Child Life Council

Finding online resources as a Child Life Specialist is hard. With the field being relatively new compared to other careers like teaching finding a reliable and useful source for all things child life is a challenge. That being said one website that holds a majority of answers to Child Life Specialists questions is the Child Life Council.

The Child Life Council provides a wide range of resources and support for CLS. They have sections that are broken down into what stage of the CLS process the user is in. The website starts with the student section, moving on to interns, and finally educators. Each section provides a comprehensive overview on the process, requirements, and need to know information for each stage. This is especially useful to UM-Dearborn students as our Child Life program is relatively new. The Course guidelines page details the type of courses that are required for students to sit for the national exam. In new degree programs it is always important to have a resource to check and make sure the requirements are being met.

Another part of the website that I think is extremely helpful is the Child Life Activities page. Being a CLS means you have to be creative. However, sometimes it can be difficult to come up with new and innovative ideas on a daily basis. So, when a CLS/student is stumped on what to do next the Child Life website provides resources to help. In addition to activities for patients they provide activities to promote Child Life. With Child Life being relatively new, exposing people to the profession is quite important. It is important for a variety of reasons but a main reason being if patients do not know what a Child Life Specialist is they will not know when they need one. The website details a list of activities to bring awareness of CLS in the workplace. These activities are broken down in categories for children, adults, or other staff members in the hospital.

I think that this website is an essential tool to be aware of for any CLS. They also offer a list of conferences and ways for CLS to maintain their credits which is imperative in being a CLS.