Have you ever wondered how to become a child life specialist? This rewarding career allows you to make a real difference in the lives of children facing serious illnesses, injuries, or stressful medical procedures.
As a child life specialist, you get to work closely with kids, providing them with therapeutic play, education, and emotional support. You help ease their fears and anxieties during difficult medical treatments. You also provide vital assistance to their families.
If you love working with children and want a career where you can have a profound impact becoming a certified child life specialist may be perfect for you.
In this comprehensive guide, I’ll walk you through exactly what’s involved in getting qualified and starting your career in this fulfilling profession.
What is a Child Life Specialist?
Child life specialists work primarily in hospitals and clinics. Their role is to help infants, children, teens, and families cope with the stress and uncertainty of illness, injury, trauma, or disability.
The day-to-day work involves providing therapeutic play and activities to help children understand and deal with their medical situation. Child life specialists also educate children and families on diagnoses, prepare kids for medical tests and procedures, and offer grief support.
These professionals act as advocates for their young patients while collaborating with other members of the healthcare team. They aim to minimize fear and anxiety for children facing hospitalization.
It’s a career that allows you to really make a difference in the lives of kids and parents during difficult times.
What Does a Child Life Specialist Do?
The responsibilities of a child life specialist can vary based on the healthcare setting, but often include:
- Conducting assessments to identify children’s coping abilities and developmental needs
- Explaining medical conditions and procedures in age-appropriate ways
- Preparing children for tests, surgery, treatment, or other procedures through therapeutic play and teaching
- Providing distraction during procedures through play, books, videos, music, etc.
- Helping children and families adjust to hospitalization and minimize stress
- Planning and leading developmental play activities for patients
- Educating hospital staff on child development and family needs
- Collaborating with the healthcare team to ensure child-friendly, family-centered care
- Providing end-of-life support and bereavement services
- Acting as an advocate for the best interests of the child
- Conducting research related to child life issues
- Maintaining patient records, managing child life programs, and supervising interns
The role involves supporting the emotional well-being of children so they can cope and still be kids, even when facing challenging health circumstances.
Why Become a Child Life Specialist?
Pursuing this career is ideal for those who love working with children and want to make a real difference in kids’ lives during difficult times.
Here are some of the great things about working as a child life specialist:
- You get to help children and families going through major challenges and provide support when they need it most.
- It’s an opportunity to be creative through play, art, music, books, and other activities.
- You’ll collaborate with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals as part of a team.
- No two days are the same – you get lots of variety in your work.
- You’ll continually expand your knowledge in child development, healthcare, psychology, ethics, and counseling.
- It’s a career where you can keep growing professionally through research, specialization, leadership roles, or teaching.
- You’ll develop strong relationships with patients and experience the rewards of making a difference.
If you’re compassionate, patient, creative, and love working with kids, it can be an incredibly fulfilling career.
Education Required to Become a Child Life Specialist
To become a child life specialist, you need to complete the following education:
1. Earn a Bachelor’s Degree
The first step is to complete a four-year bachelor’s degree program at an accredited university. While child life specialists can have undergraduate degrees in various fields, majors in areas like human development, family studies, psychology, sociology, education, child development, or recreational therapy are preferred.
Coursework in child development, human anatomy, play therapy techniques, psychology, family dynamics, research methods, ethics, counseling, and interpersonal communication skills are all useful. Gaining volunteer experience in hospitals or community programs serving children is also recommended at the undergraduate level.
2. Take the Required Child Life Coursework
You’ll also need to complete 10 college-level courses in specific child life subject areas. These include:
- Child life scope of practice
- Child and adolescent development
- Family systems theory and practice
- Play therapy theories and practice
- Loss, bereavement, and grieving
- Coping with hospitalization and medical events
- Therapeutic play and recreational activities
- Ethics in child life practice
- Child life administration and program development
- Impact of illness, injury and health care on patients and families
You can take these courses either within your bachelor’s program or separately. Many accelerated certificate programs offer these required child life courses online for professionals looking to transition into the field.
3. Do a Child Life Clinical Internship
Completing a supervised clinical internship is also required. This hands-on training consists of at least 600 hours of applied work in a child life program under the guidance of a certified child life specialist.
During the internship, you get to put your academic knowledge into practice while developing your skills in areas like assessment, documentation, interventions, and building therapeutic relationships.
Clinical placements are very competitive, so it’s important to research hospitals offering child life internships early and make yourself a strong candidate. Proactively seeking volunteer work with children in hospitals can help boost your chances.
Earn Professional Certification as a Child Life Specialist
To work as a child life specialist, you must earn professional certification from the Association of Child Life Professionals. This involves:
1. Submitting your academic transcripts, coursework, and clinical hours. The Association of Child Life Professionals will verify you’ve met all the child life education and training requirements.
2. Passing the comprehensive certification exam. This multiple-choice exam demonstrates your mastery of child life concepts. It covers areas like developmental psychology, healthcare issues, ethics, clinical interventions, grief support, and more.
Once certified, you’ll need to maintain your credential through continuing education and pay a certification maintenance fee every two years. Periodic recertification is also required.
Earning this credential shows families, employers, and peers that you’ve met national standards and have the required expertise to practice as a child life specialist. Most employers require candidates to be certified.
How Long Does It Take to Become a Child Life Specialist?
