Aemish Fatima - Pakistan

Greetings, I am Aemish Fatima, a 24-year-old from Pakistan. Holding a Master's degree in Psychology and having completed a year of Clinical Psychology training. I currently serve as a Child Life Counselor and Pediatric-Onco Psychologist at the Psychosocial Department of Indus Hospital and Health Network. Over the past year, my passion for working with children has flourished, and I feel honored to contribute to alleviating the challenges faced by pediatric patients and their families during such critical times. I have been assisting pediatric oncology patients and their families, both in inpatient and outpatient settings, with an aim to minimize the negative impacts of hospitalization and healthcare encounters by providing comprehensive information about their diagnosis, offering procedural support, and promoting coping strategies. My interventions include therapeutic medical play, distractive techniques and art therapy to facilitate coping, alleviate stress, and normalize the hospital experience. I firmly believe that adopting a holistic approach is paramount in providing effective care, where addressing psychological well-being is as crucial as managing physical symptoms. The realm of Child Life Services empowers professionals like myself to offer comprehensive support. My aim is to further enrich my expertise in this field, and participating in this year's conference promises to significantly enhance my practice. 

Ifeoluwa Adeoti - Nigeria

My name is Ifeoluwa Adeoti. I am a medical doctor from Nigeria. I completed my medical education at Donetsk National Medical University, Ukraine, and earned a Master's in Paediatrics and Child Health from the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, London. Currently, I work at Children Specialist Hospital in Ilorin, Nigeria.

My first exposure to play in hospitals was at the LEGO Idea Conference 2019 on Playful Parenting. All healthcare professionals at the conference had a discussion session titled: 'What the Doctors Ordered,' during which we discussed the impact of play for children in the hospital and how little time we allocate for it.

Subsequently, as a student at UCL, I was a play volunteer at the Student Union club: UCL Student Hospital Fun Team. In this role, I visited Whittington Hospital with other volunteers to bring play therapy and entertainment to the children in the pediatric wards.

I am the founder of Dote on Children Health Foundation (DCHF), an NGO where we focus on medical and play outreaches to children. We have visited close to a hundred orphanages across Nigeria.

At DCHF, I am currently coordinating the DCHF Hospital Play Project, which aims to make hospital stays more pleasant for children and their caregivers, helping children cope and providing a sense of normalcy even during illness. In this project, we are working to promote a culture of play for children in the hospital. We have designed our first play space and equipped it with toy materials and plan to replicate this in other hospitals that treat pediatric patients in Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria.

Among many other things, I enjoy traveling, but volunteering for children is my passion.

Meenu Wadhwa - Australia

Hello from the sunny Brisbane. For me, it has been more than three decades of working closely with children, young people, and their families in India, New Zealand and Australia. Sounds so old, right?

In my past life, I was an educator. Having a skill set to make a developmental assessment and supporting children's learning as per their learning style and pace helped make a smooth transition into the role about sixteen years ago. During this phase, I provided intervention support to pediatric patients and families under general surgical, orthopedics, oncology, burns and plastics, dental and maxillofacial, high observation units, and children's emergency department. After moving to Australia in 2022, I had the opportunity to lead a year-long pilot project to introduce the role of a Child Life Therapist (CLT) in Queensland. The good news is that the service received its due recognition, and the role has become permanent. While I'm pretty pleased with the outcome, the more significant challenge lies ahead: strengthening the service and growing a team of CLTs.

Whether when I was an educator or now when I am a CLT, my focus has always been to provide all children with inclusive opportunities to learn, play, and participate in their care. I am equally passionate about promoting the profession's growth by highlighting the value added by the role to paediatric healthcare. I am a registered Hospital Play Specialist and have been on the executive board of professional bodies in New Zealand and Australia. As Queensland  State Rep, I am considering taking up leadership tasks and responsibilities to promote the profession. I'm excited to have the opportunity to attend the ACLP Conference 2024 and look forward to initiating international networking and connections for continued professional growth.

Sushma Gopalan - India

My name is Sushma Gopalan, a Counselling and Clinical Psychologist. I have completed my Doctorate programme in Clinical Psychology and hold a double Master’s degree in Genetics and Counselling Psychology. I also hold a Post Graduate Diploma in Mental Health, Certified in Guidance and Counselling, Child development, a certified Gatekeeper in Suicide Prevention, and a Life Skills Trainer. I’m currently pursuing Post Graduate Diploma in Child Rights and Law.

