Risk & Resilience vs. Positive Youth Development

In order to demonstrate how the ideologies of "Risk & Resiliency" and "Positive Youth Development" come into play for Child Life Therapy, I created a chart of different techniques and methods used by a Child Life Specialist and which ideology it fits into.

Technique/method/skills	Ideology?	Why?	Who is the Focus?
Coping with illnesses   - Explaining the illness, procedures, and addressing future concerns for the patient - Using medical play therapy to explain what is happening to patient and the procedures - Use of dolls - Use of medical equipment	Both	From my experience learning to cope with a serious long term illness takes long term methods and therapy.  For the child they may need to just talk about what their illness means and learning about their condition through medical play therapy.  While the parents may need to also talk about the diagnosis, they may also need resources and information from the medical staff at the hospitals.  Thus, like positive youth development, coping with an illness is a creating a positive path for a patient's future.  Positive Youth Development puts the patient first in order to help them and their families cope with the diagnosis. On the other hand, risk and resiliency helps to prevent further anxieties by Child Life Specialists educating patients and families about the illness and providing resources for all aspects of their lives.	Both Child and Illness focused:  They are focused on the illness as they explain and help the child and families understand what is going on.  However they are also child focused as they are explaining the illness in a way that children can understand.
Pain & Anxiety Management   - Drawing how they are feeling - Using picture scales - Using distractions – ipads - Talking to child and families about what is happening to them	Risk & Resiliency	When a patient is in pain or has anxiety about the hospital or a procedure, this need to be dealt with immediately.  What can child life specialists do to aide the situation in the moment - that is the important question.	Illness Focused – The main focus of pain management is for the doctors and nurses to understand how much pain the child is in because of their diagnosis.    However I feel like anxiety management is more child focused because it is working on how the child is feeling mentally and emotionally not just physically.  Anxiety is a long-term management thus each child is different and the implementation is tailored to each child individually.
Identity Development   - Talking to child and families about their future living with the illness or diagnosis - Providing resources - Helping to provide the tools and equipment within the home setting - Helping to educate friends and community on the child’s illness or diagnosis - Providing resources to help aid in child’s identity as they grow up with their diagnosis	Positive Youth Development	Positive Youth Development would state that a patient comes first.  As an example, rather than saying a cancer patient, which focuses on the cancer instead they would say a patient with cancer which now focuses on the patient.  A child life specialist knows, understands, and implements a healthy identity for patients and families as they navigate through an illness and diagnosis.	Child Focused.  Identity Development is completely focused on the child and how they are growing and adjusting in their life with this illness and diagnosis.
Support -	Both	Positive Youth Development fits perfectly with supporting the child and families within the hospital setting.  It is a main job of a child life specialist to be positive and upbeat especially while working in hospitals.  Yes it is difficult for the children and families within the hospital but Positive Youth Development would attempt to make the best of those difficult situations.   The risk and resiliency ideology would talk about how it support the child and family by educating the families on what is happening in the moment and how to best advocate and accommodate the child in the future.	Child & Family Focused.  Support is a huge job for Child Life Specialists.    Sometimes support is what Shayla describes as just being there for the family and silbling – a simple hug during a tough time.  Or support can be talking to the patient and letting them know you are there for them.