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Message from the President of the Board of Directors and ACLP CEO

Dear ACLP Community,


In a tumultuous year that brought us the devastating COVID-19 global pandemic, economic turmoil, and a social justice reckoning, the child life community continued to demonstrate its value and resilience. With courage and fortitude, child life faced relentless adversity and steadfastly provided comfort and support during trauma and tragedy. As we reflect back on 2020, we want to honor some of the important work that we- as individuals, child life specialists and as an organization accomplished over the past year.

As COVID-19 disrupted many facets of our lives and work, ACLP was determined to provide relevant resources and support to the child life community. We launched multiple new member engagement programs, providing members with both financial & emotional support. The child life community was able to access timely COVID-19 information from various ACLP resources. 

As the country faced a social justice reckoning, ACLP acknowledged and stepped up its response to inequities in the child life community. We brought forward important conversations around race, disparity and access as it relates to our work as an organization and as child life specialists. ACLP launched the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Action Plan which names both organizational and personal opportunities we’re committed to accomplishing to become more diverse, inclusive and equitable. As part of this critical work, ACLP spent a significant amount of time in 2020 evaluating our current programs and identifying additional opportunities to reduce barriers and increase access.

ACLP hosted a Think Tank that engaged students, academicians and internship coordinators in reflecting on and developing strategies around the pandemic’s influence on access to academic and clinical training. We also considered how changes in healthcare influence the ability of our members to continue to provide psychosocial care with emotional safety, sensitivity to inherent traumas related to health disparities and the losses related to the pandemic itself. 

As many associations have merged, increased dues/fees to offset financial loss, and seen member retention wane, ACLP has remained strong. This strength was fostered by many of our members’ accomplishments. Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, said: "There are uses to adversity, and they don't reveal themselves until tested. Whether it's serious illness, financial hardship, or the simple constraint of parents who speak limited English, difficulty can tap unexpected strengths."

We in child life didn’t just endure 2020, we became stronger. We are grateful for our members’ leadership, collaboration and agility responding to program demands and patient needs during this time of general uncertainty. You inform, inspire, and lead us on how to proceed. We look forward to continuing working collaboratively with you in 2021! 

Sincerely,


KimSignature2020


Bailey Kasten signature

Kim Stephens
Bailey Kasten


Kim Stephens, MPA, CCLS,
President, ACLP Board of Directors
bailey-kasten cropped
Bailey Kasten, CAE,
Chief Operating Officer & Interim CEO, ACLP


"There are uses to adversity, and they don't reveal themselves until tested. Whether it's serious illness, financial hardship, or the simple constraint of parents who speak limited English, difficulty can tap unexpected strengths."

- Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

This Year in Review provides highlights of 2020 that support The Four Pillars of ACLP identified in the 2019–2021 Strategic Plan and ACLP's response to three urgent issues that emerged in 2020 - the COVID-19 global pandemic, economic turmoil, and a social justice reckoning.

Pillar 1 
Membership

Build an empathetic, supportive, responsive, and equitable environment for the present and future ACLP community.

  • ACLP recognizes that it is the exceptional volunteerism of our members that makes ACLP such a dynamic and supportive organization for the child life community. ACLP acknowledged their many achievements in the Committee Spotlight.
  • The ACLP Membership Team - Barb James, Bailey Kasten, and Meagan Roloff - presented at ASAE’s Great Ideas Conference in March. They presented how ACLP has made the volunteer selection process more equitable and how the Membership Advisory Group helps ensure all membership segments are included in feedback requests. Their presentation was well-attended, and several participants were excited to implement similar structures within their own associations. 

Barb, Bailey, Meagan at ASAE Great Ideas Conference
  • Affinity Groups were created for ACLP members who are Black, Canadian, Indigenous, International Child Life Specialists, LGBTQ+, Male Child Life Specialists, Members of Color, and Military-Connected Members. Members may join groups through ACLP Connect, the new online platform where ACLP members interact.

    Members may now access ACLP Connect with an app that can be downloaded for free from the Apple App Store and Google Play.

  • More than 1,600 Certified Child Life Specialists responded to the 2020 Salary Survey, providing data that ACLP compiled to provide a snapshot of salary and FTE distribution; the prevalence of benefits such as childcare, health insurance, and retirement plans; and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    In addition, ACLP created supplemental reports for Canada and four U.S. Census divisions.