I have pioneered and lead the Child Life Services Team. The bigger vision of this first in India- unique program is to bridge the gap between physical health and mental health. This visualization realises itself with its mission of providing every child who comes to the hospital with psycho-social care for their wellbeing, whilst they undergo lifesaving treatment. Hand holding caregivers through procedures and emotional upheaval is imperative in the mission. I believe that my vision and mission is critical in sustaining positive wellbeing in challenging situations.

My role involves management of emergency, trauma cases in Pediatric ICU by providing brief solution focused strategies for mental distress, hospital-related fears, and building emotional resilience in children and for their families while admitted for cancer, bone marrow treatments and other conditions.

I ensure that our team also provides mental health support to children and family by educating, preparing and supporting them through their hospitalisation, difficult tests and procedures related to chronic or acute illness. We also support the special needs of children and their families, and devise plans that provide children and families with opportunities to engage in normal play and recreational activities that promote growth, development and feelings of success and fulfilment.

I also supervise challenges of children in IPD and OPD dealing with somatic disorders, stress, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation and other challenges along with providing family support and therapy. We handle issues associated with grief, trauma, bereavement, PTSD and PPD in addition to depression, stress, anxiety, adolescent stressors, suicidal ideation, self-harm, body image issues, substance abuse, addiction, and somatic disorders.

My team deals with various psychological issues by incorporating Talk Therapies like, Supportive psychotherapy, Play Therapy and Mindfulness therapy along with Relaxation Techniques which benefit not just the children, but the family too. This involves steering family and group therapies to mediate chaotic relationships, bring insight and lead to harmonious environment. There is also child and family counselling, planning, interventions, and implementation of coping strategies for families to function better as a unit especially in cases of families with special needs children or family discord.

My ultimate goal is to ensure that every child and family steps out knowing they have been cared for and any challenge, big or small, is addressed. 

Swati Sheth Mehta

I am Swati Sheth Mehta from India. I am working as a child life specialist at a free-standing multispecialty pediatric hospital, Kashiben Gordhandas Patel Children Hospital (KGPCH) since September 2022 in Vadodara. I have a masters in Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) and I have completed child life internship.Prior to working as a CLS, I have worked with children in schools, and in non-profit organizations. KGPCH serves approximately 6300 inpatient and 85000 outpatient children annually. 

Our child life and child development program was formally established in 2011, and we have a dedicated inpatient playroom.  Using family centered principles, I work alongside parents to empower children through play, and reinforcement patient education to enhance emotional safety.  Our program collaborates with my alma mater the HDFS Department, of the M.S. University of Vadodara.  Along with their faculty mentor, I guide both graduate and undergraduate HDFS students in their 54 hours each of field placement at our program- this is important for nurturing the growth of interest in child life work among college students. I have volunteered for Operation Smile India. 

I am grateful to ACLP and Disney for providing me this invaluable opportunity to be a part of the annual child life conference. I am looking forward to a great learning opportunity and taking back more ideas to enhance our work with children and families in my country.  

Jodie Cannell - Australia

My name is Jodie Cannell, I currently work as a Child Life Therapist at the Children’s Hospital Westmead, Sydney Australia. Since I started working at the Children’s hospital five years ago I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to work across a variety of clinical areas. These areas include Long Term Ventilation,  CPAP, Orthopeadics, Vaccination clinic, Oncology, Burns and Plastics, Cardiac and the ‘Home in the Hospital’ program - an emergency response program providing essential social admissions for children impacted by parental hospitalisation during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Three years ago I found my ‘niche’ when I began working within the Emergency Department (ED) and Children’s Short Stay Unit. This is both a highly rewarding and challenging area of work, unique to any role I had undertaken previously. I thrive in the fast paced environment and I find that I continue to learn new things everyday. I am deeply aware of the blessing it is to be able to sit with a family during a moment of crisis and heightened stress, and offer support to mitigate the potential for hospital related stress and anxiety.

