Child Life Specialists: Job Description, Education, Skills and Duties, Earnings and Outlook
Submitted by: paula
Job Overview Childlife specialist are professionals who work in a health care settings to assist or help infants, young children, adolescents as well as their families along their course of illness and injury as well as hospitalization. One of the major roles of this professional is to relieve the patient and the families of the fear, anxiety and the many stresses associated with the relatives hospitalization, medical care as well as injuries. They are also calles therapeutic recreational specialists, actvity therapist as well as patients activity therapist or play therapist in other institutions.
Education, Knowledge and Trainings Required
It is advisable to take courses that will involve instructions on family dynamics, child development, educational play and medical terminologies. These courses include the following: science and health, human biology, psychology and English as well as communication classes. There are a very few colleges or universities that offer programs in child life. However, alternative courses may be taken such as Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, and Child Development.
Skills and Abilities
Comunication and interpersonal skills are very important in doing family and children interventions in any healthcare settings. Being patient and understanding as well as being a good listener will help them gather more data regarding the concern of the clients. These will then be the basis of the activities that will serve as therapeutic experiences for the patient and the family.
Teaching and helping skills will enable to work more effective on the side of the client. They must possess a certain level of expertise in counseling as well as a good background in child and family psychology.
Duties
Being in a hospital is being in an environment that is uncanny. Getting confined due to illness, injury or certain medial procedure may increase the person' and the families' fear, anxiety and interrupt normal functional processes This stage of the children's, adolescents' life ad their families is the focus of a child life specilists. They provide them the opportunities to cope well, relax and play by assisting them in thier activities and interaction with the other kids and people sharing the same condition. They provide them and the relatives concernesd with the advice on ways to be able to maintain their lives as close as possible to that of the normal's. They do encouragement and counseling to the family to promote care involvement to the sick ones and cope with the difficult situation they presently are having.
Job Outlook and Earnings
The earnings for a child life specialist depends on the following factors: state of practice, offsetting benefits and the employer. The range of salary for this profession is around 39,000 to 41,000 U.S. dollars in a year. Others who are in a bigger heathcare facility and have accumulated several years of professional experience may earn more than 45,000 U.S. dollars per annum. The job outlook is also good and will persist to be good as employment rate is expected to grow as fast as the average for the other employees in other industries.
Paula Hiz is a researcher and a human resource specialist who helps newly graduates, job applicants and post graduate professionals be aware of their job opportunities and available trainings for skills and practice upgrading.
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Word Count: 538 Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2010 Time: 5:41 PM
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