Big names in Child Life 👍

 As the moderator takes her place at the microphone a hush falls over those seated around the perimeter of the large atrium. This crowd of healthcare professionals, university professors, and a significant number of their students, cease their conversations in anticipation of the program’s start. Over the past year, as this event began to take shape, a steady buzz had been building at the local children’s hospital as well as affiliated colleges and universities. It was not often that a renowned gathering of child life experts share a stage, with the purpose of examining the potential impact hospital based child life specialists have on combating the depression and anxiety for children and families who experience lengthy hospital stays.

 
Seated at the large round table, bathed in a soft light, are five distinguished individuals, each representing an important segment in an evolving field in child healthcare; the Child Life specialist.  The introductions begin with Kathleen McCue, a children’s Program Director at The Gathering Place, a community based support center for individuals and families touched by cancer. Seated next to her is Dr. Priti Desai Ph.D. MPHCCLS, an assistant professor in the Child Development and Family Relations department at East Carolina University. Dr. Jerriann Myers Wilson M.Ed., CCLS, is introduced next. She is recently retired, after more than 40 years of Child Life work, with over 20 of those years as the Child Life Director at John Hopkins. Professor Emeritus at the University of Alabama, Peggy O. Jessee Ph.D., CCLS, served as the editor for the CLC Bulletin and as a board member for the Association for the Care of Children’s Health and Child Life Council. Rounding out the table is Dr. Charles Snow, Ph.D., a professor of child development and family relations and formerly the coordinator of the Child Life Program at East Carolina University.
 
 Each member of this group will contribute their incredible knowledge and expertise in an effort to definitely answer the question, “Do child life specialists help to decrease the likelihood of depression and anxiety for children and their families, who experience long term hospitalizations, due to a significant illness?”  Should there be consensus in the affirmative to that question, the table will then discuss and reflect on a second query; “What are some of the research based, successful techniques and strategies that should be utilized by Child Life Specialists to insure a successful outcome for young patients and their families?”