I have a passion for advocacy, particularly around Emotionally Safe practice, the provision of play and play based education, and the Childs Voice within the ED. I am fortunate to work within a strong multi-disciplinary team, where I have the opportunity to not only ‘grasp teachable moments’  in the day to day work of a busy environment, but also through the provision of intentional adult education around the role of Child Life Therapy and why emotional safety in our health care system is so vitally important!  

I am very thankful for the opportunity to attend the 2024 ACLP Conference, where I look forward to the many opportunities to learn, grow and reflect, whilst building connections with the international Child Life Therapy community.

Victoria Hechter - Australia

My name is Victoria Hechter and I've been working as a Child Life Therapist at Sydney Children's Hospital for the past 6 years.

My current clinical Child Life Therapy roles include working as the Outpatient Pediatric Pathology Co-ordinator, Ambulatory Care Co-ordinator, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Burns Outpatient Clinic, Nuclear Medicine Department and working on the Cardiac and Renal ward. In addition, I work as Deputy Manager of the Child Life and Music Therapy Department.

Previously, I have worked in a range of clinical areas such as Emergency Department, Medical Isolation ward for infectious diseases and Cystic Fibrosis outpatient clinic.

I work with an incredible, supportive and passionate team who share my enthusiasm for playfulness, empowering hospitalised young people and making a difference.  

I'm excited to meet new people and expand my knowledge base through attending this conference and all it has to offer.  

Yi Yang - China

Bachelor of Medicine

Institute of Hematology & Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, China

Research nurse of Pediatrics department

Work experience

1. Designing a map of inpatient games for children to address their maladjustment to hospitalization.

2. Participating in the production of a series of children's health education videos.

3. Conducting the intervention trials on child play therapy.

Asma Nhaeed - Pakistan

Hello! I'm delighted to introduce myself, I am Asma Nhaeed a PhD fellow in clinical psychology and a dedicated professional in the Psychosocial Department at Indus Hospital & Health Network Karachi Pakistan. for the past 5 years, I am passionate about palliative care, end of life care, grief counseling, bereavement care, and legacy building. My journey started as a palliative care counselor, and over the years, I have had the opportunity to take on the role of heading the Psychosocial Department. As I continue to deepen my knowledge and expertise in this field, I am now planning to pursue specialization in Thanatology or end of life care education. I am driven to further my understanding of the emotional and psychological aspects of end of life care, and to develop advanced skills that will allow me to provide the highest level of care to patients and their families during this challenging time. In addition to my clinical work, I am also actively involved in research related to palliative care, end of life care, and psychosocial well-being. I believe that research plays a crucial role in advancing the field of palliative care and improving the quality of care provided to patients and families. I am excited about the opportunity to contribute to the knowledge and practice in this area through my ongoing research endeavors.

I am grateful to be a part of the Psychosocial Department at Indus Hospital, where I can pursue my passion for palliative care and end of life care, while also making a meaningful difference in the lives of patients and families facing difficult times. I am committed to furthering my education and expertise in this field, and I am excited about the possibilities that lie ahead as I continue to pursue my specialization in Thanatology or end of life care education.

Thanks

Carmen Casingena - England

My name is Carmen, I have been a play specialist for almost 10 years (from student to senior post!) I currently work in one of the busiest children's emergency departments in Europe. We see over 44,000 children a year, although I'm sure those numbers have gone up in the past couple of years.

I work with children and families through so many differing scenarios- every day is different and I learn so much within my role. From support children with difficulty in breathing to distracting during bone manipulation. I work with a great team, who really value the impact of play in the emergency department.

I have recently been involved in improving psychological care for children and families that have been through a traumatic event, resulting in hospital care. I based my dissertation on how play can mitigate the development of PTSD and developed care packages for children and their families based on these results; delivering this teaching to clinicians within the department.

I have a passion for research and teaching and I am currently researching the use of VR technology as distraction and preparation for procedures and developing teaching resources for clinicians on how to use it effectively.

I live in England with my fiancé and our two boys and Kasper the dog. I am currently studying for a MSc in Psychology. I am very much looking forward to the conference in Texas and exchanging ideas.

