Finding my place
I have been trying to find my place professionally for more than 20 years. While I was working toward my undergraduate degree in Education I started to feel that working in the classroom wasn’t the right fit. I spoke to my Mom and she reminded me of a time in High School when I was working at a special event, face painting for children with developmental disabilities. She told me that after the event I kept telling her that I couldn’t stop thinking about the kids I had worked with that day. After that reminder I knew that I wanted to work with children with special needs outside of the classroom. I did, for a few years, until a friend recruited me to come work with her at the children’s hospital. I was hesitant about working with sick children but the pay was better, it was at an established Child Life program and I felt that I could learn a lot from the staff and the children.
Working as a Child Life Specialist has been a life-changing experience. I have had the opportunity to help children understand, be educated and empowered about the most difficult things that they will likely go through during their lives. I spent six years working with children with cancer, five years working with children with heart disease/transplants and the last six years working with children with traumatic injuries or illnesses in the Emergency Department. Those years have made me into a confident Child Life Specialist and the one in the department that liked to make digital media projects, was interested in technology and was curious how we could incorporate it in to our practice. I was content and happy in what I was doing and never felt a need to change.
My community at home was rattled in 2013 when my young daughter's friend was diagnosed with Leukemia. I became the outsider looking in and all my daughter wanted was her friend to be back in school and when we could, to visit with her in the hospital. I quickly learned how difficult it was to connect with her as they had prior to her diagnosis. Her illness inspired me to look around my environment and realize that it was time for some change across the board for those of us working with children in the hospital. We, as Child Life Specialists needed to join the EdTech movement and seek out ways to connect children in the hospital academically, socially and emotionally.
After an inspirational talk with my Administrative Director it was decided I would seek out and apply for graduate school and make these needs a reality.
Becoming the student
When I work with children my main goals for them are to understand the medical information, be educated about their environment and their bodies and lastly be empowered to be successful. Time to practice what I preach.
To Understand:
Instructional Systems Design was an intense time consuming course that opened my mind to the deep process of creating programs and services that teach and assess understanding. Not only did I learn about the process of design as a system and the constant adaption involved in creating programs but I learned and understood what it meant to be a Project Manager and leader. I became very aware of my team and wanted us to succeed as group, to feel supported and to make a strong project together. We were all very proud of our Final Project Virtual Reality in the Classroom.
To be Educated
I never expected at 40+ to learn a skill that was complicated, made my head spin and truly take me out of my comfort zone. I got that in Intro to Web Development. This course was terrifying in the beginning but I found that truly learning a new skill was very satisfying. I never imagined that I would be able to put a website together and actually hand code it myself. I am eager to share this skill with children as I have learned that learning to code can help children communicate, be creative and solve problems. Coding can also empower and provide opportunities for life skills while in the hospital. It can also provide opportunities to develop a skill and be something to share with their friends (either in conversation or to teach them). Coding games can be fun and can spark an interest in a new hobby or help pass the time.
To be Empowered
I had never envisioned myself as a leader in the hospital or even within our department. I just did what I did and hoped that I was doing a good job and learning along the way. The conversation I had with our Administrative Director changed the way I looked at myself and I realized that with school and some guidance I could be an excellent leader. But how do I navigate the system and understand what I needed to do to create change for growth. I found the activities in Diffusions of Educational Innovations class to be very empowering process of learning about working with others, creating long-term change and the adoption process in a large organization. In particular the Diffusion Network activity helped me map out a plan to build bridges within my organization.
Creating a place
I have a long way to go in creating the ideal place at my current organization. The steps I have already taken are to get involved in technology related committees. I was selected to join and am now the chair-elect for the Association for Child Life Professionals Technology Integration Committee whose mission is to evaluate the integration of technology in clinical practice, develop original technology solutions and support child life professionals' knowledge of technology-based applications. I am on the GetWell Network (our interactive educational and entertainment in-room system) Education work-group. Our team is working to update and create innovative solutions for education on our current platform.
Our hospital is growing and with that opportunities for new positions are in development. I hope to be an active leader of innovation and technology in the hospital. I hope to help create or find a platform to connect our patients to other patients. A space where they can share, vent or just do homework together. I hope to create and provide innovative educational tools to help patients and their families be prepared for and understand everything they need to go through in regard to their care. Lastly, I hope to support and provide guidance to the Child Life team in cutting-edge techniques to build a strong practice.
My place is a place of big ideas, big goals and big inspirations. I am confident because of the knowledge I have acquired in graduate school I will find my place as an innovative leader with children and families in any setting.
