Child Life Specialists

Having a child with a serious medical condition can be an overwhelming experience for the entire family. You can rest easy knowing Banner Children’s has an expert team of child life specialists to help make this experience as easy as possible.

What Is a Child Life Specialist?

Child life specialists provide emotional and educational support to help children feel more comfortable while they’re at the hospital.

What Does a Child Life Specialist Do?

In addition to emotional and educational support to help children feel more comfortable while they’re in the hospital, child life specialists also help with:

• Medical Preparation: Child life specialists can help children understand what will happen at the hospital to help lift their fears.
• Support During Procedure: Child life specialists can help reduce pain and anxiety during medical procedures by using coping or breathing techniques and providing emotional support.
• Pre-surgery Tours: These tours let children and families become more familiar with the hospital environment before a child goes into surgery.
• Medical Play: Medical play uses real or pretend medical equipment and supplies to help children get comfortable in the hospital. Here, they can express their feelings, talk through what they don’t understand and become calm about the hospital experience.
• Therapeutic Play: Therapeutic play activities can cut down on pain, meet treatment goals, teach kids new skills and shorten their recovery time. These activities happen at a child’s bedside or in a playroom.
• Support for Siblings: Brothers and sisters can also be affected by an illness and injury. They may need help understanding what is happening and how to work through their feelings and concerns for their sibling. Our child life specialists can also help brothers and sisters with support and answer their questions.

Child Life Programs

Banner Children’s offers a variety of programs to help your child while they’re in the hospital to ensure they’re getting the best education if they have emotional or learning challenges.

Banner Children’s compassionate and caring staff is here to help guide you and your family through any pediatric surgery or hospital experience.