What is Child Life?

           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.