Child Life Month
Celebrating the Child Life Profession in March
Please join CLC and the many child life programs around the world in observing Child Life Month in March with special activities for your staff and local community. Start planning early, and take advantage of this incredible opportunity to honor and promote child life! It's time to educate your peers and the community-at-large about the special needs of families and children undergoing challenging life events. Celebrate for the entire month, a week, or any amount of time in-between. Use the ideas and templates available here, or get the creative juices flowing and develop your own unique ways of observing this special time of year. We all know how important the work is that you do - now is the time make sure the rest of the world knows it, too!
By clicking on the links below, you will find a variety of materials designed to help you plan educational activities to increase public awareness of the child life profession, including a fun Poem about Child Life, written by former child life intern Steve Slowinski. Don't forget to utilize the resources listed in the Making the Case for Child Life section, which includes the AAP Policy Statement on Child Life, CLC's Evidence-Based Practice Statements on Child Life, and the Child Life Promotional Flyer, among others.
These resources are offered as a "jumping-off point" to assist you in planning your individual program's observation of Child Life Month. Please be as creative as you like in customizing the ideas so that they work with the unique needs of your program, institution or community.
Child Life Month Resources
- Media Opportunities: Child Life Month presents an excellent opportunity to gain positive community exposure for your program and your professional setting. Here are some basic ideas for generating media attention. Read More
- Suggested Activities: Looking for some creative ways to celebrate Child Life Month in your hospital or work place? This series of ideas and templates is designed to kick-start your child life program's observance of Child Life Month. Read More
- Letter to Health Care Administrators: As a special service during Child Life Month, CLC will send a personalized letter to administrators of hospitals and other organizations which have a child life program. The letter applauds decision-makers for providing child life services, and offers additional information about Child Life Month. Read More
- Child Life Month Blog: CLC spotlights child life programs and the unique ways they celebrate Child Life Month through a blog in CLC Community entitled Child Life Month: How Do You Celebrate?. This is a great way to show off your program, and to help inspire your colleagues who are planning their own observances of Child Life Month! All participating programs are entered into a random drawing for one free member registration to the Annual Conference on Professional Issues. To enter, please submit a brief Child Life Month story or summary of approximately 500 words or less, along with any pictures (maximum of 15) or video links, to kwest@childlife.org. The deadline to submit an entry is March 15.
- Child Life Poem: Steve Slowinski, a former Child Life Intern at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, offers a fun new way to introduce child life to colleagues and families. Print copies for members of your staff and local community, or copy the text and share in other formats.
How do you celebrate Child Life Month?
We hope that you will share your success stories with us so that we can use them to inspire others from year to year. Email communications@childlife.org to tell us how you celebrate, or to offer other ideas for improving our program.