March is Child Life Specialist Month, celebrating the work they do.
“Our job here as childlife specialists are to help the children and families cope with hospitalization,” Stacy Neblett said. Neblett is a senior child life specialist at Covenant Children’s.
“Anything from their injuries, to tests to procedures to diagnosis, making sure that the children understand on their developmental level to help them better cope with the hospital experience,” Neblett said.
“People don’t always realize child life specialists are highly trained professionals and they’re highly trained in child development and understanding processes and specifically how hospitalization can impact children at different developmental levels,” Christine Neugebauer said. Neugebauer is the manager of integrative care at Covenant Children’s.
“So even though people sometimes see on the outside that child life specialists are playing and bringing children to playroom, they don’t realize there’s a lot of training and skill involved to help children through that hospitalization experience,” Neugebauer said.
Their focus is to make things both child-centered and family-centered.
“We are the ones that are always trying to drive to be child-centered and family centered, and make it a kid-friendly place, and an environment where children are at the center and helping them make decisions they’re able to make,” Neugebauer said.
