Child Life Specialist, Therapeutic Recreation - Outpatient

Child Life Specialist, Therapeutic Recreation - Outpatient

We have an exciting opportunity to join our team as a Child Life Specialist, Therapeutic Recreation - Outpatient. In this role, the successful candidate is responsible for providing child life services for designated areas (patients and families) in collaboration with the interdisciplinary team and under the general guidance of designated supervisor/manager(s).

Job Responsibilities:

• Utilizes knowledge and resources to assess, plan and prioritize appropriate child life and interdisciplinary interventions. Seeks and assimilates information from team members, patient, family, and medical record to perform needs assessment. Assesses patient development, temperament, coping style and adjustment using knowledge of child development and behavior, disease/injury, treatment, healthcare stressors, cultural and family systems. Uses informal as well as standardized assessment techniques (e.g., PRAP) as appropriate. Determines and prioritizes scope and depth of child life services recommended for each patient based on knowledge of the variables affecting coping. Communicates care plan to physician, interdisciplinary team members, patient and family as appropriate.
• Demonstrates, explains and provides stress reduction techniques before, during, and/or after stressful experiences to facilitate adaptive coping in consideration of developmental, emotional, situational, and behavioral factors. Encourages and supports patients' emotional expression in order to promote understanding and mastery of health care experiences. Provides orientation to healthcare routines, environment, and personnel.
• Provides opportunities for and facilitates a variety of group and/or individual recreational and play activities that promote normalization, development, learning, self-expression, and coping. Recognizes and describes the developmental and psychosocial components of various therapeutic play and expressive activities in facilitating patients' mastery and coping with the health care experience. Provides leadership and supervision for volunteers and students in the provision of safe and effective play activities.
• Facilitates positive relationships with family members, using knowledge and resources to accommodate cultural needs and to bridge differences. Seeks involvement and support of family members in their child's child life and health care team goals, matching expectations with family needs and values. Extends support and offers counsel to family members with respect to their own stress and needs. Assists in the identification and utilization of internal and community resources for families. Provides education to parents regarding the patient's and/or siblings' developmental needs and responses to illness/injury/hospitalization. Supports siblings through developmentally appropriate play, expression, education and visitation.
• Provides, through direct and indirect involvement, a safe and therapeutic environment for individuals and groups. Selects a safe, developmentally appropriate supply of toys and equipment to address the needs and goals of the assigned area and population. Assists departmental staff members in the effective purchase, donation, delivery, and storage of materials utilized in programming. Collaborates with Environmental Services and others to promote a clean, safe, and functional space for use by children and families. Identifies environmental safety hazards and corresponding preventive/protective measures.
• Provides education regarding illness/condition, treatment, and coping techniques to patients, family members, and the larger community as appropriate. Assists in the preparation of patients and families for surgical, medical, and diagnostic procedures using developmentally appropriate and medically accurate teaching tools and techniques with a goal of increasing knowledge and decreasing anxiety. Incorporates coping technique education and reinforcement into daily interventions. Assesses effectiveness of coping or procedural education based on patient experience.
• Builds and maintains positive, collaborative relationships with interdisciplinary team members, integrating goals and plans to promote optimal patient care, safety, family-centeredness, and patient/family satisfaction. Participates in team conferences, rounds, staff meetings, new staff member orientation, and in-service education as appropriate. Recommends consults/referrals when patient needs are beyond the scope of child life.
• Participates in ongoing volunteer management, program development and evaluation to best meet patient/family and unit/service needs.
• Participates in ongoing professional development to enhance knowledge and job skills and to contribute to department and hospital mission and goals. Demonstrates the ability to evaluate own performance and integrate feedback into practice. Annually develops a minimum of three professional goals with measurable objectives. Prioritizes, plans and organizes work for timely outcomes. Identifies and documents activities to maintain current knowledge, clinical practice, and professional certification.
• Upholds professional code of ethical responsibility (CLC, 2011) including the establishment of therapeutic relationships with patients and families that are clear, caring, and boundaried.
• Documents services provided to patients/families appropriately, effectively, and in a timely manner. Maintains data collection and dissemination as required by Hospital and departmental policy.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications: To qualify you must have a Bachelors degree in Child Life, Early Childhood Education or a closely related field. CCLS certification or CCLS certification eligible by the Child Life Certifying Committee, including successful completion of full-time internship in a pediatric healthcare setting under the supervision of a certified child life specialist. CCLS certification required within 2 years. Required Licenses: Child Life Specialist Cert

Preferred Qualifications: CCLS certification, Masters degree in Child Life and at least one year clinical child life experience as a Certified Child Life Specialist in a pediatric healthcare setting preferred. Work experience with children, youth, and families in non-healthcare settings also preferred.