Child Life Specialist

Children’s Minnesota•St. Paul, MN

4d•Onsite

About The Position

Children’s Minnesota is one of the largest pediatric health systems in the United States and the only health system in Minnesota to provide care exclusively to children, from before birth through young adulthood. An independent and not-for-profit system since 1924, Children’s Minnesota is one system serving kids throughout the Upper Midwest at two free-standing hospitals, nine primary care clinics, multiple specialty clinics and seven rehabilitation sites. As The Kids Experts™ in our region, Children’s Minnesota is regularly ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a top children’s hospital. The Child Life group promotes the continuous development of children to optimize their responses to medical care, to minimize psychological stress and trauma, and to increase understanding and coping with illness and health care experiences. Child Life provides children with opportunities for gaining a sense of mastery, for play, for learning, for self-expression, for family involvement and for peer interaction. As members of the health care team, child life staff advocate for children and families in ambulatory and inpatient settings. They serve as resources to all staff and to the community on issues related to child development and child health experiences. The Child Life Specialist focus is to promote the continuous development of children to optimize their responses to medical care, to minimize psychological stress and trauma, and to increase understanding and coping with illness and health care experience. This role will be based on our St Paul campus and serve both inpatient kids on our medical/surgical unit and outpatient Emergency Dept. The schedule for this role is Thursday, Friday, Saturday -10hrs shifts 8a-6:30pm.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree required in child life or child development/developmental psychology concentration.
Current Basic Life Support (BLS) certification required.
480 hour child life internship with supervision by a CCLS.
Previous working experience with children and families.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree preferred.
Child life certification preferred at time of hire otherwise required within first year of hire.
Specific child life specialist jobs may require a minimum number years of work experience.

Responsibilities

Promote the continuous development of children to optimize their responses to medical care.
Minimize psychological stress and trauma for children.
Increase understanding and coping with illness and health care experiences.
Provide children with opportunities for gaining a sense of mastery, for play, for learning, for self-expression, for family involvement and for peer interaction.
Advocate for children and families in ambulatory and inpatient settings.
Serve as resources to all staff and to the community on issues related to child development and child health experiences.