Child Life Internship and A Full-Time Job
Too many of my posts here begin the same way: apologizing for how long I have gone since last posting. But, I think that apology is definitely warranted in this moment, because it has been about 6 months since I last offered an update here. I hope to keep posting blogs, but as to the frequency of my communications, only time will tell.
But, since I last left you all, I was headed to New Haven, CT to complete my child life internship at Yale New Haven Children's Hospital. It was a 16-week experience that served to reground me in the US healthcare system and ways that I can offer support to children and families navigating it. I am beyond grateful to the entire child life team at Yale, and my co-intern, for supporting and encouraging me during my time spent with them.
For those who aren't well-versed on the ins and outs of child life, let me provide a bit of clarity on this experience. Every semester, hundreds of hopeful child life students apply and interview for a handful of internship positions across the country, which force almost all applicants to pack and move to a new state or city for those 16 weeks. Internship is a crash-course clinical training that combines assignments, readings, and lectures, with four months of 40-hour work weeks of hands-on observation, practice, and eventually, independent work. By the end of this experience, interns are to be fully prepared to enter the work force as a Child Life Specialist and pass an exam to become certified. My internship was split into two different rotations so that I could gain experience with different units, paces, patient populations, etc. I spent the first half of my time providing preparation and support to children and families in the surgery center. The second half of my time was spent doing play, diagnosis teaching, and relationship building on the inpatient hematology/oncology unit.
Heading into this opportunity, I expected the months to fly by and it all to be a breeze. I anticipated learning and growth, but I was not prepared for how much I would learn and grow and how quickly. Nor was I prepared for some of the challenges I faced during my time in Connecticut. Naively I assumed that since I was once again in the US and coming into this challenge hot off the back of the year I had as a Watson Fellow that any bump in the road would not faze me. I will acknowledge that moments of stress and uncertainty did not jostle me as much as they once would have, but I did lose my balance here and there. I started my internship less than a month after returning from abroad and I severely underestimated how tired I still was. It feels embarrassing to admit, but I did fall asleep at 7pm more than once after getting home from a full day at the hospital. (To be fair I was often up around 4:45 to get ready for work and be there in time to help prep the first surgery of the day.) Plus mostly having cold water showers and dealing with a pantry moth infestation where I was living did not aid in my nightly rejuvenation after work.
The occasional exhaustion did not stop me though. Most days, I went from work at the hospital to babysitting some kids in the neighborhood in the evening for several hours. One of the families even requested that I speak to their child exclusively in French. I was also sure to follow through on promises that I made to myself leaving my Watson year and signed up for art classes (floor loom weaving and screen printing) that spanned the duration of my time in New Haven and I brought my film camera from Belgium with me on every outing.
All in all, I left my internship confident and proud of myself. I put these sentiments into the job applications I sent out during my final weeks in Connecticut and was happy to receive several interview offers. In the end, I accepted a full-time child life float position at the Cleveland Clinic Children's main campus. It feels serendipitous to be able to enter my first job as a Child Life Specialist at the hospital that put me on the career path in the first place.
That brings me to now. I start my job this upcoming Monday and I am slated to take my certification exam later in the month. I have used the past months to ground myself and prepare to do what I love and am passionate about every day at work. I am eager to get started and watch my life continue to grow and evolve, furthering my learning and revelations from my time abroad now that I am back home in Cleveland.
With that said, if any of you are in Cleveland and want to get together, please reach out! I am reconnecting with my network of friends in the area, finding new favorite spots, and engaging with all that this amazing community has to offer.
It is good to be home!
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