Kalisiti Ndamanywa - Uganda

I am Kalisiti Ndamanywa, a Ph.D. student in project planning and management, an administrator at Busitema University in eastern Uganda,  the initiator and volunteer of the Child play program at Mbale Regional Referal Hospital, dedicated to child play in a hospital to improve their well-being and health while in the hospital. for the past 2 years, I have volunteered on weekly basis to meet children on their bedsides to help them find happiness and joy while in the hospital. I am also passionate to work with healthcare providers to be child-friendly.  As I continue to acknowledge the role of play programs in child hospitalization well-being my knowledge and experience in this field, I am now planning to write a curriculum for the child life program at Busitema University faculty of health sciences to be incorporated among our programs. I am further driven to work with professionals in this field to understand more emotions and psychological aspects that come along with hospitalization through introducing a center of excellence in child life service in Mbale Regional referral Hospital and the entire of eastern Uganda, as this will help me develop more skills that will allow me to provide the highest level of care to children and their families during the time of hospitalization. In addition to my position at Busitema University, I believe the child life program can be furthered more to have child life professionals trained in this service. I am excited about the opportunity to learn more and connect with other child life professionals and centers to understand how they do it better to help me establish the center at Mbale regional referral hospital to contribute to the knowledge and practice in this area.

I am grateful to be a part of the participants of this conference and very hopeful that attending this conference will change the whole picture of the play program at Mbale Regional Referal Hospital.

Thank You

Kirsty Nauth-Misir - Australia

My name is Kirsty Nauth-Misir and I've been working as a Child Life Therapist at Sydney Children's Hospital for the past 6 years. Originally from the UK, I moved to Australia in 2010 on a 1 year work visa, fell in love with the place and never left! 

I started out as a Child Life Therapy volunteer at my current hospital for 4 years while I studied a Masters in Early Years Education in Sydney. I then spent 5 years as a Child Life Therapist covering the Short Stay Surgical ward and Nuclear Medicine department, as well as working as as Outpatient Pediatric Pathology Co-ordinator. 

Last year I began a senior position working in the Oncology department which has bought fresh challenges and goals. I have enjoyed building relationships and rapport with the children and families, supporting them with long term treatment and palliative care.  

I work with an incredible, supportive and passionate team who share my enthusiasm for playfulness, empowering hospitalised young people and making a difference.  

I'm excited to meet new people and expand my knowledge base through attending this conference and all it has to offer.  

Linda Goldberg - South Africa

My name is Linda Goldberg, and I am privileged to have been chosen as one of the recipients of a scholarship to attend the ACLP conference . I am from the beautiful country of South Africa, and this will be my first visit to the  USA.  I am a  wife,  proud mother of 3  children and a  physiotherapist. Over the last 30 years I have focused on developing my passion for treating children in a variety of settings within the South African health system. I work in the private , academic and public health system- focusing on neurodiverse  children and their families. Since graduating  in 1992, I have completed a medical  master’s in Child Neurodevelopment as well as several Neurodevelopmental  Therapy (NDT) courses to further  my knowledge and skills . Currently I am completing a master’s in Child Life and psychosocial care at  the University of the Witwatersrand- we are the first cohort of students studying  this master’s in South Africa. By attending this conference, I hope to learn and network so that I can educate  my colleagues on the role of Child life specialists and hope to identify ways in which I could introduce aspects Child Life therapy into my daily work. In my spare time I enjoy  reading ,  exercising, hiking  and doing home checks for a non-kill dog shelter.  

Nafisa Dawood - Pakistan

My name is Nafisa Dawood and I am from Karachi, Pakistan. I completed my Masters in Psychology from the University of Karachi, and immediately joined the psychosocial team at Indus Hospital as a Social Service Officer. The Psycho-Social Department at Indus Hospital is unique in Pakistan, providing psycho-social care for children within hospital settings. Since 2017, I have gained extensive knowledge and experience while working in different teams at the hospital, including the Child Life team and Palliative Care.

My primary focus is on working with terminally and chronically ill children and their families, with the aim of easing their hospital journey through medical play, art-based activities, psychological preparation before any procedure, providing procedural support and parental counseling. I also assist with event planning and execution for children in hospital settings, and collaborate on various projects to raise awareness about childhood cancer in Pakistan.

Advocating for children's psychological needs and promoting awareness of children's mental health in Pakistan is a goal that is close to my heart.

