Child life specialists work alongside other health-care professionals to provide education and support to children and their caregivers in order to reduce fear and anxiety.
This support can include:
- Helping children learn about their upcoming procedures, tests or diagnosis
- Provide medical play opportunities to build confidence for upcoming procedures
- Provide distraction and help develop healthy coping skills for before and after a procedure
- MRI-ready program, to help children complete scans without sedation
- Preoperative preparation program, which includes tours of the operating room. This helps prepare patients and their families for what to expect on their surgery day
- Develop and facilitate daily programming for patients in the Teammates for Kids Child Life Zone
- Support children’s continuing development by offering play opportunities and normalize the medical environment
- Advocate for children and their families, focusing on patient and family-centred care
- Support families during hospitalization, challenging events and, when necessary, in bereavement
- Child life specialists support teams of recreation therapists, art therapists, music therapists and child life workers