Starting this week, enjoy 5 days straight of student panels that will walk you through the big key areas of pursuing child life (undergraduate education, master's degrees, practicums, internships, and certification exam tips) by panels of child life students and specialists who have recently completed each step!

Welcome back to The Child Life Wild Life Podcast with your host, Jessica Lewin, CCLS, The Child Life Mentor.

Season 3 will officially drop Monday, August 7, 2023- starting with a week of Student Series Panels that will walk you through the big key areas of pursuing child life (undergraduate education, master's degrees, practicums, internships, and certification exam tips) by panels of child life students and specialists who have recently completed each step!

After launch day, every new podcast episode will be released once per week on Mondays to get you started for the week! 

To be the first to know when an episode is released, don't forget to subscribe!

Follow along on Instagram at @thechildlifementor.

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend and former supervisor/school principal, Ryan Portenga, about their shared experience working in a small, rural middle-high school last year. Back in 2021, Jessica sent out proposals to school districts across southwest Michigan hoping to break into the school setting as a Certified Child Life Specialist. Ryan, after careful consideration, was the only principal to take a chance on Jessica and invited her to interview for their open social worker position, knowing Jessica's passion was in child life and she was unqualified for the MSW role.

Throughout this conversation, Jessica and Ryan talk about their year in the school, the impact child life has made on students and families, and how Ryan himself has had a change in perspective after watching a child life specialist in action for the first time.

Ryan also talks directly to school principals, hiring agents, and superintendents emphasizing step-by-step instructions on how having a child life specialist on the team is feasible with just a little creativity and innovation. 

Ryan also speaks to the child life specialists listening about how he recommends proposing future child life positions in schools- how to formulate emails, what to expect when coming into a school for the first time to drop off a proposal and meet the principal/superintendent, and more.

Track: Odessa — LiQWYD & Scandinavianz [Audio Library Release]Music provided by Audio Library PlusWatch: https://youtu.be/jNy-Dp3lgcgFree Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/odessa

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Bridgette Danielson, CCLS, about her experience working in an inpatient psychiatric facility as a child life specialist.. Bridgette is passionate about trauma-informed care, mental/behavioral health, self-care, family-centered care, and working with students.

Over the last five years, Bridgette has presented at numerous conferences and collegiate courses, served on several hospital committees, and was president of a regional child life organization.

Pediatric behavioral health care admissions are at an all time high. The American Academy of Pediatrics declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health in October 2021 (https://www.aap.org/en/advocacy/child-and-adolescent-healthy-mental-development/aap-aacap-cha-declaration-of-a-national-emergency-in-child-and-adolescent-mental-health/) due to increased mental health challenges exacerbated by COVID-19 and continued social injustice.

Bridgette beautifully discusses her child life role while working with patients once they’ve been admitted to an inpatient psychiatric facility.

You can follow Bridgette at @beedanielson on Instagram.
For more information or to get in contact with Bridgette, you can reach out to her directly at [email protected]

Track: Odessa — LiQWYD & Scandinavianz [Audio Library Release]Music provided by Audio Library PlusWatch: https://youtu.be/jNy-Dp3lgcgFree Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/odessa

Child Life on Call's Katie Taylor interviews Jessica Lewin as an expert in the schools. 

Jessica proposed and created a child life specialist position in a rural middle-high school during the 2021-2022 school year. Over halfway through the school year, Jessica sat down with Katie to talk about some of the things she finds most useful for parents, child life specialists, and students to know including the importance of talking about mental health (even suicide), leaning into a child life specialist's deep understanding of psychosocial development, and the impact a child life specialist position has had on a middle-high school in just a few short months. 

You can connect with Katie Taylor at using her website or Instagram below.

Website: childlifepodcast.com
Instagram: @childlifeoncall

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, sits down with friend, Sabrina Alinejad, CCLS, about what her experience has been like as a new Certified Child Life Specialist working her first job in the Pre-Op  Unit (Surgery).

