Child life refers to care that helps kids and their families overcome challenging events and cope with stress during medical experiences.
Child life therapist focus on reducing fear, anxiety and pain. This might involve playing, preparation and education.
Child Life Therapists:
- are experts in child development, and support and empower children, young people and their families by helping them understand their hospital treatment
- provide procedural pain support and distraction which can be effective in reducing patients’ fear and anxiety
- provide information and support for medical procedures, and opportunities for normalized play experiences
- provide opportunities for play, enabling children to make sense of their environment and unpack the hospital experience, which may be unfamiliar and confronting for some children