Child Life Specialist

About the role

The Child Life Specialist at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is a clinical expert in child development, emotional safety, and trauma-informed care. They provide assessment and intervention to mitigate and reduce negative experiences within the medical setting, supporting patient’s and caregivers’ coping, emotional safety, and encouraging optimum development.

Responsibilities

• Develops therapeutic relationships with patients and caregivers to provide a psychosocial assessment of their emotional support and overall coping needs.
• Documents interventions in the medical record based on clinical assessment, in accordance with professional standards.
• Advocates for and addresses the psychosocial/developmental/spiritual/cultural needs of the child and family throughout the continuum of care to promote comprehensive psychosocial and family-centered care.
• Demonstrates a steady commitment to anti-bias practices throughout their work with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
• Buils and maintains positive, collaborative relationships with interdisciplinary team members to address individual patient care goals as well as impact broader systems and policy toward systemic change.
• Participates in team conferences, rounds, staff meetings, new staff member orientation, and in-service education as appropriate.
• Serves as a subject matter expert on unit based, hospital wide, interdisciplinary committees, articulating the therapeutic and clinical nature of the work done by child life staff.
• Assists in preparation and dissemination of information representing the hospital and Child Life Program to community groups, organizations, and the news media.
• Works to meet institutional and team goals and assumes responsibility for professional development through participation in seminars, course work, and/or hospital education programs to develop and maintain professional credentials in pursuit of realizing and standardizing trends of best practice(s).
• Participates and leads quality improvement projects aimed at integrating innovations in the field and evidence based best practice standards into day-to-day workflows to ensure emotionally safe care and optimal patient and family outcomes.
• Embraces improvements and actively participates in the implementation of new/improved programs, technology, equipment, systems and resources that promote quality of care, safety and efficiency.
• Provides supervision of child life students as a professional responsibility and in pursuit of growth of the field of Child Life Specialists.

Requirements

• Requires completion of a bachelor’s degree, with knowledge of child and adolescent development typically acquired through the a focus on child development, child and family development, or related field of study.
• Requires current CCLS (certified child life specialist) credential from the Association of Child Life Professionals (acquired within 12 months of hire).
• 1-2 years of experience preferred.
• Basic Life Support Certification required. Obtained within 6 months of hire.
• Spanish language abilities strongly preferred.

Qualifications

• Education: Master's Degree (Required)

Skills

• Knowledge of child and adolescent development.
• Ability to integrate emotional safety into care of patients and families.
• Experience in developing therapeutic relationships with patients and caregivers.
• Proficiency in documenting interventions in the medical record.
• Strong advocacy skills for addressing the psychosocial/developmental/spiritual/cultural needs of the child and family.
• Commitment to anti-bias practices.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Ability to participate in team conferences, rounds, staff meetings, new staff member orientation, and in-service education.
• Subject matter expertise on unit based, hospital wide, interdisciplinary committees.
• Ability to prepare and disseminate information representing the hospital and Child Life Program.
• Strong ability to lead quality improvement projects.
• Ability to embrace improvements and actively participate in the implementation of new/improved programs, technology, equipment, systems and resources.
• Supervision of child life students.

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision insurance.
• Employer paid group term life and disability.
• Employer contribution toward Health Savings Account.
• Paid Time Off (PTO), Paid Holidays and Paid Parental Leave.
• 403(b) with a 5% employer match.
• Variety of Voluntary Benefits.
• Tuition assistance.
• Student loan servicing and support.
• Adoption benefits.
• Backup Childcare and Eldercare.
• Employee Assistance Program, and other specialized behavioral health services and resources for employees and family members.
• Discount on services at Lurie Children’s facilities.
• Discount purchasing program.

Pay

$46,280.00-$75,670.40 Salary At Lurie Children’s, we are committed to competitive and fair compensation aligned with market rates and internal equity, reflecting individual contributions, experience, and expertise.