Child Life Certification Commission (CLCC)

Leslie Daniels

Chair - Leslie Daniels, CCLS

Leslie Daniels, CCLS, is a Child Life Manager at Children’s Mercy Hospital (CMH) in Kansas City, Missouri. Leslie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia. For over twenty years, Leslie has worked in direct patient care, primarily serving in critical care areas and the emergency department, and she served as child life internship coordinator. Leslie has played an active role on the CMH Aftercare Committee, providing support to children and adolescents who have experienced the death of a sibling. Leslie holds a certificate in Pediatric Bioethics. Leslie has been active with ACLP, specifically the CLCC, most recently serving as Appeals Chair and Ethics Chair Elect of the Certification Commission. Away from the hospital, Leslie enjoys spending time with her husband, Billy, and her children, Alex, Cheyanne, and John. She also enjoys visiting with family and friends and traveling.

Monica Gibson

Chair-Elect - Monica Gibson, CCLS

Monica Gibson has been a child life specialist for 10 years. She received her Bachelor of Science in psychology from Millsaps College (2007) and a Master of Science in Victim Services Management from Sam Houston State University (2017). She began her child life career working at Johns Hopkins and currently works with the University Health System in San Antonio, TX. For over 6 years, Monica has been helping with the child life certification process. Monica and her husband have two children, Annabelle (4 years old) and Dean (1 year old).

Sherwood Burns Nader

Past Chair - Sherwood Burns-Nader, PhD, CCLS

Dr. Sherwood Burns-Nader is an associate professor and coordinator of the child life program at The University of Alabama. Sherwood has been a CCLS since 2006 and started her current position at The University of Alabama in 2011. Sherwood is a researcher who examines the psychosocial issues impacting children and families in the medical setting, the benefits of child life interventions during medical procedures, and the value of play in children’s development and coping. Sherwood began volunteering on the Child Life Certification Commission in 2013. She has served on the item writing, item reviewing, recertification audit, ethics, and certification communications committees. Currently, Sherwood is the chair of the commission. For fun, Sherwood loves spending time with her husband, Philip, and their five-year-old son, Trip, and cheering on the Crimson Tide in any sports.

ACLP President Elect, Lindsay Heering, MS, CCLS, CTRS

Since July 2017, Lindsay has served as the Administrative Director for the Department of Child and Family Life at Michigan Medicine’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. In this role, Lindsay provides leadership for child life specialists, music therapists, art therapists, recreation therapists, school teachers, and education specialists. Through interdisciplinary collaboration, Lindsay continuously advocates for the developmental, psychosocial, and emotional needs of patients and families along with a patient and family-centered approach. For the previous 14 years, she was employed at the Children's Hospital of Michigan, most recently serving as the Director of Service Excellence. Prior to this role, she was the Manager of Child Life and Volunteer Services and started her career as the child life specialist for their inpatient Burn/Surgical and Rehabilitation Unit.

Lindsay also served as an adjunct professor teaching child life courses for Central Michigan University and the University of Michigan – Dearborn. She has remained actively involved with the Association of Child Life Professionals and Great Lakes Association of Child Life Professionals and is passionate about child life, making a difference for patients and families, inspiring and teaching others, and advocating for the best pediatric healthcare experience. Lindsay earned her undergraduate degree in Therapeutic Recreation from Central Michigan University and her graduate degree in Health Psychology from the University of Michigan – Dearborn.

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Commissioner - Rebecka Dolyniuk, CCLS

Rebecka has been a child life specialist for over fifteen years. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Colorado State University before pursuing graduate course work in their Human Development and Family Studies department. Rebecka spent nearly a decade working with the infant, toddler, school age and burn populations at Johns Hopkins Children Center. Prior to starting her family in 2015, she worked in a community hospital in Florida where she split her time between inpatient clinical care and community health outreach and education. She joined the CLCC in 2011. Before stepping into the role of Commissioner, Rebecka served as a member of the Item Writing, Item Review and Exam Assembly committees.

Caitlin Leary

Commissioner - Caitlin Leary, CCLS

Caitlin has been a Certified Child Life Specialist since 2007. She received her bachelor’s degree from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and her master’s in Child Life and Family Centered Care from Wheelock College. Caitlin worked as a Developmental Therapist for Early Intervention in Massachusetts before taking her current position at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. She is a CEIM, CPST and trained in Newborn Behavioral Observation as well as both Circle of Security and Centering Parenting group facilitation. Caitlin started volunteering for the Certification Commission in 2014 as an Item Writer before moving to Item Review in 2017. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two boys.

