What is a Child Life Therapist?
A Child Life Therapist is a healthcare professional specialising in child development with a background in education and/or other fields of healthcare.
What do Child Life Therapists do?
With a distinct set of professional skills, Child Life Therapists use evidence-based interventions which aim to reduce the stress and anxiety that can be associated with health care experiences. They focus on the child’s needs and responses to their condition and associated medical care. Given the growing call for effective psychosocial interventions in an increasingly diverse patient population, a core component of Child Life practice is addressing the individual needs of children and families to improve their healthcare experience. They develop partnerships with children and families that make their healthcare encounters more positive through engagement, education and empowerment.
How do Child Life Therapists work?
Child Life Therapists work within a child and family-centered model of care and a trauma-informed framework. Through play-based medical and therapeutic sessions, children are given the opportunity to express their emotions and process difficult and challenging medical experiences.
While play can be non-directive allowing for emotional processing and exploration, play can also be directed to allow children to understand, become more familiar with and normalise medical experiences. This play can help provide children with a sense of control and mastery over medical interventions such as observations, bloods tests, imaging, surgery, cannulation and nitrous use, dressing changes and port access. Child Life Therapists develop individualised preparation and support plans with children and families. They provide developmentally appropriate explanations of medical procedures and work collaboratively to establish coping strategies and skills.
Child Life Therapy in medical settings
In Australia, Child Life Therapists are primarily based in medical settings such as large paediatric hospitals. Here, they work on a referral-based system that is set up to provide support across a range of areas in the hospital. Depending on the hospital and the level of staffing, Child Life Therapists can provide preparation and procedural support as well as medical and therapeutic play opportunities.
Child Life Therapy in the community
Child Life Therapist roles in the community in Australia are few and far between. Often due to the limited availability of Child Life Therapists in the hospital, patients and families do not receive pre- or post-hospital care. Community Child Life Therapists can offer additional support in planning for hospitalisations, managing the short- and long-term effects of medical trauma and post-hospitalisation processing. They can develop personalised resources to support future health care encounters and re-framing of negative experiences.
How do you become a Child Life Therapist?
Child Life Therapy is a developing profession in Australia. In the United States, Child Life Specialists are required to have a bachelor’s degree and then complete a specialised course provided by the American Association of Child Life Professionals. There are also additional course work programs that can be undertaken to receive certification. Child Life Specialists are then required to complete a clinical internship with clinical supervision.
In Australia, Child Life Therapists are required to have a bachelor’s degree in Education and/or an equivalent health care related field. After employment, individuals undergo a training program which is completed on-site and are provided with clinical supervision as they learn the skills and knowledge required for the role.
The Australia Child Life Therapy Association is exploring options for a recognised universal course work program to help prospective workers have access to a comprehensive and consistent education and support in the field. It is a growing profession that has evidence-based effectiveness in the support of infants, children and young people navigating health care experiences. Further research opportunities and universal education will help support this amazing profession!
I really enjoyed this article; it helped me understand the role and I see such value in having a Child Life Therapist available for children and their families.