Child Life Specialist II

Kaiser Permanente; Santa Clara (CA); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaiser Permanente is seeking a Child Life Specialist to support pediatric patients and families. You will provide psychosocial care, non-pharmacological pain management, and developmentally appropriate interventions during medical procedures and hospital stays.

The role emphasizes trauma-informed care, collaborative planning with care teams, and engaging activities to promote coping, expression, and healing. Experience in pediatric health settings is preferred.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a relevant field as listed.
• Child Life Specialist Certificate required at hire.
• Master's degree preferred for advanced qualifications.

Responsibilities

• Build effective relationships and mentor team members; respond to feedback and adapt to change.
• Apply up-to-date expertise to solve problems and support projects; ensure policy adherence.
• Perform ongoing assessment of patient and family needs and adjust care plans accordingly.
• Collaborate with healthcare professionals to coordinate services and maintain records.
• Ensure treatment documentation complies with laws, regulations, and policies; maintain confidentiality.
• Deliver therapy and psychosocial support across care phases, using developmentally appropriate approaches.

Skills

Interpersonal Skills

Conflict Resolution

Trauma Informed Care

Confidentiality

Health Care Compliance

Intercultural Skills

Psychology Knowledge

Child Development

Behavioral Health Treatment

Relationship Building

Community Engagement

Creativity

Health Care Policy

Acts with Compassion

Education

Bachelor's degree in Child Life, Psychology, Human Development, Behavioral Health, Social Work, Art, Music, or Play Therapy, or a directly related field

Child Life Specialist Certificate

Master's degree (preferred) in Psychology, Human Development, Behavioral Health, Social Work, Art, Music, or Play Therapy (preferred)

Job description

Job Summary:

In addition to the responsibilities listed below, this individual contributor role is also responsible for normalizing the environment; preparing children psychologically for tests, surgeries, and other medical procedures; providing support for grief and bereavement, including legacy building and memory making; supporting children and families during medical procedures and identified stress points; fostering sibling understanding, coping, and support; and developing care plans based on assessment of the childs development, temperament, coping style, culture, potential stressors, family strengths, needs, and social supports.

This includes proactively engaging children in therapeutic medical play and recreational play that promote self-healing, self-expression, understanding, and mastery; leading patient- and family-centered care practice; delivering and promoting non-pharmacological pain management; ensuring and coordinating trauma support and education; and leading and/or implementing process or performance improvement efforts

Essential Responsibilities:

• Pursues effective relationships with others by proactively providing resources, information, advice, and expertise with coworkers and members. Listens to, seeks, and addresses performance feedback; provides mentoring to team members. Pursues self-development; creates plans and takes action to capitalize on strengths and develop weaknesses; influences others through technical explanations and examples. Adapts to and learns from change, challenges, and feedback; demonstrates flexibility in approaches to work; helps others adapt to new tasks and processes. Supports and responds to the needs of others to support a business outcome.
• Completes work assignments autonomously by applying up-to-date expertise in subject area to generate creative solutions; ensures all procedures and policies are followed; leverages an understanding of data and resources to support projects or initiatives. Collaborates cross-functionally to solve business problems; escalates issues or risks as appropriate; communicates progress and information. Supports, identifies, and monitors priorities, deadlines, and expectations. Identifies, speaks up, and implements ways to address improvement opportunities for team.
• Provides ongoing assessment by: using comprehensive knowledge to provide ongoing periodic assessment of the patient and their familys needs and progress; and adjusting treatment and/or care plans as needed based on ongoing assessment, with minimal oversight.
• Ensures stakeholder alignment by: collaborating with healthcare professionals that are primarily within the organization to provide services to patients and their families; notifying the patients Interdisciplinary Group (IDG) of significant changes in the patients condition according to agency policy; and record keeping for donations or services donated.
• Contributes to policy compliance by: maintaining patient records and documentation of all care, interventions and care coordination per law, regulation, and agency policy, with limited supervision; and adhering to departmental and organizational policies as well as maintaining patient confidentiality by following related laws and regulations (e.g., Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).
• Administers treatment and/or care by: using comprehensive knowledge of therapeutic techniques to provide therapy services and/or psycho-social support through all phases of care, taking into consideration age and developmental needs; uses moderately complex strategies to educate and instruct the patient, patients family, and/or staff on services, as required; and observing and identifying changes in patients behavior or condition to adapt treatment or care, with limited supervision.
• Contributes to treatment and/or care delivery development by: conducting moderately complex assessments of patients well-being to determine the most appropriate treatment or care plan; and establishing goals and objectives for patients and making necessary revisions per agency policy, with minimal guidance.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Minimum three (3) years of experience in a CLS I or equivalent role.
• Bachelors degree in Child Life, Psychology, Human Development, Behavioral Health, Social Work, Art, Music, or Play Therapy, or a directly related field.

• Child Life Specialist Certificate required at hire

Additional Requirements:

• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs): Issues and Crisis Management; Confidentiality; Health Care Compliance; Health Care Policy; Creativity; Acts with Compassion; Conflict Resolution; Intercultural Skills; Interpersonal Skills; Managing Diverse Relationships; Relationship Building; Community Engagement; Psychology Knowledge; Behavioral Health Practice Protocols and Guidelines; Child and Adolescent Mental Health Treatment; Behavioral Health Treatment; Specialized and Informed Psychological Care; Child Development; Trauma Informed Care

Preferred Qualifications:

• Member of the national ACLP organization.
• Master's degree in Psychology, Human Development, Behavioral Health, Social Work, Art, Music, or Play Therapy, or a directly related field.