Volunteer with your local child life program

Child life programs rely heavily on volunteers to transform the hospital from a stressful place into an emotionally safe and child-friendly environment. Depending on the hospital, volunteers with the child life program could do everything from supervise playrooms to bedside visits to any number of administrative tasks that support child life specialists.

Before the pandemic, many child life volunteers engaged directly with children and families in playrooms or at the bedside. Engaging children in play helps make the hospital less stressful and provides moments of normalcy in an otherwise scary environment. Volunteers also helped ensure a clean and safe setting by disinfecting toys, play spaces, and ensuring available play items are safe for use (charged batteries, no broken pieces, etc.). While this type of in-person volunteering is not widely available right now due to COVID-19 restrictions, there may be other ways to have an impact on children and families. Some hospitals and non-profit organizations have found ways to virtually connect volunteers with pediatric patients and families to provide play opportunities.

There may also be administrative and program support volunteer opportunities available with child life specialists. Volunteers might help organize donated items, create bagged activity kits, or laminate paper board game pieces. When volunteers help with these important administrative tasks, child life specialists are able focus more of their time on using their specialized skills and training to support children and families through the challenges of hospitalization. Some of these administrative volunteer opportunities may still be available despite the pandemic since they do not involve direct interaction with patients. Check with your local child life program to see if there are ways to help during this time.

Each hospital and child life program will have unique needs. The best way to learn about the specific opportunities is to contact your local child life program or volunteer services directly. However you decide to give your time, volunteering with a child life program makes an important difference in the lives of children and families.

You can find your local child life program here.