Associate Child Life Specialist

Northwell Health

About The Position

Based on the current plan-of-care, this role engages in routine psychosocial activities with children and their families to provide emotional support and identify opportunities to recommend and implement approved coping strategies. The specialist participates in developing, implementing, and evaluating psychosocial programs that foster the emotional, developmental, intellectual, and physical growth of children in both hospital and outpatient settings. Additionally, the role involves orienting other hospital staff to the psychosocial needs of children and their families, and fostering positive hospital community relations.

Requirements

Bachelors Degree in Child Life, Child Development, Psychology, Sociology or other Psychosocial-related field is required.
Completion of a Child Life Internship with a minimum of 600 hours, under the supervision of a Certified Child Life Specialist, required.
Child Life Certification required within 12 months of hire.

Nice To Haves

Masters Degree is preferred.

Responsibilities

Provides planned, routine psychosocial care for children and families designed to reduce stress, increase adaptive coping, and enhance developmental integrity by offering opportunities to play, learn, and interact with others in an emotionally and physically safe environment.
Uses developmentally appropriate and approved play experiences as a primary tool in helping to assess and meet the child’s psychosocial needs in the health-care setting.
Provides varied activities based on the patient’s plan-of-care, condition, and need.
Provides design input for patient activity areas to promote use, orientation, personalization, comfort, and security.
Sets-up and organizes activity areas to carry-out planned, approved activities.
Creates a welcoming environment.
Greets and introduces self and role upon initial contact with patient/family.
Recommends appropriate patients to the hospital school.
Provides opportunities for and facilitates planned play and activities intended to promote self-healing, self-expression, understanding, and mastery in an individual and group setting.
Recognizes and addresses the importance of therapeutic play in facilitating the child’s mastery and coping with the health-care experience (i.e., medical play, creative arts).
Allows patient/family to make choices and decisions to maximize feelings of control (i.e., what position is most comfortable, what coping technique to utilize, what toy to hold).
Participates in developing a plan-of-care based on assessment of the child’s development, temperament, coping style, medical plan, and available social support using therapeutic play as a diagnostic and treatment tool.
Monitors, records, and reports the child’s perception of his/her diagnosis and treatment as revealed through play and other means of communication.
Provides basic, approved emotional support and stress reduction techniques during identified stress points.
Offers basic support and counsel to family members to assist with their adaptation to the child’s illness and health-care experiences and deal with their own stress and needs.
Performs related duties as required.