What Is Involved in a Child Life Specialist Internship?

A child life specialist internship is usually designed to expose students or new professionals to all aspects of the child life career, and can involve everything from independent patient meetings to mentored counseling sessions and group classes on basic techniques. In many places, a child life specialist internship is a requirement to earning professional certification. It is also required for many degree programs. The specifics of what an intern does or learns varies somewhat by setting, but is usually designed to be a broad introduction to all aspects of work in the field.

Internships typically last for an academic semester, or sometimes as long as an academic year. Students can frequently earn credit for intern work, but most programs are unpaid. The experience is usually meant to be educational, and students typically volunteer in exchange for the breadth of experiences and opportunities available.

Most of the time, a child life specialist internship is structured so that students will gain exposure to as many facets of the work as possible. Internships are typically sponsored by hospitals or pediatric outpatient care centers where there are lots of different opportunities. An intern is usually rotated through at least two different divisions over the course of his or her time in the program, and is often encouraged to work under as many practitioners as possible. One of the main goals of most programs is to give students a robust, hands-on view of how professionals work on a day-to-day basis. The more an intern sees, the better equipped he or she will be to develop an individual style and someday launch an independent career.

Hands-on work is an important part of any child life specialist internship. The intern experience gives students a chance to put their book learning into practice, and to test out their own ideas and theories. Even the smartest pediatric health care students are not usually ready to immediately start working with patients, however. In an internship, students find a structured place to grow with guidance and constant supervision.

Interns are often paired in one-on-one working relationships with certified professionals. At first, the intern will spend a lot of time observing. With time, the mentor will usually coach the intern to take more of the lead in initiating conversations with patients, leading seminars for parents, or structuring therapeutic play time for children and their families. As the intern progresses, he or she usually earns progressively more responsibility.

Academic child life specialist internship programs — that is, programs that are offered for credit — often include some sort of quantifiable intern assessment, both during and at the conclusion of the program. Sometimes this is assessed in terms of a letter grade. More often, internships that offer credit do not give grades, but rather are graded as pass/fail. This does not mean that there is no opportunity for feedback, however. A major part of the child life specialist internship experience is critical feedback and growth.

Interns regularly meet with their mentors to discuss their progress and to discuss what is working and what is not. Mentors will often challenge students to take on more responsibilities or try new techniques, knowing that there is a safety net should the intern falter. Child life specialists, like most health care professionals, depend as much on practical experience and repeated exposure to patients as they do on theoretical knowledge. Interns are usually encouraged to stretch themselves and their comfort zones in order to get the most out of the experience.

In larger organizations that take on multiple interns at once, group sessions are also usually a part of the experience. Some group sessions take on the form of educational seminars, where interns learn new techniques or theories of care. Others are structured more like support groups, where interns can share their experiences, their frustrations, and their questions in a more casual, supportive setting.