Child Life Specialist - Dental and Inpatient (ON, Toronto)

Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital; Toronto; On-site; CAD 50,000 - 70,000; Part time

Job summary

Join a leading pediatric rehabilitation hospital as a Certified Child Life Specialist. This role focuses on providing psychosocial care to children and families, enhancing their experiences during medical procedures. The position requires a strong educational background in psychology or child studies, with certification as a Child Life Specialist. You will work closely with interdisciplinary teams to promote positive outcomes for children with disabilities and behavioral challenges, ensuring their emotional and developmental needs are met.

Benefits

Competitive compensation and benefits

Ongoing learning and professional growth

Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years working with children and families, including 1 year as a clinical Child Life Specialist.

Responsibilities

• Provides therapeutic play to reduce stress and promote development.
• Prepares clients for procedures using visual schedules and social stories.
• Coordinates Child Life Services resources and operations.

Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Multilingual Skills

Education

Undergraduate degree in psychology

Master’s degree or Child Life graduate diploma

Job description

Join us in building a world of possibility! Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital is Canada’s largest pediatric rehabilitation hospital, and a top 40 Canadian research hospital. Serving over 9,000 families annually in both inpatient and outpatient programs and services, Holland Bloorview is renowned for its expertise in partnering with clients and families to provide exceptional care and is the only organization to ever achieve 100 per cent in three successive quality surveys by Accreditation Canada.

Holland Bloorview’s vision is to support the most meaningful and healthy futures for all children, youth and families. We are an academic hospital, fully affiliated with the University of Toronto. All clinical staff are expected to contribute to the academic agenda through supervising students, teaching, academic service, scholarship, and research.

Holland Bloorview has won numerous awards including Greater Toronto's Top Employers, Canada's Top Employers for Young People, and Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures. We offer an inspiring, inclusive, innovative, and collaborative work environment with competitive compensation and benefit packages and programs that support ongoing learning and professional growth.

Position Summary:

The Certified Child Life Specialist is responsible for the development, coordination, and implementation of Child Life Services aimed at providing psychosocial care to children and families. These services promote coping and positive adjustment to illness and hospitalization through expressive mediums. The role also involves increasing awareness of developmental and psychosocial needs among staff, students, volunteers, and community professionals.

This specialist will be an integral part of our pediatric dental team, focusing on children with disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, and behavioral challenges, aiming to reduce anxiety, improve cooperation, and foster positive dental experiences through developmentally appropriate preparation and support strategies.

This is a temporary part-time (0.9 FTE) contract position for 12 months, with potential renewal.

Key Responsibilities:

Direct Care

• Provides therapeutic play to reduce stress, promote development, and foster independence, self-esteem, and mastery, within a client and family-centered, goal-directed, evidence-based framework.
• Supports and respects client/family decision-making, promoting overall well-being.
• Prepares clients for procedures using visual schedules, social stories, and desensitization techniques.
• Helps clients cope with procedures through medical play, demonstrations, and expressive mediums.
• Offers emotional support during stress, clarifies information, and provides post-procedure follow-up.
• Supports families emotionally and educates them on developmental and psychosocial needs.
• Assesses psychosocial behavior and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to develop individualized intervention plans.
• Documents assessments and interactions in health records, and communicates with families and community agencies for continuity of care.

Non-Direct Care

• Coordinates Child Life Services resources and operations.
• Maintains workload and statistical records.
• Contributes to development and evaluation of service goals, safety standards, and practices.
• Provides supervision and training for interns and students, and educational sessions for staff and community.
• Participates in research, quality improvement, and maintains communication with professional advisors.

Qualifications:

Education

• Undergraduate degree in psychology, child studies, or health-related field required.
• Master’s degree or Child Life graduate diploma preferred.

Certification/Licenses

• Child Life Specialist Professional Certification (C.C.L.S.) required.
• Membership in Child Life Council preferred.

Experience

• Minimum 2 years working with children and families, including 1 year as a clinical Child Life Specialist in healthcare.
• Experience with children with disabilities, fluency in English, multilingual skills are assets.
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to develop trust and positive relationships with children and families.