Child Life Specialist Certification (Child Life Council, Inc.)
Focus and Goals
To train individuals to be certified as Child Life Specialists, for employment in health settings. The goal of child life specialists is to work with children, adolescents, and families to reduce the stress and anxiety associated with healthcare experiences. Child life specialists are typically employed in hospital or clinic settings where they focus on the emotional and developmental needs of children and families by using play and other forms of communication to enable positive coping.
Further information about the Child Life Specialist program from the Child Life Council website is available here.
Requirements
There are three criteria that must be met in order to be eligible to take the certification examination. The criteria include:
- A Bachelor’s degree
- A minimum of 10 courses in child life, child development, child and family studies, or closely related areas
- 480 hours of child life clinical experience (through internships, fellowships, or paid/unpaid work experience supervised by a certified child life specialist
UW's Child Life Program
The UW Children’s hospital has a Child Life program managed by Julie Auenson.
Information on UW’s Child Life program is available through the UW Children's hospital website .
Further information
- More information regarding the certification process is available here.
- Information about how to choose a Child Life internship site is available here
Contact Information
Brochures and specific information are available through the Child Life Council.
Further questions can be directed to:
Child Life Council, Inc.
11820 Parklawn Drive, Suite 202 Child Life Program Director
Rockville, MD 20852-2529 UW Children’s Hospital
Phone: (301) 881-7090 600 Highland Avenue
Fax: (301) 881-7092 Madison, WI 53792
E-mail: clcstaff@childlife.org
Phone: (608) 263-8169
Website: www.childlife.org