Sarah Scott - Australia

I am currently working as a Child Life Therapist at The Children's Hospital, Westmead in Sydney Australia. It is a tertiary paediatric hospital, the biggest in the state and is part of the Sydney Children's Hospital Network. I have worked in our statewide Burns Service for over 7years, working with our outpatients, inpatients and our outreach service within our Multi-disciplinary team. This work obviously has a heavy skew towards procedural preparation and procedural support as key, daily interventions and I enjoy using my developmental knowledge, passion for play and skills in teaching to tailor these interventions to suit every child we meet. The power of non-pharmacological strategies combined with meaningful relationship and rapport is rewarding to be part of. I have co- authored our statewide Child Life Therapy in Burns Clinical Guidelines and and am interested to extend my work into research. 

In addition, I work as the Co-Head of Department for Child Life and Music Therapy which involves both management and leadership responsibilities as we continue to grow our team. 

Previously, I have worked in a range of clinical areas such as PICU (Paediatric Intensive Care Unit), Long Term Ventilation Unit and Respiratory working specifically with patients with Cystic Fibrosis. 

I am also lucky to be currently holding the role of State Representative for New South Wales in the Association of Child Life Therapists Australia. 

I value the concept of life long learning and acknowledge the continued growth to come in all my roles. It is an incredible opportunity to attend this years conference and be part of this community of learners. 

Tamta Mchedlishvili - Georgia

My name is Tamta Mchedlishvili, 34 years old. I live in TBilisi, Georgia. I have been working in Jo Ann University Hospital science 2011, as a psychologist (psycho-social service specialist) with a wonderful Team. Our team serves kids and families with congenital heart disease.

Atoofa Najmi

Atoofa Najmi is the team lead of the Child Life Services at Pediatric Psychosocial Department, The Indus Hospital, Pakistan. She has a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology. She has been working with chronically ill and hospitalized children for last two and a half years, to make their hospital journey a smoother experience through use of play, art and psychological preparation. Her area of interests lie in advocating for use of psychological preparation, addressing psychosocial needs of children with complex illnesses and raising awareness about the Child Life profession in her country.

Kristina Silfvenius

I come from Helsinki, Finland, and have worked at Helsinki University Children´s Hospital as a Child Life Specialist. Where I participated in founding Child Life Specialists I Finland.

As a Rotary Foundation Scholar, I spent a year working at Vancouver Children´s Hospital in Canada at the Child Life Department and studied special education at UBC, University of British Columbia.

In 1987 I moved to Stockholm, Sweden and work at Astrid Lindgren Children´s Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital.  Here I was on the board for Child Life Specialists in Sweden for many years.

I have been working with diverse diagnoses, with in- and outpatients in all age groups, helping children and adolescents preparing them for different kinds of procedures, and helping to promote coping strategies and minimizing the adverse effects of hospitalization and health care encounters. Providing interventions that include therapeutic play, expressive modalities, and psychological preparation to facilitate coping and normalization.

Now I mainly work with the burns patients in the outpatient clinic, and as inpatients, and I´m part of the burns team.

Within the hospital and outside I actively promote and inform about Children’s Rights according to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, that is a legal right in Sweden since Jan 2019.

In 2015 I joined Operation Smile and have had the opportunity to go on 12 missions in different parts of the world as a Child Life Specialist. The last mission was in Oujda, Morocco. A fantastic opportunity to promote children´s rights.

I have been part of the medical adviser board for Operation Smile Sweden and now a Psychosocial Advisor on the Psychosocial Medical Advisory Council (MAC) Operation Smile International. 

Madiha Mustafa

I am from Pakistan, I have done my masters in psychology from University of Karachi. After that I worked with children with special needs for about 4 years, I worked on providing educational support for students with learning difficulties who were attending mainstream classroom in mainstream schools.

During my professional carrier I got a chance to work with different organizations as a volunteer in different capacities were I did mentoring for students to become responsible and productive members of the society and psychological assessment of children.

I have been working at The Indus Hospital as a Child Life Counselor for last 4 years, where I get training to be a counselor. My work involves working with children who are under treatment of any kind of prolonged disease, trauma or injury.

