisa’s page I was made aware of that I want to write about here, because I can’t tell you how many times people ask me why I chose to go into such a field that can be incredibly depressing at times. Here is the quote:

“The question, “Why do children suffer?” Has no answer unless it is simply, “To break our hearts.” Once our hearts get broken, they never fully heal. They always ache. But perhaps a broken heart is a more loving instrument. Perhaps only after our hearts have cracked wide open, have finally and totally unclenched, can we truly know love without boundaries.”
- “Fred Epstein, M.D. “If I Get to Five”

Georgetown University Hospital’s Child Life Program offers a 15 week internship that is 480 hours and unpaid. The deadline for the internship starting in December and ending in March, is September 1st. The deadline for the internship starting in February and ending in May, is November 1st. For the internship beginning in May and ending in August, the deadline will be February 1st. For the internship starting in August and ending in November, the deadline will be May 1st. If the day of the deadline happens to be on a holiday or a weekend, then it should be moved to the next business day. You will need to include the application, two letters of reference, and an official transcript from each school you have attended. The application is available here for download.

I’m going to focus on posting information and applications for internships over the next few weeks, simply because I think it will help me personally get excited and pumped for the next round of my own applications and also the fact the September 5th deadline is fast approaching and I want to help out who I can in their Child Life journey. That said, Wolfson Children’s Hospital offers a 15 week Child Life Internship. You must be enrolled in a university and receive credit for the internship in order to apply. You also must have at least 50 hours in a practicum experience or volunteer work. Other requirements include; CPR certification, 3.0 GPA in core classes and membership in the Child Life Council. Their deadline for spring internship session is September 5th. The application can be downloaded here. Good luck to those of you who apply!

Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children offers a Child Life internship in the fall, winter and summer. For the winter/spring internship session which would begin in January or February of next year, the deadline to have your application in is September 5th. The following should be included in your application packet in addition to the completed application, resume, official transcript, letter of interest, and a minimum of three letters of recommendation. The internship at Kapi’olani Medical Center lasts 14 to 15 weeks with a minimum of 480 hours, (which is nice because in order to sit for the certification exam, you must have at least 480 hours of internship work.) Keep in mind they do not provide housing for their interns. The application packet can be downloaded here. Kapi’olani Medical Center takes one to two interns per semester.

The 14th Annual Midwest Child Life Conference is scheduled to be held this year in St. Louis November 8th and 9th at the Goldfarb School of Nursing. For those who are unaware, the certification exam is also offered at the conference. The certification exam will be from 800 am to 1230 pm on Saturday the 8th. The conference is set to cover a myriad of topics and challenges facing Child Life Specialists today. The subjects will include, but are not limited to, laughter and it’s positive effects on the body, alternate funding for Child Life Programs, using games for medical education, the role of spirituality in holistic care and much much more. The brochure for the conference can be downloaded here. Also, on November 10th through 12th there will be optional infant massage instructor training class available to those who are interested. You can register at lovingtouch.com.

The Child Life Council has a book of games, activities and crafts that they have available to anyone who is interested. The Activity Recipe Book can be ordered from the CLC and is $20 for non-members and $16 if you are a member. The ideas are separated into six different categories, according to what you want to focus on, so it makes it easy for you to find exactly what you are looking for. The different groups are, desensitization/familiarization to medical equipment, diversion and fine motor skill enhancement, familiarization with people in the hospital, miscellaneous, self-expression/expression of feelings, and finally, stress reduction/relaxation techniques. There are sixty four pages of information. The booklet provides a wide variety of crafts for all different ages, developmental levels, and abilities. All of the ideas were submitted by those who are members of the Child Life Council.