Child Life team
The Child Life Program at UC Davis Children's Hospital maintains a staff of specialists who help children overcome fear of medical procedures and hospitalization. Because stress can impede medical evaluation and treatment, these child life specialists play an important role in the emotional and physical well-being and recovery of young patients.
Child life specialists are members of a recognized discipline under the auspices of a professional certification organization. With expertise in psychology, child development and therapeutic recreation, child life specialists use play and other techniques that enable children to reduce their anxiety or ease their embarrassment about exposing their bodies to medical professionals who are strangers to them. Known variously as activity therapists, play therapists or therapeutic recreation specialists, they engage in role-playing, using puppets or stuffed animals to simulate the procedures that patients are scheduled to undergo.
Research studies have shown that helping children understand the steps that will occur in a procedure eases their emotional preparation. In addition to showing children the medical devices and equipment that will be used in testing or treating them, child life specialists are available to accompany children during actual procedures, including blood draws, dialysis, insertion of catheters and other potentially unsetting medical routines.
In addition to Child life specialists, the staff includes a music therapist and an art therapist who work individually with patients. The music therapist, who may sing or play musical instruments, also conducts group sessions. Experts believe that the creative arts are important outlets for self-expression and they help in the healing process. The Child Life Program also encompasses a playroom assistant, a teacher, several foster grandparents and more than 40 student and community volunteers.
Child life specialists are members of a recognized discipline under the auspices of a professional certification organization. With expertise in psychology, child development and therapeutic recreation, child life specialists use play and other techniques that enable children to reduce their anxiety or ease their embarrassment about exposing their bodies to medical professionals who are strangers to them. Known variously as activity therapists, play therapists or therapeutic recreation specialists, they engage in role-playing, using puppets or stuffed animals to simulate the procedures that patients are scheduled to undergo.
Research studies have shown that helping children understand the steps that will occur in a procedure eases their emotional preparation. In addition to showing children the medical devices and equipment that will be used in testing or treating them, child life specialists are available to accompany children during actual procedures, including blood draws, dialysis, insertion of catheters and other potentially unsetting medical routines.
In addition to Child life specialists, the staff includes a music therapist and an art therapist who work individually with patients. The music therapist, who may sing or play musical instruments, also conducts group sessions. Experts believe that the creative arts are important outlets for self-expression and they help in the healing process. The Child Life Program also encompasses a playroom assistant, a teacher, several foster grandparents and more than 40 student and community volunteers.
Team members
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Cindy Jones, MA, CCLS — Child Life Manager
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Amber Hall, CCLS — Child Life Specialist, Davis 7 Pediatrics
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Dawn Iwamasa, MA, MT-BC, CCLS — Child Life Specialist, Davis 7 Pediatrics
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Diana Sundberg, CTRS, CCLS — Child Life Specialist, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
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Courtnee Hoogland, MA, CCLS — Child Life Specialist, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
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Kathy Lorenzato, MT-BC — Music Therapist
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Hannah Hunter, MFA — Art Therapist
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Alix Hobson-Carey — Playroom Coordinator
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Nicole Castles — School Teacher, Sacramento City Unified School District