I am providing psychosocial care and helping children and their families  during medical procedures, offer counseling, participate in therapeutic and medical  play, and provide education to families, as well as plan support programs and events.

Maryam Al-Bahar

I am a child life student from Kuwait City, Kuwait. I work in a non-profit organization, Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital, that provides child life services to children in local government hospitals. I am leading a new child life program at Jaber Hospital. I recently completed my Practicum training at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, in pursuit of the Child Life certification to become the first Kuwaiti Child Life Specialist. I have three years of experience working and volunteering in pediatric healthcare, hospice settings and camps. 

Nicola Mooney

My Hospital Play career now spans about 16 years, including my work in the 1990’s in at the Royal London in Whitechapel. I was able to attend the first day release Hospital Play course run at Southbank College. After qualifying and immigrating to Sydney, I worked for six years as a Paediatric Occupational Therapist for a charity organization. This was predominantly working with children who were struggling at school, doing standardized assessments.

I gravitated back to Play in Hospital and have now worked in Sydney Children’s Hospital for the last nine years.  Here, I have worked in a variety of different clinical area, including; Neurology, Orthopeadics and in Medical Imaging. I have worked the last 18 months on our Intensive Care Ward and our Medical Day Unit. 

Priscila Flores Carrillo

I’m Priscila, I was born and grew up in Quito - Ecuador, I have 28 years old. I'm Nursing Assistant, Occupational Therapist and Child Life Professional. I studied my degree of Nursing Assistant and my degree in Occupational Therapy in Ecuador, and I graduated from Master Child Life in Barcelona - Spain. In my hospital practices I worked with children, adolescents, and their families, also, with children with special abilities, others apparently healthy, also populations with various diseases and disorders. 

I was volunteer in a dialysis clinic, and after I started to work in the same, with young patients, adults and older adults, also in gerontological centers, and home therapies, I have always tried to transpose what I studied in therapy and in my master, provide beneficial psychosocial care for all my patients, trying to work in all spheres of children and in other patients, providing quality care for their emotions with tools such as games, music therapy, art therapy, clown therapy, correct education of illness, among other resources, for adequate empowerment and coping with the circumstances to which must be faced. 

Today due to the critical situation worldwide, in the absence of opportunities to work in the public and private sector in my country, I decided to open my rehabilitation clinic, where I provide my services to the child, adolescent, adult and elderly population. In my treatments I always to apply the Child Life principles, giving priority to emotions, feelings and spirituality, to start from an empathic and compassionate therapy. 

In addition, Occupational Therapy and Nursing are professions that can be combined with Child Life Profession, and for me this is very positive, because I can make my three professions merge, with the objective of providing better structured and higher quality services to infants, adolescents and their families and other patients.  

Sara Costa

Sara is a qualified Portuguese Recreational Therapist, she has been working for the past two years, at Al Jalila Children’s Hospital (AJCH) in Dubai, UAE, under the umbrella of the Mental Health Centre of Excellence (MHCE). Working under the Mental Health Centre, Sara is in the process of establishing a Child Life program within the children’s hospital in collaboration with the Child life team, currently the UAE’s only child life department. Sara is one of the first Recreational Therapists in Dubai, where she is helping to develop the profession and bring awareness within the country. She has a strong desire to implement and work through a psychosocial approach for a better care of patients and their families.

At AJCH Sara has been working with children and adolescents of all ages suffering from the most diverse medical and mental health conditions.  In her work, she uses a variety of therapeutic mediators to improve quality of health, emotional safety, emotional stability, coping and overall well-being. She is currently studying for her master’s degree in the USA, to become a Board Certified

Sonia Tordera

I am Sonia Tordera and I am 25. I am one of the four professionals working on the Child Life program in Barcelona Children’s Hospital. This program is working since 2004 and we are the only program in Spain. I graduated in Psychology in 2012 and afterwards I studied the master degree on its first promotion on Emotional Care in Hospitalized Children according to the Child Life model also in Barcelona.

