Child Life Specialist Almost Home Kids

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 46,000 - 76,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading children's hospital in Chicago seeks a Child Life Specialist to provide emotional support and developmentally appropriate activities for children facing healthcare challenges. The role involves collaboration with healthcare teams and requires a Bachelor's degree in Child Development. Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits offered.

Benefits

Medical, dental and vision insurance

Paid Time Off (PTO)

403(b) with a 5% employer match

Tuition assistance

Employee Assistance Program

Qualifications

• Minimum of 1 year of experience in child life setting or equivalent position.
• Requires current certification in the field of Child Life.

Responsibilities

• Documents child life services in a thorough and timely manner.
• Provides developmentally appropriate play and emotional support.
• Communicates with healthcare team to provide optimal care.

Skills

Communication

Teamwork

Proactivity

Creativity

Spanish

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Child Development

Master's Degree (Preferred)

Job description

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago provides superior pediatric care in a setting that offers the latest benefits and innovations in medical technology, research and family-friendly design. As the largest pediatric provider in the region with a 140-year legacy of excellence, kids and their families are at the center of all we do. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is ranked in all 10 specialties by the U.S. News & World Report.

Day Evening (United States of America)

Location

Almost Home Kids - Chicago

Job Description

General Summary:

Promotes effective coping through play, preparation, education, and self-expression activities. Provides emotional support for families and encourage optimum development of children facing a broad range of challenging experiences, particularly those related to healthcare and hospitalization. Provides information, support and guidance to parents, siblings, and other family members. Develops, provides, and documents these child life services.

Essential Job Functions:

Delivery of Clinical Service:

• Documents in a thorough and timely manner in accordance with professional standards.

• The Child Life Specialist (CLS) is responsible for providing a program of developmentally appropriate play and activity, preparation and emotional support designed to help children’s and their families cope with the stress of an illness or disability, prolonged healthcare stay, ongoing treatments and procedures or psychosocial challenges.

• Provides developmentally appropriate play and activities to support normal growth and development.

• Designs and implements individual interventions and activities based on an assessment of a child’s development, coping style, diagnosis and psychosocial supports.

• Uses play and developmentally appropriate language and teaching tools to ensure adequate understanding of medical care and experiences.

• Understands coping styles, child/family learning styles and needs based on developmental level, emotional state, cultural and religious practices.

• Identifies basic principles of family-centered care and demonstrates the application of these in the child’s activity plan.

• Provides a program of psychosocial care for children and families designed to reduce stress, increase adaptive coping by offering opportunities to play and learn and interact with others in an emotionally and physically safe environment.

• Uses evidence-based practice to direct clinical choices.

• Recognizes that response to the customer and the changing environment may involve going beyond the confines of the traditional job description.

Team Membership:

• Communicates with members of the health care team, through formal and informal means of transmitting information, in order to provide optimal care of patients and families. Communicates through both conveying and responding to pertinent information.

• Advocates for and addresses the psychosocial/spiritual/developmental/cultural needs of the child and family throughout the continuum of care.

• Participates in the team's group problem solving and program planning.

• Handles difficult situations pro-actively and collaboratively at the point of service.

• Develops new programs or projects to meet the needs of service area.

• Actively participates in department or hospital committees.

Professional, Skills and Identity:

• Establishes annual goals and effectively works to meet these goals.

• Assumes responsibility for professional development through participation in seminars, course work, and/or hospital educational programs.

• Develops and implements plan for necessary professional credentials, and maintenance of such credentials.

Other Duties and Responsibilities:

• Administrative and project management duties, as assigned.

• Maintains appropriate records and statistics.

• Orders and maintains equipment, materials, and supplies for service and program needs.

• Performs job functions adhering to service principles with customer service focus of innovation, service excellence and teamwork to provide the highest quality care and service to our patients, families, co-workers and others

• Represents Lurie Children’s, Family Services, and Child Life in community-based activities such as donor events when needed.

• Performs job functions adhering to service principles with customer service focus of innovation, service excellence and teamwork to provide the highest quality care and service to our patients, families, co-workers and others.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Requires current certification in the field of Child Life. (please attach to profile)

• Requires knowledge of child and adolescent development normally acquired through the completion of a baccalaureate degree in child development, child and family development or related field of study. Master’s preferred.

• Minimum of 1 year of experience in child life setting or equivalent position.

• Ability to think pro-actively, act creatively and take initiative appropriately.

• Ability to communicate effectively, work as a member of a team and adapt to the changing health care environment essential.

• Spanish language abilities strongly preferred.

Education

Bachelor's Degree (Required)

Pay Range

$46,280.00-$75,670.40 Salary

At Lurie Children’s, we are committed to competitive and fair compensation aligned with market rates and internal equity, reflecting individual contributions, experience, and expertise. The pay range for this job indicates minimum and maximum targets for the position. Ranges are regularly reviewed to stay aligned with market conditions.In addition to base salary, Lurie Children’s offer a comprehensive rewards package that may include differentials for some hourly employees, leadership incentivesfor select roles, health and retirement benefits, and wellbeing programs. For more details on other compensation, consult your recruiter or click the following link to learn more about our benefits.

Benefit Statement

For full time and part time employees who work 20 or more hours per week we offer a generous benefits package that includes:

Medical, dental and vision insurance

Employer paid group term life and disability

Employer contribution toward Health Savings Account

Flexible Spending Accounts

Paid Time Off (PTO), Paid Holidays and Paid Parental Leave

403(b) with a 5% employer match

Various voluntary benefits:

• Supplemental Life, AD&D and Disability

• Critical Illness, Accident and Hospital Indemnity coverage

• Tuition assistance

• Student loan servicing and support

• Adoption benefits

• Backup Childcare and Eldercare

• Employee Assistance Program, and other specialized behavioral health services and resources for employees and family members

• Discount on services at Lurie Children’s facilities

• Discount purchasing program

There’s a Place for You with Us

At Lurie Children’s we embrace and celebrate diversity and equity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, skills, and viewpoints — recognizing that diverse identities strengthen our workplace and the care we can provide to the Chicago community and beyond. We treat everyone fairly, appreciate differences, and make meaningful connections that foster belonging and allyship. This is a place where you can be your best, so we can give our best to the patients and families who trust us with their care.

Lurie Children’s and its affiliatesare equal employment opportunity employers. We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, protected veteran status, order of protection status, protected genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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