Child Life Specialist

Roles and responsibilities

The Specialist - Child Life Services II, under minimal supervision, develops, coordinates and implements therapeutic, educational, and recreational child life interventions and programs for patients based on an understanding of normal growth and development and the impact that illness, injury, disability, and hospitalization have on this process. The Specialist - Child Life Services II serves as an active mentor to junior staff and students and creates and evaluates formal and informal learning opportunities.

The Specialist – Child Life Service II is responsible for ensuring that all duties are carried out to the highest possible standard. This position is responsible for completing other duties as assigned.

KEY ROLE ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Under the supervision of the Child Life Services Supervisor makes decisions related to the plans of care for women/children.
• Makes day to day decisions regarding assessment and interventions that impact patients and families and collaborating staff/colleagues.
• Makes recommendations to the supervisor regarding decisions that have a unit/service impact.
• Responsible for maintaining up to date mandatory Life Support Training requirements as directed by MoPH and Sidra (e.g. BLS, AED etc).

Essential Function 1

Assesses, meaningfully interacts with, and provides a safe, therapeutic and healing environment for children and families:

• Implements Child Life services using evidence-based practice.
• Establishes and maintains therapeutic relationships.
• Uses developmentally appropriate play as a primary tool in assessing and meeting psychosocial needs.
• Utilizes therapeutic play and other creative modalities to meet individual development and emotional needs.

**Therapeutic play refers to specialized activities that are developmentally supportive and facilitate the emotional well-being of a pediatric patient. Therapeutic play typically consists of at least one of the following types of activities: 1) the encouragement of emotional expression (e.g. reenactment of experiences through healthcare play), 2) instructional play to educate children about medical experiences, and 3) physiologically enhancing play (e.g. blowing bubbles to improve breathing).

• Creates an environment where play is valued and encouraged.
• Prepares and maintains a safe, inviting, and developmentally responsive play environment appropriate for patients and families.
• Plans and implements varied developmentally supportive activities.
• Applies formal and informal assessment techniques to assess psychosocial needs, and continue cyclical process of assessment, plan, intervention, and evaluation.
• Assesses patient and family knowledge level, misconceptions, previous experience, and unique social, cultural and learning needs.
• Assesses patient and family responses to stress.
• Supports the central role of the family, valuing strengths and needs; works to maintain family units.
• Utilizes effective communication skills in the process of supporting children and families.
• Provides support to siblings, parents, and other friends and family members in order to improve understanding of the patient’s situation and familiarization with the health care environment.
• Paces interactions in response to a child’s and family’s lead.
• Demonstrates respect for diversity.
• Participates in interdisciplinary care conferences, psychosocial rounds, and nursing report.
• Maintains good interpersonal relations with patients, families, visitors, and other employees, following departmental and hospital-wide philosophy.
• Communicates concisely with others, integrating theory and evidence-based practice to obtain and share pertinent information.
• Provides input about facility design and provisions to promote orientation, comfort, healing, security, and normalization.
• Ensures that the department’s resources, playrooms, and activity areas are maintained appropriately and cleaned per hospital guidelines, adhering to MoPH standards.
• Ensures that infection control procedures are adhered to at all times and provides assistance to the Department in this regard. This would include wiping down table surfaces, toy washing, and acting as liaison with Housekeeping and Infection Control staff.

Desired candidate profile

Bachelor’s Degree in Child Life or Play Therapy, or Leisure Studies, or Child Development, Child and Family Studies, or Family Centered Care or Human Development or Sociology, or Psychology, or Therapeutic Recreation, or Expressive Arts, or Creative Arts Therapy, or Family Systems, or Social Work, or Early Childhood Education, or Education, or Public Health or Health Care Administration or similarly titled degree; Foundational courses in Child Life, Child Development, and Hospital Play
Experience

• 5+ years clinical experience as Certified Child Life Specialist or Registered Hospital/Health Play Specialist in pediatric settings
• Strong clinical expertise across the competencies of the Child Life field
• Experience in Child Life/Hospital Play department leadership/supervisory roles/responsibilities.

Certification and Licensure

• Child Life Specialist Certification (CCLS) via the Association of Child Life Professionals (formerly Child Life Council, Inc). or Healthcare Play Specialist Education Trust (HPSET) Registration; or Registered Hospital Play Specialist (RegHPS) via the Hospital Play Specialists Association of Aotearoa/New Zealand (Inc.)
• Eligibility for Licensure in the State of Qatar

Professional MembershipMember of the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP), National Association for Health Play Specialist (UK), and/or Hospital Play Specialist Association (NZ)
Job Specific Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrated knowledge of Child Life Specialist principles and practices.
• Demonstrated knowledge of best practices in Child Life specialty
• Effective teaching, mentoring, and supervisory skills
• Experience in organizing data and generating thorough, accurate, timely reports.
• Ability to provide assessments regarding developmental reactions to hospitalization and risk for stress potential;
• Ability to design and implement interventions to meet individual patient and family needs
• Ability to function as a collaborative member of the interdisciplinary team and communicate and advocate for patient/family needs within this team
• Ability to effectively supervise staff through positive leadership skills and provide consistent and supportive feedback for personal and program improvement
• Ability to make leadership decisions to simultaneously provide the best patient care and support hospital-wide strategic plans
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple tasks including direct clinical work and administrative responsibilities.
• Experience in organizing data and generating thorough, accurate, timely reports.
• Effective team member.
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills.
• Leadership skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite
• Fluency in written and spoken English