Conference Agenda

7:30– 8:15 a.m. REGISTRATION AND CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

8:20 – 8:30 a.m. WELCOME

8:30 – 10:00 a.m. KEYNOTE PDU 1.5

Book Talk: The Role of Child Life Specialists in Community Settings 

(All Levels) Domain: Intervention, Professional Responsibility

Genevieve Lowry MS. Ed, CEIM, CCLS / Bank Street College, Faculty Instructor

Linsey Murphy Ph.D., CCLS /Assistant Professor Missouri State University

• Participants will learn about our journey from idea to publishing the book The Role of Child Life Specialists in Community Settings. We will share our insights and offer opportunities to discuss the potential impact of the text on academic healthcare and community settings.

10:10 – 11:40 p.m. PLENARY  PDU 1.5

Trauma-Grief Informed Services in the Community: Working with Children and Families Who Experience Fatal Family Violence  

(Advanced) Domain: Professional Responsibility 

Colleen Cherry, MA, CCLS / Play Well Child Life Services   

Linda Garcia, MA, CCLS / Adjunct Professor at Azusa Pacific University

Sonia Martinez, BA, CCLS / Children’s Hospital Los Angeles 

Charity Vasquez, Ph.D., CCLS / Director for Master and in Child Life Program, APU

• Many surviving children and family members are overlooked for grief interventions due to a lack of identifying referrals or court orders for grief counseling. These surviving children and families are at risk for negative short and long-term outcomes due to the trauma, fear, instability, interrupted attachment relationships, grief, and subsequent emotions that arise after witnessing and/or otherwise being impacted by family violence. This presentation will highlight the call for action and bring awareness to those CCLS interested in providing this service. 

11:50 – 12:50 p.m. SESSION I  PDU 1.0

1. The Role of Child Life with Adult Populations     

(Intermediate) Domain: Assessment, Intervention  

Kathryn Hamelin, LMFT, RPT-S, CCLS / UC San Diego

Heath Victoria Heredia, MS, CCLS, CGSS / UC San Diego Health

• The presentation will cover how to take the practice of Child Life from the care of pediatric and young adult patients, into caring for hospitalized adult patients with a variety of needs and challenges, utilizing standard child life assessment and interventions, and remaining within the Child Life scope of practice. The presentation will demonstrate the evolution of Child Life services within the adult population in UC San Diego Health by sharing compiled data, case examples of successful past adult patients, and identifying specific rule out criteria and interventions.

2. Navigating CL Services in Pediatric Mental Health 

(Entry) Domain: Intervention 

Janessa Ahrens, BS, CCLS, Facility Dog Handler / CHOC-Children’s Health of Orange County

Amber Ghanadian, MS, CCLS / CHOC-Children’s Health of Orange County 

• These presenters, who work in a children’s hospital inpatient mental health unit, will provide an in-depth look on how to support pediatric patients with mental health concerns. Attendees will understand the effects of ACEs and how to incorporate trauma-informed care. Attendees will be equipped to work with mental health patients and gain strategies to implement positive coping skills and therapeutic activities. Attendees will recognize the benefits of incorporating animal-assisted interventions into mental health child life practices.

1:00 -1:45 p.m.  LUNCH

1:55 – 2:55 p.m. SESSION II PDU 1.0

1. Supporting Children with Autism in the Hospital Setting   

(Entry) Domain: Intervention   

DeJuanet Sanford, MS, CCLS / BMT Unit at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

• Although there is a rising statistic of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), medical professionals lack knowledge regarding the diagnosis and the need to support them and their families in the hospital. Without proper training, many members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team are unprepared and unaware of how they can modify practices to improve patients with ASD quality of care. This presentation examines the need and benefits of adaptive care plans for patients with ASD, and the inclusion of child life services regarding training and collaboration with hospital staff to educate on the needs of patients with ASD.   

2. The Impact of CL Video Preparation on Preoperative Anxiety and Post- Hospitalization 

(Intermediate) Domain: Professional Responsibility, Intervention   

Natalie Chicas, MA, CCLS / Shriners Children’s Southern California

Hannah Knott, MS, CCLS, CTRP / Assistant Professor Azusa Pacific University

• This session will showcase our child life research study, a double-blind, pretest-posttest randomized control trial exploring the impact of a video modeling preparation technique on preoperative anxiety, postoperative behavior changes, and parent anxiety. Sixty children were randomly allocated to either the control (child life services, no video) group or the experimental (child life services plus video) group. The results have implications for how to approach the preoperative preparation of school-aged children.

3. Healthy Communication and Navigating Difficult Conversations with the Interdisciplinary Team 

(Intermediate) Domain: Professional Responsibility    

Lisa Cies, MA, CCLS / Chase Child Life Program at UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica

•   While Child Life Specialists are uniquely trained to communicate with children in the medical setting, we do not receive training on how to have healthy, effective communication with our interdisciplinary team members. This presentation will discuss the team dynamics that impact our communication, teach us to reflect on our communication style and how our colleagues’ actions affect us, and offer strategies to communicate more authentically, clearly, and assertively with others. 

3:00– 4:30 p.m. SESSION III PDH/CEU 1.5

1. Utilizing Interprofessional Education to Promote and Enhance Multidisciplinary Collaboration       

(All Levels) Domain: Professional Responsibility

Carissa Howard, MS CCLS / Assistant Professor Azusa Pacific University

• This workshop will discuss interprofessional education and collaboration and how it can be  utilized in various settings to promote partnership and collaboration between various disciplines within both the hospital and educational setting. Participants will leave this session equipped to put on their own event!  

2. Child Life: Serving Grieving Children in the Community  

(Advanced) Domain: Assessment, Intervention  

Colleen Cherry, MSCL, CCLS, CT GCCA-C / Play Well Child Life Services

• Providing Child Life services in the community requires a varied approach from Child Life care in a hospital. This presentation highlights a community Child Life palliative, hospice and bereavement program including variables of environmental, familial and longevity. This presentation will also review several business points necessary for a sustainable practice.

Professional Development Units

A PDU is a unit of measure for tracking professional development credits and are used towards recertification for the Child Life Specialist (CCLS) credential. Certificates of attendance will be provided for both in-person and virtual attendees with the completion of program evaluation. 

Please save your conference program and Certificate as proof of your attendance. 

*All PDUs must be recorded in increments of at least 30 minutes or .5 PDU.