Child Life Personal Statement

After completing my child life internship experience at Norton Healthcare, which was comprehensive, unique, and diverse, I have been able to take a step back and see which rotations and which hospital environment I preferred and which I fit into best. I believe that it is important that a child life specialist is aware of where they best fit in the hospital environment based on his or her training, background, and personality. This can aid in eliminating burnout and turnover rates, because if a child life specialist is in the correct area they will be less likely to leave their current placement or switch units. However, I realize that with the current employment opportunities available in the field of child life that finding your preferred

After graduation, my immediate nursing goal and plan is to find employment as a registered nurse on a pediatrics unit at a local hospital. Although I am striving for a position in the pediatric intensive care unit, I will be grateful for any job on any pediatric nursing unit. In this position, I will gain a more concrete foundation on the multifaceted needs of both the pediatric patient and their families. In order to progress to my future nursing goals, I will need this experience

As an undergraduate, I was able to gain a year and a half of clinician experience. Unlike most undergraduate colleges, I was given the incredible opportunity to have hands on experience with children varying in ages and in disorders. In my clinical experience, I was taught and guided on how to create long-term therapy goals, write

I have always known that I wanted to work with kids, even before I knew for sure which career I wanted to pursue. Being one of the oldest children in my extended family, I have had the pleasure of looking after all of my younger cousins. I really love being a positive role model in their lives and being someone they can count on. I babysit whenever I can and even watch my teacher’s children on a pretty regular basis. Knowing this, it was no surprise that I jumped at the chance to volunteer once a month in my church’s nursery. Every second Sunday of the month, I watch all the “new walkers” to two year olds during the busiest service. I really love this age range because even though the kids are just learning to walk and talk, they all have their own unique personalities. I love to watch them interact with one another. I once saw a little boy put his face right into another little girl’s face. He slowly stuck out his tongue and licked her cheek, she pulled back, bewildered, and then handed him the book she was holding. Then the little boy simply walked away as if receiving books in exchange for licks was completely acceptable, which I suppose it is when you are that age! Helping out in the nursery is very important to me because I want the children’s parents to feel free to worship in the main service without having to worry about the safety of their kids. I am very blessed to have this

I have always felt at ease when dealing with children when my

I always knew I want to work with pediatric population. During my clinical rotations, I always requested to work with pediatric patients if available. Unfortunately, my nursing instructor who understood this passion and extracurricular activities passed away shortly before graduation. However, that adds to motivation to help continue to help children and their communities. In the first month of clinical rotation at Seattle Children’s, there was a patient’s family who was getting frustrated. After

As my internship at Tufts Floating Hospital came to an end this week, I reflected on my internship as a whole. Although there were days that I did not look forward to going to the hospital, I always tried to go in with a smile, which clearly reflected in my supervisor’s evaluation. My entire internship was not exactly what I expected. I went in thinking that there would be a lot of busy work, but I did not think about the size of the hospital. Tufts Medical Center is smaller than Children’s Hospital, which is also located in Boston. This means that many more children end up at Children’s Hospital rather than Tufts Floating Hospital, thus creating slower working days. This internship allowed me to learn therapeutic skills for children, which

Alex is a seven year old Caucasian female. She is struggling emotionally and socially. She was held back in the first grade. Alex has been involved with The Department of Children and Families (DCF) since she was born. The mission statement of The Department of Children and Families is to, “Strive to protect children from abuse and neglect and, in partnership with families and communities, ensure children are able to grow and thrive in a safe and nurturing environment.” (Commonwealth of Massachusetts, "About the Department of Children & Families", 2015)

My first goal during the child life internship is to successfully gain a working knowledge of the philosophy and principles of patient-and family-centered care. Although I have some valuable experiences working with children and families, I believe that the setting, environment, and resources at Advocate Children’s Hospital will help me to further develop skills and knowledge in working with families in times of crisis and high stress. I want to gain a solid understanding of family dynamics, stress reduction and developmental, educational, and therapeutic play techniques. My second goal is to evaluate my own work under the guidance of experienced professionals, and be measured by professional standards. As a graduate student in child life, I have set forth to gain knowledge of developmental and educational theories, role-play various preparations with classmates, and volunteer for child life events; thus the next step is to gain clinical preparation and put what I have learned in class to practice. Hence, I am eager to invest in opportunities to build on coursework and apply theory under the guidance of experienced individuals to acquire skills in the profession. My third goal, but not my last goal, is to strengthen my ability to interact and communicate with other members of the health care team to integrate child life into the care plan. Child life is not only a service, but a team commitment to excellent care, therefore, it is important

Working with children has been my number one career prospect since leaving school, but at first was undecided of the age range. This lead me into attending Franklin College to study English and Psychology at A level. However, felt this was not the right choice for me. After being disheartened from my experience at college I decided to apply for Level 2 Childcare at my local sixth form. I became intrigued by the various approaches to working with children and learning how children develop.

My parents grew up under martial law in Taiwan and that was not easy for anyone, yet they overcome. So they taught my brothers and me that we need to be thankful for the rights we have now. And what they care the most is not our academic achievements but our attitudes toward other people around us, the attitudes toward ourselves. But they are parents, there are times when they were not there, which makes us grow up overnight.

American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization with the professional membership of about 64,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric surgical specialists, and pediatric medical sub-specialists. These individuals are dedicated to the safety, health, and well-being of infants, adolescents, and young adults. The goal of this organization is to attain optimal physical, social, and mental health and well-being for all infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. The AAP also advocates for access to healthcare for all children, adolescents, and young adults. A number of long-term research programs are done by the AAP to enhance the delivery of health care to children. In the Research in Office Settings program studies are conducted using a network of 1,800 pediatricians who work in office-based practices. This program is also one of the longest running programs in the United States (About AAP, 2016).

During the last three years, I have completed 488 hours in two child life departments interacting with children and families in the hospital setting. At the same time, I kept the quality of my academic standing high (GPA 4.0 at Ozarks Technical Community College and GPA 3.88 at Missouri State University). I am currently a child life practicum student at CoxHealth Dee Ann White Women’s and Children’s Hospital. My duties include planning and implementing developmentally appropriate and therapeutic activities, such as origami, scavenger hunts, and medical play to promote physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development for patients. I can independently interact with and introduce child life services to patients and families in Pediatrics

For this project we had to collaborate and create a presentation that models a child profile. Our student was 17 year old Aaron, who is apart of Chatsworth Senior High School’s Life Skills program. This program is a transitional program designed for students to receive education in the morning and obtain job experience for the last half of the day. Aaron is currently working at his father’s business, but it has been reported that there are numerous problems with Aaron’s behavior and skills. His father has asked for help in fixing this predicament because he doesn’t want to fire his son. As a group, it is up to us to analyze the information and decide a proper course of action for Aaron.

One of the greatest pieces of advice that I have received is that if you do something that you love, you will never work a day in your life. It took me changing my major three times to find what I am truly passionate about. After I changed my major to child and family studies I enjoyed learning everyday and applying what I learned from class into the real world. The knowledge that I obtained through my classes assisted me through my experiences as a nanny, a student worker for the department of child and family studies at Tarleton, and lastly through my internship at Gladney Center for Adoption this past summer. I had thought about pursuing a MSW since I switched to child and family studies. The few social work classes I was enrolled in have been some of my favorite material. Ultimately my internship through Gladney and my passion for adoption led to my final decision to pursue a masters in social work.