Sabrina walks us through what it was like for her as a practicum and internship student, how she best navigated studying for the certification exam, things she didn't expect to feel during her first year working as a child life specialist, and how she's adjusted her expectations throughout her child life process. 

You can follow Sabrina at @playwithchildlife on Instagram.

Track: Odessa — LiQWYD & Scandinavianz [Audio Library Release]Music provided by Audio Library PlusWatch: https://youtu.be/jNy-Dp3lgcgFree Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/odessa

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, sits down with one of her best friends, Allison Parker, about her experience transitioning from pursuing child life all the way up to certification to switching gears and teaching kindergarten instead. 

Walking away from child life was never something that Allison intended for her career. But with COVID hitting at just the right time, deciding she wanted to stay close to home, and eventually meeting her now-husband, it just didn't feel like the right time in Allison's life to become a child life specialist. 

Allison utilizing so many of the child life skills she learned right in her classroom- advocating for her students, using developmentally appropriate language, assessing student's understanding, educating them on things her students can't imagine they can do and then watching them master a new skill. 

You can follow Allison at @ajzylkaparker on Instagram.

Track: Odessa — LiQWYD & Scandinavianz [Audio Library Release]Music provided by Audio Library PlusWatch: https://youtu.be/jNy-Dp3lgcgFree Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/odessa

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, sits down with friend, Amanda Wright, CCLS, about what her experience has been like as a new Certified Child Life Specialist working her first job in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. 

Amanda is so animated in her stories that she shares honestly about her child life journey, though sometimes disappointing,  always the right path. She talks about her experiences as a student- both practicum and internship, how she studied best for the certification exam, the highs and lows of her position now as a Certified Child Life Specialist, and more!

You can follow Amanda at @wright_sister on Instagram.

Track: Odessa — LiQWYD & Scandinavianz [Audio Library Release]Music provided by Audio Library PlusWatch: https://youtu.be/jNy-Dp3lgcgFree Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/odessa

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, sits down with friend, Paige Ronsen, about her journey through child life and how she continues to use that knowledge and experience in where she is today as a Program Director for a Boys and Girls Club in Seattle. 

Paige talks about what it's like now being in a supervisor role and interviewing people for jobs (unlike how she's spent the last couple years being the interviewee for child life).  She talks about the ways she performs child life skills and duties everyday and Jessica echoes how child life should be viewed more as a "verb" rather than a "noun". We're all out here using our child life skills in some capacity. It's what we do, not always who we are (given our formal titles). 

Paige shares the guilt she experienced leaving the child life field (for now) and how she practices "gut checks" with herself to discover if what she's doing is fulfilling her passion and expectations in some capacity. 

There are so many wonderful tips and nuggets for child life specialists, students, and professionals in this episode. You won't want to miss this! 

Track: Odessa — LiQWYD & Scandinavianz [Audio Library Release]Music provided by Audio Library PlusWatch: https://youtu.be/jNy-Dp3lgcgFree Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/odessa

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, sits down with friend, Lauren Kosiewski, CCLS, about her experience transitioning from a full-time child life specialist in a hospital setting, to now a full-time organ donation liaison.

Leaving the field for Lauren was absolutely terrifying. She worked so hard to become a CCLS and to earn that title. She has had to navigate feelings of enormous guilt and fear to now feeling more at peace in her professional life than ever before. While Lauren does the same skills today as she did working in the hospital as a child life specialist, she now feels valued and appreciated every single day. She is also able to lean into growth both professionally and personally in a way she wasn't able to experience working as a child life specialist.

For support or to get in contact with Lauren, you can reach out to her directly at [email protected] 

Track: Odessa — LiQWYD & Scandinavianz [Audio Library Release]Music provided by Audio Library PlusWatch: https://youtu.be/jNy-Dp3lgcgFree Download / Stream: https://alplus.io/odessa