  • All ACLP members were invited to attend a Virtual Town Hall in October. Panelists included:
    Kim Stephens, MPA, CCLS, ACLP President
    Quinn Franklin, PhD, CCLS, ACLP President Elect
    Jill Koss, MS, CCLS, ACLP Past President
    Bailey Kasten, CAE, ACLP COO & Interim CEO

    The panelists presented association updates and reserved time for questions from the audience that were gathered through the session's chat. Topics included:
    > Change in leadership
    > Financial report of the organization
    > Certification
    > Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)
    > Academic Think Tank which took a deep dive into reimagining the internship application and review process
    > Research Fellows Program
    > Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on members and ACLP's response
    > ACLP Connect - the new online platform for member engagement
    > Emotional Safety initiatives launching in March
    > Importance of seeking diverse perspectives for the Board of Directors

The Town Hall was recorded and is available to all members.

  • Emotional Safety Initiative: Work began on the Emotional Safety Initiative, a PR campaign designed to inform the general public about the important work of child life specialists and encourage health care administrators to prioritize emotional safety at the same level as patient safety. The Emotional Safety Initiative includes producing the Emotional Safety Framework and an accompanying paper, which was written by Jenaya Gordon with support from the Patient Experience Committee. ACLP contracted with a PR firm to develop the branding, website, and additional emotional safety collateral. The campaign will kick off during Child Life Month 2021.
  • More than 30 child life classes received live or pre-recorded calls from ACLP staff. Students in classes and clubs had an opportunity to discuss with ACLP staff, the organization's purpose, how decisions are made, how ACLP work helps child life engage in the larger healthcare community, and the benefits of joining ACLP as a student. 
  • Members participated in 48 Meet-Ups hosted by ACLP. In addition to regularly recurring meet ups for ED, ICU, inpatient, outpatient/ambulatory, community-based, Canadian, and international child life specialists, members were able to attend quarterly meet ups for internship and practicum coordinators. The themed meet up around planning for the holidays with COVID-19 was the highest attended meet up with over 50 members on the call at the high point.

Pillar 2 
Certification

Maintain standards — by the Child Life Certification Commission (CLCC) — to help ensure the protection of the public from entering into a relationship with an unqualified individual.

  • The Value of the Certification Credential in the Provision of Child Life Services was published as an ACLP Official Documents in 2020

  • Anticipating requests for additional time to recertify, CLCC developed the NEW policy, Recertification Extension Requests for Medical or Natural Disaster Reasons which applies to the pandemic. The rationale for the new policy: Certificants must renew their certification every five years as a method to ensure they maintain the level of competence demonstrated at initial certification. In some cases, a candidate may experience a serious medical condition, injury, pandemic or a natural disaster during the five-year cycle. Any of these extenuating circumstances may warrant a request for additional time, within the five-year cycle, to fulfil the recertification requirements.

Pillar 3
Education

Provide opportunities for life‑long learning that are accessible, affordable, diverse, and high quality.

  • ACLP members celebrated the launch of The Journal of Child Life: Psychosocial Theory and Practice, a bi-annual member publication dedicated to research, when ACLP published the much-anticipated journal in March during child life month. 

    ACLP made the premiere issue of The Journal of Child Life available to the public.*

    Since the first call for papers in July 2019, The Journal of Child Life has received over 40 formal submissions and over 50 inquiries.

  • ACLP members received the research paper: The Value of Certified Child Life Specialists: Direct and Downstream Optimization of Pediatric Patient and Family Outcomes, which ACLP published in March during Child Life Month.
  • The child life community had an opportunity to attend the premiere Child Life Virtual Conference hosted by ACLP. Several recorded sessions were made available to all at no cost, including the two Keynote Sessions:
    > James Burroughs, Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota*
    > Michelle Kim (Pronouns: she/her), Co-Founder and CEO of Awaken, a leading provider of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training programs*
    >  Call to Action: Becoming an Abolitionist CCLS*
  Here's what attendees had to say:
300 x 300 2020 Conf stats 2

Source: 2020 Child Life Virtual Conference Attendee Survey

"It was all great! I thought it was very well done! To be able to participate online was amazing! I can't always take the time to make it to the conference year after year. It would be easier and more available to me to have an online option."

