The field of child life has the
power to impact children and families in meaningful and lasting ways. Child life specialists provide support,
preparation, resources, and normalization of the hospital or medical setting
for children and their families through therapeutic play and relationships,
procedure preparation, distraction, education, grief and bereavement support,
school re-entry, and advocation. What
does that look like?
Child life teams make sure children
do not go through these hard things alone.
They are there. They are
with. Every step. Every procedure, surgery, treatment, and
diagnosis. Though child life specialists
cannot fix or change the illness or circumstance in which each child and family
find themselves, they can bring some hope and light into the hard and
dark. I think of a quote by Glennon
Doyle about the importance of being seen and heard: “You know, what strikes me
is how desperately we all need to know that we are seen and heard. We don’t
need our lives to be different, or easier, we just need someone to see the
pain. To know what we’ve faced and overcome. To say: Yes. I see this. This is
real. We don’t need a magician to take
it all away – we just need a witness.”
When children are seen and heard, they can feel empowered to keep
pressing on and fighting for healing. Their
resilience and perseverance are truly inspiring. Though sometimes as a CCLS you may feel
helpless during a hard procedure as you exhaust your options for distraction
and coping, the patients can still walk away knowing and remembering that
someone cared for, supported, and focused on them. That is something not to be taken lightly and
that can truly leave a lasting impression.
Child life specialists strive to be fully
present and engaged in the amount of time they have with each patient. A CCLS will stand for an extended period with
tired arms and legs holding a distraction tool for a patient during a hard
procedure. They listen to, give breaks,
and provide resources for parents. They
will support the parent and let them know they are doing a good job. Sometimes, patients and families need to hear
a “You got this,” or “You are doing an awesome job,” and child life gets to
offer that every single day. They
celebrate the completion of every poke, procedure, and milestone—no matter how
big or small—because it truly is worth celebrating. They will take an extra step to remember what
returning patients enjoy and prepare their rooms with those things to greet
them when they arrive. They validate
feelings and create a safe space for expression of all types of emotion while also
setting boundaries and preparing patients for procedures and his or her job
each step of the way. They do not shy
away from a patient’s pain, but instead enter the trenches with him or
her. They treat each patient equally
with honesty, compassion, praise, encouragement, and coaching.
I truly believe there is no better
job or purpose to devote my life to than child life. It is something that I now feel like I was
born for and prepared for my whole life without even knowing. This passion continues to fuel chasing after
this dream each day, and as long as the doors continue opening, I will joyfully
keep walking through them.
