Child Life Wild Life

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, sits down with friend, Jessica Wadium, CCLS, about her experience advocating for herself and the profession in the midst of pushback.  Experiencing pushback against providing child life services can be a very difficult experience for any professional. Overcoming pushback is usually discussed with the focus on having a "happy ending" - the n...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with husband, Sam Lewin, MA, LLPC, about his experience working as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor. Sam works with children, adolescents, families, couples, and groups regarding their depression, addictions, anxieties, relationships, and more. His main therapeutic modalities include psychodynamic therapy, solution-focused therapy, existentia...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend and past mentee, Rylee Martin, about what it was like navigating the internship process with a cohort behind her for support. Rylee was one of Jessica's students at the 2020 Coffee and Confidence Student Retreat in Indianapolis. By the end of the retreat, Jessica felt so strongly that Rylee knew her stuff - developmental theory...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, sits down with friend, Morgan Merritt, CCLS, about what her experience has been like in long-term care. Morgan is passionate about medically fragile children and is an advocate for accessibility in the disabled community. She is so creative in the interventions she chooses with her patients and through all the revamps she has done for the program.  M...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, sits down with friend, Meaghan Myrick (now CCLS), about being a mom and a student while trying to become certified. While everyone experiences different challenges in their pursuit of child life, parents pursuing child life experience some very unique challenges along the way. There were times throughout Meaghan's journey where she found herself...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Sarah Buckland, CCLS, about her experience working in an Advocacy Center as a child life specialist. After hearing about advocacy centers during a course in college, though only just a glimpse of all she does now, Sarah was immediately drawn to work with this population of children.  As child life specialists, we are so aware of tr...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Courtney Rosborough, CCLS, about her experience working in a school setting as an Emotional Behavioral Specialist (EBS). Courtney is passionate about using her child life lens in a school setting, where her main focus is supporting the social and emotional well-being of her students. Throughout this conversation, Jessica and Courtn...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend and past mentee, Kaitlyn Baron, CCLS about the importance of finding yourself a mentor. Having someone in your corner that you can rely on and who is your own personal cheerleader and sounding board is invaluable.  When Jessica met Kaitlyn, Jessica was immediately drawn to Kaitlyn's experiences as a student/professional. Kaitly...

Welcome back to The Child Life Wild Life Podcast with your host, Jessica Lewin, CCLS, The Child Life Mentor. Season 2 will officially drop Monday, January 24, 2022 - where there will be four new episodes for you to listen to immediately.  After launch day, every new podcast episode will be released once per week on Mondays to get you started for the week!  To be the first to know when an episode i...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Stefani Williams, CCLS, about creating, coordinating, and rockin' a facility dog program at her women's and children's hospital. Stefani began this journey just 2 years into being a Certified Child Life Specialist and was given her canine friend, Asteroid, to assist her with providing psychosocial care to children an...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Tessa Whitten, CCLS, about her experience working on the Hematology/Oncology Unit for the last three years. Tessa is a woman of faith and is the definition of "joy".  Tessa talks about meeting the complex needs of such a high acuity population and how she holds space for patients and families to process feelings. She also...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Jess Minnick, CCLS, about bouncing back after a COVID-related job loss. Jess has unique experience working in an outpatient ENT clinic where she worked side by side with a pediatric otolaryngologist ( say that three times fast ).  At the ENT clinic, she supported children and families during visits, office imaging and testing, and...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Sarah Somers, CCLS, about balancing motherhood in the field of child life. Sarah works in a children's hospital within an adult hospital and sees patients in multiple areas of the hospital daily. She works 40+ hours a week and has a passion for helping students succeed through their hospital's internship program.   Sarah...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend and past practicum student, Lindsey Thompson about what it's been like for her as a student to balance her faith and passion for child life.  Lindsey is currently a student at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing her Master of Science degree in Applied Developmental Psychology with a concentration in Children with Special Heal...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Kelly Wagner, CCLS, about what it's like to be a supervisor/coordinator to child life interns. Kelly has been a child life specialist for 11 years working primarily with hematology/oncology populations. A lover of knowledge and willing to try new things, she has held a number of roles from one-person program to student program...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Jess Cheung, CCLS, about burnout. Jess shares her authentic journey through child life as not all sparkly and beautiful, but as one of self-discovery and triumph as she navigated burnout as both a student and now as a professional.  Jess talks openly about her experience setting boundaries in order to protect her mental health and...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Laura Sufka, CCLS, about forming and creating her child life private practice from the ground up. While Laura is still in the "infancy" stage of creating her private practice (she started 4 months ago), she still has a lot of wisdom to share such as what things to consider prior to starting, how long it took for her to co...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Kizzy Marco, CCLS, about creating, managing, and rockin' a facility dog program. Kizzy has nearly a decade of experience in the field and has worked with her 9-year-old partner, a Golden Retriever named Ralph Lauren, for almost eight years.  Ralph is a celebrity at his hospital which puts a spotlight on the child life program...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Becca Miedema, CCLS, about their shared faith of Christianity and how that looks in the field of child life. Faith is not often something discussed in a professional setting, however, for both Jessica and Becca, their faith is something that they feel is a huge part of who they are and what they bring into each patient and family i...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Jess Foster, CCLS, about transitioning into the community as a Victim Services Coordinator for her local sheriff's department. Being the sister and wife of police officers, the role has allowed Jess to blend her knowledge as a civilian, law enforcement spouse and a Certified Child Life Specialist to advocate for positive growt...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Kirsten Black, CCLS, about boundaries in the child life profession. Kirsten entered the child life field as a second career, already having experience working alongside children and families in other capacities.  Having worked in a Cystic Fibrosis clinic, hospice, palliative care, and now a pediatric emergency department has provid...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Meredith Norton, CCLS, about their experience as child life practicum student coordinators/supervisors. Meredith and Jessica have both been child life specialists for going on 6 years and both have a passion for helping students succeed. Meredith portrays herself as an active learner, humble, human and constantly self-assessing how...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with Katie Altieri, CCLS, about fellowships as Katie has recently completed her first year of professional experience as a child life fellow in a children's hospital setting. She talks about the additional mentorship provided in this unique entry-level opportunity. Katie is passionate about helping other students who are pursuing the field...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with Canadian friend, Alexx Friesen, CCLS, about bereavements and end-of-life support within the child life profession. Alexx provides tangible examples of what end-of-life support has looked like at her one-person program and how she's continuing to learn how to utilize self-care during these traumatic experiences. Alexx is passionate and...

Certified Child Life Specialist, Jessica Lewin, talks with friend, Elizabeth Fox, CCLS, about burnout in the field of child life. Elizabeth provides tangible examples of what some of the warning signs were for her, how she got out of burnout, and how she's continuing to practice self-care and boundaries.  Elizabeth is passionate about mental health and respecting healthy boundaries. She is co...