Child Life Specialist - Pediatric Emergency & Urgent Care

Denver Health•Denver, CO

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Child Life Specialist I ("Specialist") is a key member of the pediatric healthcare team. The Specialist, under general supervision, works in a health care setting focusing on the emotional and developmental needs of children and their families. The Specialist reduces stress associated with the health care experience and enables a child and their family to cope by providing play experiences, presenting medical information in a way that children can understand, and encouraging family involvement in the child's medical care. The Specialist routinely works in collaboration with a multi-disciplinary healthcare team and other professionals in ambulatory care, emergency care, and inpatient settings.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree required.
CCLS-Certified Child Life Specialist - ACLP - Association of Child Life Professionals required or must be eligible for CCLS certification.
BLS-Basic Life Support (BLS/CPR) - AHA - American Heart Association required.
Active Listening skills.
Intermediate knowledge and expertise of normal human growth and development.
Intermediate skill set to provide clinical child life interventions to decrease medical trauma/stressors within a medical setting.
Communicating effectively orally and in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
Critical Thinking skills.
Familiarity with the principles and processes for providing customer and personal services.
Developing Objectives and Strategies skills.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships skills.
Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work skills.
Entry level ability to systematically analyze problems, draw relevant conclusions and devise appropriate courses of action.
Entry level skills in the ability to assess the psychosocial needs for children and their families and implement appropriate interventions to mitigate psychological trauma and provide emotional safety.
Familiarity with technology platforms, for example: Apple Products (ipad) & the Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).
Thinking Creatively skills.
Time Management skills.

Nice To Haves

Two years of experience as a Certified Child Life Specialist in a hospital setting is highly preferred.

Responsibilities

Develops a plan of care including interventions to address the needs of the child and family.
Provides family and sibling support, utilizing a family-centered care approach to ensure the patient and family’s individual, cultural, and social needs are met and to provide developmentally appropriate education and support to other children in the family to help them cope with a family member in the hospital.
Provides preparation and procedural support, including psychological preparation to children prior to undergoing medical procedures using expressive/medical play and other techniques to minimize stress or fears related to medical procedures.
Provides developmental/therapeutic play, using normative and/or therapeutic play opportunities to encourage expression of feelings, process difficult events, explore positive coping skills, promote a sense of mastery and understanding of health care experiences, and to minimize stress associated with health care experiences.
Provides diagnosis education, utilizing developmentally appropriate language to explain a new diagnosis, injury, illness, or death.
Provides grief support, including memory making and legacy building items, developmentally appropriate education and resources for families, and facilitating bedside visits.
Monitors the child’s reaction to hospitalization and provides the staff with timely information to supplement the health care services to the child.
Consults with family and staff to ensure clear communication and that the best interests of the patient are consistently met.
Provides education regarding the scope of child life services, the impact of health care on development, providing developmentally appropriate and emotionally safe medical care, and professional boundaries.
Assesses the patient’s current developmental level and provides interventions to enhance development.
Completes Psychosocial Risk Assessment in Pediatrics to evaluate and mitigate pediatric medical traumatic stress.
Documents services in patient chart.
Updates documentation as care plans change.
Selects and maintains program materials related to the Child Life role including but not limited to both developmental & normative toys/items, distraction items, and technology.
Supervises volunteers and others participating in the Child Life Program.

Benefits

Generous paid time off, starting at 28 days per year, inclusive of vacation, personal/sick, and 7 Holidays
100% paid parental leave up to 6 weeks
Immediate eligibility for retirement plans with employer contribution up to 9.5%
Generous medical, dental, vision plans
Employer-paid disability and life insurance
Comprehensive well-being programs
On-site employee fitness center located on Denver Health main campus
Nationally recognized RESTORE Center
Free RTD EcoPass (public transportation)
Childcare discount programs
Exclusive perks on large brands, travel, and more
Tuition reimbursement & assistance
Education, coaching, and professional development opportunities through the Workforce Development Center (WFDC) that support internal career growth and advancement pathways
Professional clinical advancement program & shared governance
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) eligible employer
Free student loan coaching and assistance navigating the PSLF program
National Health Service Corps (NHCS) and Colorado Health Service Corps (CHSC) eligible employer