I have been trying to find my place professionally for more than 20 years. While I was working toward my undergraduate degree in Education I started to feel that working in the classroom wasn’t the right fit. I spoke to my Mom and she reminded me of a time in High School when I was working at a special event, face painting for children with developmental disabilities. She told me that after the event I kept telling her that I couldn’t stop thinking about the kids I had worked with that day. After that reminder I knew that I wanted to work with children with special needs outside of the classroom. I did, for a few years, until a friend recruited me to come work with her at the children’s hospital. I was hesitant about working with sick children but the pay was better, it was at an established Child Life program and I felt that I could learn a lot from the staff and the children.
Working as a Child Life Specialist has been a life-changing experience. I have had the opportunity to help children understand, be educated and empowered about the most difficult things that they will likely go through during their lives. I spent six years working with children with cancer, five years working with children with heart disease/transplants and the last six years working with children with traumatic injuries or illnesses in the Emergency Department. Those years have made me into a confident Child Life Specialist and the one in the department that liked to make digital media projects, was interested in technology and was curious how we could incorporate it in to our practice. I was content and happy in what I was doing and never felt a need to change.
My community at home was rattled in 2013 when my young daughter's friend was diagnosed with Leukemia. I became the outsider looking in and all my daughter wanted was her friend to be back in school and when we could, to visit with her in the hospital. I quickly learned how difficult it was to connect with her as they had prior to her diagnosis. Her illness inspired me to look around my environment and realize that it was time for some change across the board for those of us working with children in the hospital. We, as Child Life Specialists needed to join the EdTech movement and seek out ways to connect children in the hospital academically, socially and emotionally.
After an inspirational talk with my Administrative Director it was decided I would seek out and apply for graduate school and make these needs a reality.
Becoming the student
When I work with children my main goals for them are to understand the medical information, be educated about their environment and their bodies and lastly be empowered to be successful. Time to practice what I preach.
To Understand:
Instructional Systems Design was an intense time consuming course that opened my mind to the deep process of creating programs and services that teach and assess understanding. Not only did I learn about the process of design as a system and the constant adaption involved in creating programs but I learned and understood what it meant to be a Project Manager and leader. I became very aware of my team and wanted us to succeed as group, to feel supported and to make a strong project together. We were all very proud of our Final Project Virtual Reality in the Classroom.
To be Educated
I never expected at 40+ to learn a skill that was complicated, made my head spin and truly take me out of my comfort zone. I got that in Intro to Web Development. This course was terrifying in the beginning but I found that truly learning a new skill was very satisfying. I never imagined that I would be able to put a website together and actually hand code it myself. I am eager to share this skill with children as I have learned that learning to code can help children communicate, be creative and solve problems. Coding can also empower and provide opportunities for life skills while in the hospital. It can also provide opportunities to develop a skill and be something to share with their friends (either in conversation or to teach them). Coding games can be fun and can spark an interest in a new hobby or help pass the time.
To be Empowered
I had never envisioned myself as a leader in the hospital or even within our department. I just did what I did and hoped that I was doing a good job and learning along the way. The conversation I had with our Administrative Director changed the way I looked at myself and I realized that with school and some guidance I could be an excellent leader. But how do I navigate the system and understand what I needed to do to create change for growth. I found the activities in Diffusions of Educational Innovations class to be very empowering process of learning about working with others, creating long-term change and the adoption process in a large organization. In particular the Diffusion Network activity helped me map out a plan to build bridges within my organization.
Creating a place
I have a long way to go in creating the ideal place at my current organization. The steps I have already taken are to get involved in technology related committees. I was selected to join and am now the chair-elect for the Association for Child Life Professionals Technology Integration Committee whose mission is to evaluate the integration of technology in clinical practice, develop original technology solutions and support child life professionals' knowledge of technology-based applications. I am on the GetWell Network (our interactive educational and entertainment in-room system) Education work-group. Our team is working to update and create innovative solutions for education on our current platform.
Our hospital is growing and with that opportunities for new positions are in development. I hope to be an active leader of innovation and technology in the hospital. I hope to help create or find a platform to connect our patients to other patients. A space where they can share, vent or just do homework together. I hope to create and provide innovative educational tools to help patients and their families be prepared for and understand everything they need to go through in regard to their care. Lastly, I hope to support and provide guidance to the Child Life team in cutting-edge techniques to build a strong practice.
My place is a place of big ideas, big goals and big inspirations. I am confident because of the knowledge I have acquired in graduate school I will find my place as an innovative leader with children and families in any setting.