Tracey Craddock

Commissioner - Tracey Craddock, CCLS

Tracey Craddock is a Certified Child Life Specialist in the emergency department at Geisinger Janet Weis Children’s Hospital in Danville, Pennsylvania. She received her master’s degree in Family and Consumer Sciences with a specialization in child development from West Virginia University. During her sixteen years as a child life specialist, she has worked at hospitals in both Pennsylvania and Ohio. Tracey’s involvement in volunteering with ACLP began in 2014 as a member of the Focus Review Board. Since that time, Tracey has served on the Advanced Professional Development Committee. In 2017, she joined the Child Life Certification Commission and has served on the Item Writing Committee and Communications Committee.

Commissioner - Megan Fisher, CCLS

Megan has been a Certified Child Life Specialist since 2003. She received her bachelor's degree in Child and Family Studies from Baylor University. Megan is now the Child Life Educator at Children's Hospital Colorado. Prior to her work as the Child Life Educator, Megan worked directly with patients in outpatient cardiology, surgical services, inpatient post-surgical unit as well as the Emergency Department. Megan began volunteering with the CLCC in 2014 as an Item Writer. She has also served as an Item Reviewer and Item Writer Coach. Megan lives in Colorado with her husband and two boys.

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Commissioner - Lucy Raab, CCLS

Lucy Raab is the Assistant Director of the Child Life department at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO. Lucy has been a CCLS since 2000 and started her career at Children’s Mercy working with patients and families on a rehabilitation unit. She has also worked with children and families in various areas of the hospital including: Orthopedics, Kidney disease/transplant, and general medical surgery. Lucy has been an active volunteer for ACLP serving primarily on CLCC, first serving as an Item Writer and Reviewer, and then trying her hand at all tasks related to certification as well as participating in a Practice Analysis and Strategic Planning for ACLP. Lucy represented CLCC as its chair and on the Board of Directors from 2012-2014. She has remained involved with CLCC as a member of the Appeals Committee. Away from the hospital, she enjoys spending time with friends and family and traveling.

Regina Gohr

Commissioner - Regina Gohr, CCLS

Regina has been a child life specialist for over eleven years. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Child and Family Development with an emphasis in Child Life from Missouri State University. After completing her internship at St. Louis Children's Hospital, she began her career working for eight years at Children's Mercy in Kansas City, MO. Regina spent the majority of her time working with patients and families on the inpatient Pulmonary/CF Unit. She has also spent time working with children and families on the Orthopedic and Gastroenterology Units and Outpatient Surgery. Currently, Regina is a child life specialist at Mercy Children's Hospital in Springfield, MO and is a Parent Educator with the Clever R-5 School District. She has experience and a passion for students and has previously served as the Internship/Practicum coordinator. Regina has been an active member of ACLP since 2009 and has volunteered with CLCC on the Item Writing, Item Reviewer and Exam Assembly Committees before joining the Auditing Committee for the last several years. Regina and her husband, Cody, have two children, Leighton (7) and Brody (4).

Commissioner - Toni Crowell-Petrungaro, CCLS

Toni Crowell-Petrungaro is currently the Child Life Program Director at Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital. Throughout her 25 year career as a child life specialist she has worked in a variety of clinical, academic, and leadership roles spanning three countries - The United States, Canada, and Qatar. Toni is graduate of Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development and received their (inaugural) Alumni Global Impact Award in 2019 for her international contributions to the child life field. Toni has been volunteering with ACLP since 2000 and with the CLCC since 2016 where she has been part of item-writing, item-review, exam assembly, and appeals. She currently serves as the Chair for the Appeals committee and is a member of exam assembly and ethics. Toni lives in Connecticut with her husband and 8 year-old son, Ethan.

Public Member -Rachel Wenthe

Rachel Wenthe, RN, BSN, MBA-HCM, CPHQ, LSSBB, is Quality + Safety Coordinator for Cook Children’s in Fort Worth, TX. Rachel has many years’ experience in process and quality improvement, nursing, and leadership; she had previously served as Assistant Vice President of Quality at Cook before stepping back to be home with her children. She has been the lead coordinator of integrating Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) at Cook when their involvement began in 2012 and was instrumental in leading all of the hospital acquired condition (HAC) improvement groups there, training the staff on Error Prevention and Leadership Methods, and managing the improvement portfolio. Rachel currently serves as the SPS National CAUTI Co-Leader and a Texas Regional Lead where she helps coordinate the collaboration of harm reduction efforts across the children’s hospitals of Texas. Rachel enjoys her time with her family which includes her husband, Zack, her 16 year old, Emma, her 6 year old, Phoebe, and her 2 year old, Britton. She is an avid Chicago Cubs fan and looks forward to their next World Series win.

Staff Liaison - Ame Enright, Credentialing Specialist

Ame Enright is the Director of Certification for the Association of Child Life Professionals. Ame has worked on all aspects of the Child Life Certification Program since 2006. For a brief period in 2016, Ame worked as the Associate Director of Certification for the Security Industry Association, but her passion for the child life profession called her back to ACLP in 2017.