"Loved the content. I felt like the online content was great for advanced child life specialists. On the cutting edge of what's happening in our profession and in alignment with global issues. Wonderful and engaging presenters."

"I am a one-person program so, I enjoy the in person interaction but, the virtual participation gave me so much more flexibility with my home/work schedule."


  • ACLP members attended a record number of live webinars, including nine free pop-up webinars free for members only and three free recorded sessions from the Child Life Virtual Conference.

    Recordings of the free, pop-up webinars remain available for members:
    > Solutions for Kids in Pain: Implementing Evidence-Based Interventions to Improve Children’s Pain Management
    > COVID-19: Impacts and Perspectives
    > Tele-Child Life
    > Well Worth the Work: An In-Depth Look at the Value Proposition of Child Life Services
    > Supporting Children From Diverse Cultures
    > Pawsitive coping: Facility dogs as child life collaborators 
    > It's Not the Shark, It's the Water: The Intersection of Whiteness and Child Life*
    > Creating Contactless Legacy Items in the Age of COVID-19
    > Ask a CCLS: A webinar for students to connect and ask questions 
  • 26 members were invited to attend an Academic Think Tank to reimagine the internship application and review process. Planning began at the beginning of the year and culminated in a two-day session in July and a third session in November. Prior to the Academic Think Tank, focus groups that incorporated all stakeholders - academicians, students, internship coordinators - had several deep-dive conversations facilitated by a board member and professional facilitator Lowell Applebaum. To encourage incorporating a DEI perspective in examining the work ahead, participants were also asked to watch two ACLP webinar presentations: Call to Action: Becoming an Abolitionist CCLS* and It's Not the Shark, It's the Water: The Intersection of Whiteness and Child Life*

    * Free content, accessible to all.

Pillar 4
Partnerships & Non-Dues Revenue

Establish relationships in alignment with the mission, vision, and core values of ACLP.

 
  • ACLP’s CEO reached out to the Executive Director of the Toy Industry Foundation (TIF) to discuss potential opportunities to support ACLP members in providing resources to patients and families given the recent, more stringent restrictions on what materials and toys were allowed in patient rooms since COVID. What transpired was a remarkable connection between the foundation and the association that thus far has resulted in TIF awarding ACLP with a fifteen thousand dollar grant towards hardship fee waivers for professional members who were furloughed or became unemployed due to budget cuts from COVID prioritization. ACLP looks forward to ongoing engagement with the Toy Industry Foundation as both continue to recognize play as an essential, healing modality - especially in significantly stressful moments

  • Play was (and continues to be) the theme during the initial connections between ACLP, the Society for Pediatric Nurses, the Association for Play Therapy and the Toy Industry Foundation. The leaders of these organizations have connected periodically to discuss trends in the patient experience given the environmental, patient safety and visitor policy restrictions within healthcare. ACLP intends to continue engaging in discussions centered around which protocols, policies and restrictions will remain post-COVID and their short (and long) term impacts on healthcare consumerism, provider trust, and elevating the patient and family experience to include environmental, communication and caregiver education as essential factors in providing an emotionally-safe practice.

  • With generous grant support from Disney, ACLP laid the groupwork for the March 2021 release of the Emotional Safety Initiative, a PR campaign designed to inform the general public about the important work of child life specialists and encourage health care administrators to prioritize emotional safety at the same level as patient safety. The Emotional Safety Initiative includes producing the Emotional Safety Framework and an accompanying paper, which was written by Jenaya Gordon with support from the Patient Experience Committee. ACLP contracted with a PR firm to develop the branding, website, and additional emotional safety collateral. The campaign will kick off during Child Life Month 2021.

Response to COVID-19 

As COVID-19 impacted day to day life, ACLP was determined to provide relevant resources and support to the child life community. We launched multiple new member engagement programs.

Response to Inequities in Child Life

As the country faced a social justice reckoning, ACLP stepped up its response to inequities in the child life community.

Resources

The child life community was able to access timely COVID-19 information from various ACLP resources:
  • COVID-19 Resources web page
  • COVID-19 Updates web page
  • COVID-19 Forum on the ACLP Community
  • COVID-19 Child Life in Action videos and stories

CLIA Video - Meagan, Dottie, Kimberly
How do you care for kiddos, understanding how trauma has affected their brains, their physical bodies, their belief systems about themselves, and their behavior?

