Auburn's Department of Human Development and Family Science is the first in the state to offer a child life master's program.
Miranda Julian is a student in the inaugural Child Life Master’s program, and a child life specialist and clinical instructor for child life practicum students at EAMC.
Julian's work focuses on the emotional, psychosocial and developmental wellbeing of hospitalized children and their families.
The College of Human Sciences at Auburn University is the first in Alabama to offer a child life focused master’s program.
The graduate-level Child Life program is designed for students who plan to work with children and families as child life specialists in high-stress environments such as the hospital. Child life specialists employ their knowledge of development, family systems, the brain's reaction to stress and play to help children and families cope with stress.
“For years, students have been seeking out ways to make themselves stand out in this increasingly competitive field. So, plans and dreams of this program were born back in 2013 when I came on faculty,” said Amanda Butler, Director of Child Life Programs. “We are molding research literate, clinically-prepared specialists to send into practice and this program will elevate our students to the next level of human development and family science.”
Miranda Julian is a student in the inaugural Child Life Master’s program. She serves as a child life specialist and clinical instructor for child life practicum students at the East Alabama Medical Center, or EAMC. She first learned of child life when her niece was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder that required a ten month stay at a children’s hospital, which led Julian down the path to a career in child life.
“After seeing firsthand the significant impact that Charlee Rae’s child life specialist had on her and her family during hospitalization, promoting family-centered care, I knew this was the profession that was meant for me,” Julian said. “As a certified child life specialist, my main purpose is to reduce the stress and anxiety that our children face when hospitalized. My role serves to promote a therapeutic and holistic approach to healthcare, focusing on the emotional and psychosocial aspects of a hospitalized child’s experience.”
While researching undergraduate programs, Julian said she “fell in love” with Human Development and Family Science. She completed her second bachelor’s degree at Auburn, completed her practicum in Missouri and finished an extensive internship in Georgia in preparation to take the national certification for child life specialists.
At EAMC, Julian’s role includes preparing pediatric patients for medical procedures using child friendly language, providing medical play and introducing coping strategies to ease children’s fears of the hospital setting. She focuses on the emotional, psychosocial and developmental aspects of hospitalized children, from newborns to eighteen-year-olds, and their families.
“The most rewarding part of being a certified child life specialist is being able to see my patients and their families cope more effectively with hospitalization,” Julian said. “My younger ones, such as my preschool agers often have common misconceptions that I am their nurse because of the cognitive stages that they are in from a child developmental aspect, but they understand the main point…to them, in simple terms, I am the ‘fun one.’ The one who makes it all better. It melts my heart.”
The Child Life master’s program is made up of 33 credit hours and two hands-on clinical experiences totaling 750 hours. Graduates of the program will be prepared to sit for national certification to become Certified Child Life Specialists.
HDFS Department Head Angela Wiley said child life is one of the most popular curriculum tracks among HDFS undergraduate students and that Auburn University is uniquely positioned to train child life specialists.
“Hospital internships and jobs are becoming more and more sought-after, and our students often ask what they can do to make themselves as competitive as possible,” said Wiley. “The preparation of Child Life professionals is a natural fit with our HDFS mission of supporting healthy development and promoting prevention and intervention efforts that help individuals, families, and communities reach their full potential.”
And for Miranda Julian, who engages students in their practicum and serves as a certified child life specialist, patients are a crucial part of the curriculum.
“Day after day, I stand in awe as I am supposed to be the one teaching my patients, but in the end, they always end up teaching me a thing or two as well,” Julian said. “It is the little things in life. Human compassion and interaction, childish innocence is in us all.”
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