Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Tessa Whitten, CCLS, about her experience working on the Hematology/Oncology Unit for the last three years. Tessa is a woman of faith and is the definition of "joy". 

Tessa talks about meeting the complex needs of such a high acuity population and how she holds space for patients and families to process feelings. She also loves to create unique opportunities for legacy building as it's often that she works with terminally-ill children. 

Tessa is vulnerable with us throughout this interview and talks about the highs and lows she's experienced working on this unit as well as how it's affected her mental health.

You can follow Tessa at @tessadiane23 on Instagram.

To check out the Brene Brown video on Empathy we mention, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw&feature=emb_imp_woyt

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, Jess Minnick, CCLS, about bouncing back after a COVID-related job loss. Jess has unique experience working in an outpatient ENT clinic where she worked side by side with a pediatric otolaryngologist (say that three times fast). 

At the ENT clinic, she supported children and families during visits, office imaging and testing, and even followed them to the outpatient surgery center to provide child life support before and after surgery. She also worked alongside pediatric allergists and speech pathologists.

Her position was unfortunately dissolved in December 2020 due to COVID-related budget cuts and Jess talks to us about what that was like mentally and emotionally. She talks openly about imposter syndrome and the determination it took for her to start over and believe that she was still capable of being a child life specialist even after an immense blow to her self-esteem and confidence. 

You can follow Jess at @give.play.love 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, talks with friend, Sarah Somers, CCLS, about balancing motherhood in the field of child life. Sarah works in a children's hospital within an adult hospital and sees patients in multiple areas of the hospital daily. She works 40+ hours a week and has a passion for helping students succeed through their hospital's internship program.  

Sarah shares in this episode how her job as a child life specialist impacted when and how her family was formed. She talks openly and honestly about her miscarriage and how that played a part in when she felt comfortable and ready to expand her family again. 

Sarah has been married to her husband for almost 8 years. She loves being home and going for walks with her family, including her four-legged fur baby. 

You can follow Sarah at @sleblanc26 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, talks with friend and past practicum student, Lindsey Thompson about what it's been like for her as a student to balance her faith and passion for child life. 

Lindsey is currently a student at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing her Master of Science degree in Applied Developmental Psychology with a concentration in Children with Special Health Care Needs and Child Life.  She is currently completing her child life internship in Northern Virginia. She's passionately  involved in raising service dogs through a student organization at Pitt and will be receiving her second service dog in training this upcoming fall!

During Lindsey's practicum last year, Jessica and Lindsey bonded over their faith. Since then, Lindsey has been involved in Jessica's child life Bible study, Capital 3 in One, as a small group leader. Lindsey and Jessica have reminded each other multiple times that God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called.

You can follow Lindsey at @lindseyxthompson 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, talks with friend, Kelly Wagner, CCLS, about what it's like to be a supervisor/coordinator to child life interns. Kelly has been a child life specialist for 11 years working primarily with hematology/oncology populations. A lover of knowledge and willing to try new things, she has held a number of roles from one-person program to student program coordinator, manager of a small child life department to her most recent endeavor as CCLS/Facility Dog Handler. 

Kelly's passion for child life specialists and their work extends to her participation in the ACLP Patient Experience Committee where she participated in the creation and proliferation of the Emotional Safety Framework which aims to hold the emotional safety of pediatric patients and families as equally important to their physical safety during healthcare experiences.

Kelly held the position of Student Program Coordinator for 3 years coordinating internships and practicums for students at her previous hospital. She currently sits on the Internship Committee at her hospital (year 4) which selects interns 2 times a year and provides recommendations for the growth of the training experience for child life students. She has precepted students in proton radiation centers, PICU and hematology/oncology inpatient.

You can follow Kelly at @embarkmedicaldogs 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, talks with friend, Jess Cheung, CCLS, about burnout. Jess shares her authentic journey through child life as not all sparkly and beautiful, but as one of self-discovery and triumph as she navigated burnout as both a student and now as a professional. 

Jess talks openly about her experience setting boundaries in order to protect her mental health and the perks of having an amazing, supportive manager- which isn't always the norm!

To help combat the burnout, Jess loves cooking, watching a lot of reruns of TV shows, and finding silly comics to put on her work computer to bring herself daily joy. 

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, Laura Sufka, CCLS, about forming and creating her child life private practice from the ground up. While Laura is still in the "infancy" stage of creating her private practice (she started 4 months ago), she still has a lot of wisdom to share such as what things to consider prior to starting, how long it took for her to cook up this idea, important realizations to have about yourself and your scope of practice and more.

Laura and I briefly touched on the topic of when you can move into private practice as supported by the ACLP. Here are the links where we gathered our information regarding the amount of hours and requirements needed prior to seeking out work in the community: 
https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/147/1/e2020040261
https://www.childlife.org/docs/default-source/about-aclp/cbp-on-cl-practice-in-community-settings.pdf

You can follow Laura at @childrenscopingconnection on Instagram or here's a direct link to her website: www.laurasufka.care

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, Kizzy Marco, CCLS, about creating, managing, and rockin' a facility dog program. Kizzy has nearly a decade of experience in the field and has worked with her 9-year-old partner, a Golden Retriever named Ralph Lauren, for almost eight years. 

Ralph is a celebrity at his hospital which puts a spotlight on the child life program at large, but especially in how Kizzy interacts with patients, families and staff.  It's not every day that the CEO of a hospital knows a child life specialist by name. Throughout my conversation with Kizzy, I witnessed her enthusiasm for her facility dog program, her initiative in getting things done for the better, and her motivation to continue to grow this niche field. 

Kizzy highlights the clinical, goal-based nature of this work, which distinguishes it from volunteer/therapy dog programs (what most people are familiar with). A facility dog program is championed by Certified Child Life Specialists who can do the clinical work that volunteers can't such as assisting with a procedure, assessing a patient/family, and end-of-life support. 

https://youtu.be/2EG3S9d_8Os

You can follow Kizzy and Ralph at @RalphInTheRockies 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, talks with friend, Becca Miedema, CCLS, about their shared faith of Christianity and how that looks in the field of child life. Faith is not often something discussed in a professional setting, however, for both Jessica and Becca, their faith is something that they feel is a huge part of who they are and what they bring into each patient and family interaction.

Becca is easily located on her unit (Emergency Department) by her bright pink, rainbow sprinkled donut backpack she carries around with a giant bubble wand sticking out! Patients who get admitted tell their new CCLS “Oh yea! I met the donut backpack girl!” And that's Becca!

You can follow Becca at @engravedonhishands_ and @childlifehq on Instagram and at childlifehq on Tik Tok.

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, Jess Foster, CCLS, about transitioning into the community as a Victim Services Coordinator for her local sheriff's department. Being the sister and wife of police officers, the role has allowed Jess to blend her knowledge as a civilian, law enforcement spouse and a Certified Child Life Specialist to advocate for positive growth and supportive services.

Jess has always had a passion for the criminal justice system. She is now utilizing the knowledge and skills of a child life specialist in the law enforcement field to support the community and victims of crime. 

You may reach out to Jess via email for questions 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