Child Life Services

Beyond the challenge of coping with a child's illness or injury, hospitalization itself can cause stress and strain on the dynamics of a family. Advocate Hope Children's Hospital has designed a Child Life Services program to help children and their families cope with the emotional and psychological challenges of hospitalization and treatment.

Certified child life specialists provide support by helping children understand and express their feelings about the overwhelming and sometimes frightening experience of being hospitalized. Therapeutic play—including caregiver-patient role reversal, art projects and games—helps children to identify and address specific fears or misconceptions about their health care experience. The child life specialist also provides assistance as the family prepares for scheduled procedures and can serve as an advocate for the patient and family to facilitate resolution of non-medical issues.

The specially trained child life volunteer can be a child's new-found friend or confidant. The volunteer also gives parents the peace of mind that their child will be a bit less lonely or frightened when they must leave the bedside to care for their other children or to fulfill outside responsibilities.

These volunteers visit, read, watch television or play with the child. They participate in supervising children's activities in the playrooms. They also assist families in the outpatient and ambulatory care waiting and play areas. Under the supervision of the Child Life Services staff, these volunteers play an important, proactive role in relieving the non-medical challenges of hospitalization.