What is a Child Life Specialist?
A Child Life Specialist helps children and their families with the stresses of having a loved one who is in hospice or has a serious illness.
How does a Child Life Specialist support children?
Using developmentally appropriate activities to best meet the needs of the child and family by:
Guiding Conversations
Helping families with hard conversations about illness and hospice.
Caregiver Support
Offering help, education and resources to help support you and your child.
Emotional Support/Coping Strategies
Helping children and families deal with stress, challenges and emotions.
Positive Rapport
Building Positive Rapport with children and families to build trust.
Providing Therapeutic Play Opportunities
is important to help children with their feelings and talk about what they are going through.
Preparation and Education
Lower stress and worry by explaining illness in ways a child can understand.
Distraction and Diversion
To distract the child’s attention away from their loved one’s illness.
Advocacy
To help each child get their voices heard and needs met.
Memory Making/Legacy Building
Helps children and families make special memories and remember important moments.
Bereavement Support
On going support after the death of a loved one through individual and group support.
When Would a Child Life Specialist be Beneficial?
If you would like support for yourself and your child, a Child Life Specialist can help. They offer guidance, resources and emotional support to fit your family’s needs, making sure you both feel cared for during difficult times.
Child Life Specialists help children deal with illness and end-of-life situations in ways that are right for their needs. Research shows that having a Child Life Specialist part of your care team helps in many ways.
How Does it Work?
Child Life services are a free resource for you and your family. Our Child Life Specialists are here to help you feel supported and meet your needs. If you’re interested in Child Life support, here is how it works:
- Tell a member of your care team about your interest in Child Life services.
- Your interest and contact information will be shared with our Child Life Specialists.
- A Child Life Specialist will reach out to you to introduce themselves and talk about the available services.
- A Child Life Specialist will talk with you to create a plan to meet the specific needs of you and your child.
- Any questions you have will be answered and a visit will be scheduled at your convenience!
- Lowers stress, anxiety and fear.
- Makes things easier to understand.
- Helps with hard situations.
- Makes it easier to talk and share feelings.
- Creates a safe space to meet a child’s needs.
- Helps a child with their emotions and questions.
- Prepares a child for uncertainties.
- Makes sure support is provided for the entire family.
Download a Child Life Specialist brochure
Contact Information:
Lightways Pediatric Care
Child Life Specialist
[email protected]
Lightways Pediatric Care FAQs
What is pediatric palliative care?
Pediatric Palliative Care is frequently confused with end of life or hospice care. Actually, palliative care is a resource for any child living with a serious illness and involves support for the sick child and the entire family. The goal of pediatric palliative care is to help a child live as well as possible for as long as possible.
Pediatric Palliative Care can be helpful as early as diagnosis and at any point during a child’s life with serious illness. The term “Palliative Care” refers to a wide-range of care that complements disease-directed care by addressing physical, emotional and spiritual needs of a child and family. Pediatric Palliative Care providers do not take the place of a child’s primary medical team. They work alongside a child’s family and primary treatment team and provide an extra layer of symptom management and communication support for a child and family in the home.
How is Pediatric Palliative Care different from hospice care?
Pediatric Hospice Care is a way to support and care for your child when cure for your child’s disease is no longer possible, and their life expectancy will be shortened. Hospice is a bundle of services delivered by the same interdisciplinary team as an extension of palliative care, with special attention to end of life planning and care. The mission of hospice is to maximize your child’s comfort, control of symptoms and enhance their function and quality of life.
Can my child continue with their doctors and treatment plans if they are in Palliative Care or hospice?
Children in palliative care programs continue with their same doctors, clinic visits and subspecialty care. Pediatric Palliative Care Teams work in partnership with a child’s treatment team. Palliative Care Teams can help be the ‘eyes and ears’ at home for your doctors to help keep your child’s symptoms controlled and in some cases help take care of issues before they require a clinic or emergency department visit.
Children enrolled in hospice can continue to see their regular doctors, and families often choose to have their doctor or the pediatric hospice doctor be their primary doctor. In some cases, children can also continue to pursue disease treatment while in hospice. No matter what choice you make for your child, there is always close communication between the hospice team and your child’s treatment team about how your child is doing and what they need.
If my child has hospice care, won’t that mean we are ‘giving up’?
Hospice does not replace your child’s medical care. Hospice becomes an important addition to your child’s care, and can improve their comfort, mood and energy. When children feel better, they can live better. Studies show that when symptoms are controlled and patients have their physical, emotional and spiritual needs met, they tend to live longer.
PEDIATRIC CARE: Pediatric Palliative Care | Pediatric Hospice Care | Pediatric Care