ACLP celebrates individuals aspiring to enter the child life profession. We recognize the importance of respecting and supporting learners throughout their child life journey. This month, we honor child life students and acknowledge the rewarding yet challenging path of entering this field. Below are resources to aid students and their mentors along the way.
Child Life Student Giveaway!
ACLP is giving away TWO bundles of school supplies, an ACLP sling bag, and merch to child life students who enter on Instagram! Over a $100 value, these items will set you up for a successful semester and add some fun to your supply box.
Participants must follow our Instagram page (@assocchildlife), like our post, and comment why they want to be a CCLS. An additional entry can be gained by sharing the post to your story and tagging us. Only 2 entries per account. Entry opens August 5 and closed August 9 at 11:59 PM EST.
Discount on Student Membership: August 1 to September 15
Take advantage of this limited-time offer and save on your ACLP Student Membership this back-to-school season. Enjoy $15 off your ACLP student membership fee using code SCHOOL2425. Sale ends 9/15 and applies to new memberships, renewals, and reinstatements. Learn more on our membership page.
Free Resources for Students
- Becoming Certified: ACLP's online guide to pursuing child life certification can help you determine next steps in your child life journey and answer common questions about being an aspiring professional.
- Child Life Professional Certification Candidate Manual: Created by the certifying body, this manual has everything you need to know about pursuing certification and includes the necessary documents and tasks all in one place.
- Ask a CCLS: A webinar for students to connect and ask questions: Academic and clinical experts answer pre-identified questions to help prospective child life specialists hear more about the process of becoming a CCLS.
- ACLP Pre-Internship Modules: The free Pre-Internship Learning Modules can be used by Pre-Internship learners as well as supervisors in healthcare and alternative settings. These modules support learners who are interested in child life and must complete a pre-internship experience as part of their academic requirements OR wish to connect experiential opportunities to ACLP’s pre-internship knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs).
Resources for Supporting Learners
Webinars and Courses:
- Child Life Clinical Intern Supervisor Course: Whether you are preparing to supervise your first intern, or you have been supervising for years, building and advancing your supervision skill set is an imperative part of your professional journey. This course is composed of a mixture of live and asynchronous modules over 6 weeks. The next cohort begins September 19, 2024. Worth 7.5 PDUs, Professional Responsibility
- You Don’t Have to Be Perfect to Be Good: Assessing and Addressing Perfectionism and Impostorism in the Child Life Field: The field of child life is highly competitive and demands a range of adaptable skills to support diverse clients. In this article, the authors will present research highlighting the prevalence of perfectionism and impostorism among child life students and specialists, and how these factors can impact clinical training, professional practice, and personal well-being. Recorded webinar worth 1.5 PDUs, Professional Responsibility
- No one had to lose for you to win: Psychological Safety for the Child Life Student: The support that students gain as they enter the field of child life is wide and quite variable. This webinar will explore the topic of how this impacts the scope of psychological safety through the breakdown of the safety core components, survey response and literature support. Live webinar on 10/17/23 at 1 PM EST worth 1 PDU, Ethics
- Do the Right Thing: Teaching Ethics in the Academic and Clinical Setting: In this presentation, an academic instructor and a clinical student coordinator discuss how to implement approaches to cultivating healthcare ethics in students, colleagues, and oneself. Recorded webinar worth 1 PDU, Ethics
- Connecting Clinical and Academic Worlds: Cultivating Future Child Life Specialists: Certified Child Life Specialists are preparing for the certification eligibility transitions that lie ahead. This session is designed to offer knowledge, guidance, and connections to prepare for such transitions. Recorded Conference presentation worth 1 PDU
- Cultivating the Supervisor Identity: Connecting a Developmental Approach with Child Life Students: This presentation explores the use of a developmental theory approach to guide child life specialists in developing their supervisor identity and provide purposeful and productive supervision to child life students. Recorded webinar worth 1.5 PDUs
Bulletin & Journal Articles