The total time required depends on your prior education and how you structure your courses. However, most students take around 4 to 5 years to complete all the steps, including:
- 4 years for a bachelor’s degree
- 1 year for required child life coursework
- 600 hour (15 week) clinical internship
If you already have an applicable undergraduate degree, you may be able to transition into the field more quickly by taking accelerated child life certificate programs offered at some colleges.
However, clinical placement and certification exam timeframes remain fixed requirements. The certification exam is only offered during certain months, so factor this timing into your plans as well. Proper planning can help streamline the process.
Finding a Job as a Certified Child Life Specialist
Once certified, you’ll be ready to start applying for child life specialist jobs. Openings are primarily found within children’s hospitals, general medical hospitals with pediatric units, and healthcare facilities like clinics, hospice centers, or rehabilitation programs.
Here are some tips for finding job opportunities:
- Search online job boards, the Association of Child Life Professionals career center, and hospital websites.
- Attend child life conferences and networking events to connect with potential employers.
- Follow professional associations and child life leaders on social media to find openings.
- Check if the hospitals or community programs you interned or volunteered with have vacancies.
- Set up email alerts for new child life specialist jobs.
- Research which healthcare systems near you employ child life specialists.
- Follow up consistently with applications and contacts.
- Highlight your volunteer work, clinical hours, and passion for helping children and families.
It’s common to start as a general child life specialist upon certification before moving into lead roles or specialty areas later in your career. With dedication and experience, you can advance into positions like Child Life Program Director or Child Life Services Manager.
Child Life Specialist Salary and Job Outlook
According to the Association of Child Life Professionals, the average salary for child life specialists in 2021 was $58,320 annually. Those working as program leaders or in academic settings tend to earn upwards of $85,000 per year.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics groups child life specialists under recreational therapists. It projects a faster than average job growth of 15% for recreational therapists between 2020-2030, stemming from increased emphasis on managing chronic conditions, rehabilitation services, and family-centered care.
While compensation in this field may be lower than other healthcare careers, the rewards of making a difference for children and families
What does a child life specialist do?
Child life specialists are health care professionals who help children and families navigate the process of illness, injury, disability, trauma, or hospitalization. They are an integral part of the health care team, as they provide additional support resources to children and families to help process the often times stressful situation of an illness or injury.
Work for a child life specialist changes daily and allows for a lot of creativity in developing coping plans. Child life specialists are different from many other health care providers as they focus on the psychosocial needs of the patient, including mental, emotional, and social needs.
- Supporting children and their families by using a variety of tactics to help them better understand a process, procedure, or other element of their medical experience
- Developing age-appropriate strategies to minimize trauma and increase understanding of a medical diagnosis through treatments plans using therapeutic play, education, preparation, and activities that promote growth and development
- Advocating for the special needs of children and their families
- Helping children and their families process and cope with medical situations
- Providing information, support, and guidance to parents and family members
- Collaborating with the health care team to coordinate and manage care
- Non-direct patient care tasks, such as presenting learning opportunities to members of the health care team, coordinating student education, and maintaining therapeutic supplies and activity spaces
Child life specialists are highly involved with patient care and work with children and their families. They also commonly work with social workers, chaplains, nurses, doctors, and other members of the health care staff.
Depending on the size of the organization they work in, child life specialists may work with a broad range of patients, or they may work in a particular department where they focus on working with cardiac patients, outpatient surgery patients, emergency department patients, or a patient population with a specific medical diagnosis.
Child life specialists primarily work in hospitals, but may also find opportunities working in medical clinics, hospice, dental offices, schools, camps, and potentially even the homes of their patients. Their days are busy and child life specialists are almost always on the go, making rounds to assess patient needs and providing direct interventions to patients and families.
Typically working full time, 40 hours per week, child life specialists most often work Monday through Friday; however, weekend or holiday hours may also be required.
Becoming a child life specialist
Successful child life specialists have a passion for working with children, possess excellent communication skills, and are able to manage the emotional stress that comes with working with children who have life-threatening diseases.
Common degree requirements and other prerequisites for child life specialist jobs include:
- Bachelor’s degree in child life studies (or a related field such as child development, child and family studies, psychology, or early childhood education)
- Education requirements as determined from the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP)
- Previous experience working with children
- 600-hour child life specialist internship
Certification is organized through the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP). Once certified, child life specialists can operate as a certified child life specialist (CCLS).
Day in the Life of a Child Life Specialist
How do I become a certified child life specialist?
There are two academic requirements to become a Certified Child Life Specialist: Learn more about the two ways to obtain required coursework below. If an individual graduates from an ACLP-Endorsed Academic Program, this will satisfy the academic requirements to apply to take the Child Life Certification Exam.
Can a child life specialist be hired?
Most employers require child life specialists to hold certification. However, if you’re not yet certified but you’re eligible to sit the certification exam, some employers may hire you. ACLP’s credentialing program validates that child life professionals have extensive knowledge and mastery of child life concepts. These include:
How do I become a child life professional?
Individuals wishing to become certified must meet specific academic and clinical experience requirements in addition to passing the Child Life Professional Certification Exam. For the first four years of the certification cycle, credential holders are required to pay an annual certification maintenance fee to keep their certification status active.
What can I do with a child life specialist degree?
These academic disciplines provide knowledge crucial to building a foundation for a career as a child life specialist and also teach you to create a safe environment for children. Many of these programs also include studying community and family partnerships, social sciences, family law, advocacy, critical thinking, education and policy.
