What is child life therapy?
Child life therapy is a specific type of therapy that is facilitated by a certified child life specialist. Child life therapy aims to guide children, teens and young adults through challenging medical issues and experiences. The goal of child life therapy is to promote healthy coping skills to deal with medical challenges. Child life therapists do this by facilitating self-expressive activities, medical play, psychological preparation for upcoming medical experiences, and developmentally appropriate healthcare education. Child life specialists are mental health care practitioners that have taken core courses in child development in bachelor degree or master degree programs, have successfully completed a 600 hour internship in child life under a supervising certified child life specialist who has a minimum of 4,000 hours of paid child life working experience, and has passed the child life national certification exam. Child life specialists must complete a minimum of 60 continuing education units every 5 years to maintain certification. To learn more about the field of child life please visit The Association of Child Life Professionals website at www.childlife.org.