  • Members were able to connect and share information through a series of 3 Panel Discussion Webinars hosted by ACLP as COVID-19. This helped to connect the community and document how the experience was impacting child life specialists both professionally and personally - at different career stages and in different geographic areas. The webinars were, and remain, free for members only.

    > COVID-19 Impacts and Perspectives - A panel of child life professionals at various career stages discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted their work and the lessons learned that they will carry with them after the crisis has passed.

    > Program Leaders Panel: Supporting Staff through COVID-19 - C    hild life leaders discussed various ways they were supporting their staff as everyone tries to navigate the new changes and demands COVID-19 has placed on child life specialists, both professionally and personally.


    > COVID-19 Impacts and Perspectives - A panel of 6 child life professionals in a variety of roles from across the country discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted their work and lessons learned that they will carry with them after the crisis has passed. 

  • Throughout 2020, ACLP members and non-member CCLSs were invited to participate in COVID-19 Surveys that allowed ACLP to report on the impact the pandemic was having on members' professional and personal lives. Early reports focused on staffing and programming changes while the October report emphasized personal coping and the impact of children returning to school.
    > April Report
       >     April Supplemental Report – Top 5 States
    > May Report
    > June Report
    > October Report

Support

Members received both financial & emotional support from ACLP:
  • 75 Child Life Programs received check-in calls from ACLP staff. ACLP prioritized programs in states that were surging at the time. While the reported impacts of the pandemic varied greatly from program to program, there was consistent feedback that they were pleasantly surprised to hear directly from ACLP and have a human connection during that time.
  • Renewing members who were financially impacted by the pandemic were given an extended 90-day grace period.
  • Because of the economic impacts experienced by many CCLSs, CLCC waived all Reinstatement Fees for 2020. This fee is paid by those CCLSs whose certification became inactive through the non-payment of the certification maintenance fee in January 2020.
  • CLCC authorized the use of remote proctoring for the administration of the 2020 examinations as a result of the forced closure of many approved testing sites due to the pandemic restrictions. Remote proctoring allowed candidates to sit for the exam in their own home, eliminating exposure to other exam takers and proctors. In 2020, 36% of candidates opted to test using remote proctoring and 64% tested at a testing center. 
  • 7 Displaced interns received assistance in finding placements. After hearing reports of students whose internships were cut short or canceled due to the pandemic, could not return to their original internship site, and who had been unable to find alternate placement, ACLP offered up to twelve $750 credits to child life programs that took in displaced child life interns. Belinda Hammond was a tireless advocate for these students and attempted to find them placements. Thank you to all the child life programs who participated in this initiative!:
    > UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital
    > James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital
    > Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital
    > Children’s Mercy Hospital
    > Valley Children’s Hospital
    > Newton-Wellesley Hospital
    > Loma Linda Children’s Hospital

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

Members were made aware of ACLP's acknowledgment of inequities within the child life community and ACLP's increased commitment and response to diversity, equity & inclusion (DEI).

  • Diversity, Equity & InclusionDiversity, Equity & InclusionACLP Condemns Racism and Discrimination

COVID video - Megan, Rechelle, Divna
Learn about the creation of a DEI position statement for ACLP, the future state we aspire to create in the child life community through the language we use and the pathways to entry we create. 

  • The following references were added to those approved for the Child Life Professional Certification Exam, which allowed item writers to write questions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion:
    > Health Equity and Children’s Rights Council on Community Pediatrics and Committee on Native American Child Health (2010)
    > The Impact of Racism on Child and Adolescent Health Pediatrics (2019)
  • The Item (or Question) Bank for the certification exam was reviewed and updated. All gender-specific pronouns were replaced with non-binary ones in an effort to normalize their use and be more inclusive.
  • ACLP signed an agreement with Tony Hudson, President & Founder, Racially Conscious Collaboration™. For ACLP committee leaders, staff, and the Leaders of Change Cohort, this will be an opportunity to develop shared language and a common toolkit to collaborate together to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion through the collective power of ACLP’s community and through personal work, reflection, and commitment. Learn more about Tony Hudson and the Racially Conscious Collaboration™ on the ACLP DEI Timeline.
         

Financials

Message from Shawna Grissom, MS, CCLS, CEIM, Treasurer, ACLP Board of Directors
2019 Year in Review

2018 Year in Review

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