After that I started as a volunteer in playrooms and waiting rooms in Barcelona Children’s Hospital and join in a siblings camp in Ireland with the Barretstown foundation. I keep collaborating with the hospital in Patient Experience projects as a volunteer and it was then, in October 2017, when I started working in the already created Child Life program. Since then I have learnt a lot from my colleagues and I worked in many areas of the hospital. I am working on psychological preparation before surgeries and medical procedures (cardiology, autism patients, cochlear implant and patients in bone marrow transplant) and accompanying during medical procedures when its needed. I also collaborate with patient experience projects improving families experiences.

The other big part of our job is coordinate and work together with the friendly hospital program and professionals which includes all the resources related to keep children being children in the hospital: school, hospital clowns, art, animal assisted therapy team and musicians. My goal is to keep going on and spread our profession as much as we can. I would really love to make this dream and project bigger as we can make the hospitals a better places in all the places we can. 

Priscila Flores Carrillo

I was born and raised in Quito - Ecuador and I am 28 years old. I'm a Nursing Assistant, Occupational Therapist, and Child Life Professional. I studied my degree of Nursing Assistant and my degree in Occupational Therapy in Ecuador, and I graduated with a Masters of Child Life in Barcelona, Spain. In my hospital practices I worked with children, adolescents, and their families, also, with children with special abilities, others apparently healthy, also populations with various diseases and disorders. 

I was a volunteer in a dialysis clinic, and after I started to work with young patients, adults, and older adults, also in gerontological centers, and home therapies, I have always tried to transpose what I studied in therapy and in my masters program, provide beneficial psychosocial care for all my patients, trying to work in all spheres of children and in other patients, providing quality care for their emotions with tools such as games, music therapy, art therapy, clown therapy, correct education of illness, among other resources, for adequate empowerment and coping with the circumstances that must be faced. 

Today, due to the critical situation worldwide, in the absence of opportunities to work in the public and private sector in my country, I decided to open my rehabilitation clinic, where I provide my services to the child, adolescent, adult and elderly population. In my treatments I always to apply the child life principles, giving priority to emotions, feelings and spirituality, to start from an empathic and compassionate therapy. 

In addition, Occupational Therapy and Nursing are professions that can be combined with the Child Life Profession, and for me this is very positive, because I can make my three professions merge, with the objective of providing better structured and higher quality services to infants, adolescents and their families and other patients.  

Nicola Mooney

My Hospital Play career now spans about 16 years, including my work in the 1990’s at the Royal London in Whitechapel. I was able to attend the first day release Hospital Play course run at Southbank College. After qualifying and immigrating to Sydney, I worked for six years as a Paediatric Occupational Therapist for a charity organization. This was predominantly working with children who were struggling at school, doing standardized assessments.

I gravitated back to Play in Hospital and have now worked in Sydney Children’s Hospital for the last nine years.  Here, I have worked in a variety of different clinical areas, including: Neurology, Orthopedics, and in Medical Imaging. I have worked the last 18 months on our Intensive Care Ward and our Medical Day Unit.

Kristina Silfvenius

I come from Helsinki, Finland, and have worked at Helsinki University Children´s Hospital as a Child Life Specialist. There I participated in founding Child Life Specialists I Finland.

As a Rotary Foundation Scholar, I spent a year working at Vancouver Children´s Hospital in Canada at the Child Life Department and studied special education at UBC, University of British Columbia.

In 1987 I moved to Stockholm, Sweden and worked at Astrid Lindgren Children´s Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital. There I was on the board for Child Life Specialists in Sweden for many years.

I have been working with diverse diagnoses, with in- and outpatients in all age groups, helping children and adolescents preparing them for different kinds of procedures, and helping to promote coping strategies and minimizing the adverse effects of hospitalization and health care encounters. Providing interventions that include therapeutic play, expressive modalities, and psychological preparation to facilitate coping and normalization.

Now I mainly work with the burns patients in the outpatient clinic, and as inpatients, and I'm part of the burns team.

Within the hospital and outside I actively promote and inform about Children’s Rights according to the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, that is a legal right in Sweden since Jan 2019.

In 2015 I joined Operation Smile and have had the opportunity to go on 12 missions in different parts of the world as a Child Life Specialist. The last mission was in Oujda, Morocco. A fantastic opportunity to promote children´s rights. I have been part of the medical adviser board for Operation Smile Sweden and I am now a Psychosocial Advisor on the Psychosocial Medical Advisory Council (MAC) Operation Smile International.