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Child life therapist skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Quoted experts
Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.,
Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical child life therapist skills. We ranked the top skills for child life therapists based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 25.4% of child life therapist resumes contained patients as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a child life therapist needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 child life therapist skills for your resume and career

1. Patients

Here's how child life therapists use patients:
  • Facilitated groups and provided individual therapy for caseload of mental health patients.
  • Delivered individual counseling and performed crisis intervention duties including reporting suicidal patients.

2. Direct Care

Direct care is the act of identifying people with special needs and offering the necessary care for them.

Here's how child life therapists use direct care:
  • Direct care, community reintegration, special events were the major skills that molded me into the therapist I am today.
  • Direct Care of residents, which includes supporting all resident daily activities: fitness, treatment, and recreational.

3. Social Work

Here's how child life therapists use social work:
  • Exercised independent and authoritative judgment, utilized full range of professional experience in mental health counseling and social work with adolescents.
  • Collaborate with interdisciplinary team of clinical social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists and recreational therapists to develop individualized treatment plans.

4. Physical Therapy

Here's how child life therapists use physical therapy:
  • Provide Physical therapy to kids with physical disabilities.
  • Provided physical therapy and counseling.

5. Therapeutic Recreation

Here's how child life therapists use therapeutic recreation:
  • Provided assistance, supervision, and training to participants in living skills and therapeutic recreation in both residential and community settings.
  • Provided residents with training, assistance and supervision in living skills, therapeutic recreation, and other forms of assistance.

6. Emotional Support

At its core, emotional support involves providing support, reassurance, acceptance, love, and encouragement. It is especially important in a time of stress/sadness as it stabilizes an individual and provides a positive foundation for trust. Honing this skill is important for individuals who want to pursue the career of caregivers and emotional support nurses. Their job includes monitoring mental health and helping patients to handle any mental challenge.

Here's how child life therapists use emotional support:
  • Provided emotional support during stressful and traumatic situations.
  • Provide therapy to people with autism or other emotional support needs.

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7. CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a medical procedure that involves chest compression to help a patient breathe. This artificial ventilation helps in keeping the brain function in place and regulates blood throughout the body. CPR is a lifesaving procedure that is used in emergencies.

Here's how child life therapists use cpr:
  • Certified in CPR, First Aid, and CPI at the time of employment.
  • Attained CPR Certification and necessary re-certifications * Certified for Non-Violent Crisis Intervention * Crisis team member for alternative school.

8. Autism

Here's how child life therapists use autism:
  • Teach life skills to clients with Autism Spectrum Disorder under the age of 18.
  • Provide Applied Behavior Analysis therapy in order to effectively treat clients with Autism who have difficulties with socially significant behaviors.

9. Traumatic Brain Injuries

Here's how child life therapists use traumatic brain injuries:
  • Provide meals, cleaning and performed any needed hygiene duties for resident with traumatic brain injuries
  • Assist civilian and military persons who are living and coping with traumatic brain injuries.

10. Rehabilitation

Here's how child life therapists use rehabilitation:
  • Mentor of Brain Injured participants in a rehabilitation center.
  • Worked with clinical staff to implement clients' rehabilitation plans.

11. Crisis Intervention

Here's how child life therapists use crisis intervention:
  • Completed agency and other statistical reports, case recording and other appropriate regulatory forms, and provided support and crisis intervention.
  • Provided In- home intensive therapy to children and adolescents by utilizing various cognitive behavioral, crisis intervention and solution focused techniques.

12. CPI

CPI Consumer Price Index is a monthly comprehensive measurement of the prices of goods and services representing the economy's consumption expenditure. This presents the inflation or rising of prices and deflation or falling prices. CPI keeps track of the costs of around 700 goods and services utilized by a typical household, and CPI shows how their price change each month. The changes in CPI are used to assess price changes related to the cost of living.

Here's how child life therapists use cpi:
  • Trained and experienced at managing challenging classroom situations using CPI methods and positive behavior reinforcement practices.
  • Certified Instructor, Crisis Prevention Institute (CPI) - Certified CPI instructor for Adventist GlenOaks Hospital.

13. Family Therapy

Here's how child life therapists use family therapy:
  • Program uses a strength based program called Functional Family Therapy (FFT) - fully trained.
  • Conducted individual and family therapy sessions utilizing motivational interviewing, solutions focused and cognitive behavioral treatment techniques.

14. Vital Signs

Vital signs are a set of values indicating different body systems' performance. They are measurements of the body's most basic functions. The four major vital signs used in medicine to assess a patient are body temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure.

Here's how child life therapists use vital signs:
  • Performed health care related tasks such as monitoring vital signs and medication; under the direction of registered nurses.
  • Check vital signs and assist with medical procedures.

15. ADL

ADL is a clinical shorthand for "activities of daily living." It includes tasks such as feeding, dressing, bathing, and caring for one's self and personal hygiene.

Here's how child life therapists use adl:
  • Supervised developmentally disabled individuals teaching ADL's, self-care and employment skills
  • Instructed residents in improving all areas of ADL'S, as well as their self-advocacy abilities.
top-skills

What skills help Child Life Therapists find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on child life therapist resumes?

Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Human Factors, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Strong analytical skills are a must. This includes both logic and reasoning skills, but also data analysis skills. For many jobs, the ability to collect and scientifically evaluate data will be vital, if not an absolute necessity. Similarly, a strong understanding of experimental methods can put a candidate in a great position to be able to help a company evaluate existing programs and chart a path forward for new ones. Finally, I would say that a strong ability to write is critical. Those graduates who are able to effectively and persuasively communicate in writing are setting themselves up for success at any company and allowing the company to leverage them for increasingly important tasks.

What soft skills should all child life therapists possess?

Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Human Factors, University of Alabama in Huntsville

Students need to be able to read individual and group dynamics in order to act appropriately in any given situation. This includes not only the interactions with one's bosses but also peers and subordinates. Similarly, being comfortable with networking can help any company, but networking skills shine through in interviews.

What type of skills will young child life therapists need?

Dr. Eva Moya Ph.D.Dr. Eva Moya Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Professor, The University of Texas

Graduates of the social work profession need to be able to work with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and mobilize communities to bring about social, economic, political, or environmental change, in addition to being involved in social policy development.

Skills in research, to study social issues, with the intention of developing social policy or micro-level approaches to practice to improve people's lives, and training in relation to multiculturalism, cultural competence, cultural humility practice is vital.

Key skills include:

  1. Collaboration

  2. Critical thinking

  3. -Ethics in evidence based-practice

  4. Assessment, intervention, and evaluation

  5. Social work competencies to inform behaviors.

  6. Administration and management

  7. Community practice

  8. Policy practice

Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about child life therapist

List of child life therapist skills to add to your resume

Child life therapist skills

The most important skills for a child life therapist resume and required skills for a child life therapist to have include:

  • Patients
  • Direct Care
  • Social Work
  • Physical Therapy
  • Therapeutic Recreation
  • Emotional Support
  • CPR
  • Autism
  • Traumatic Brain Injuries
  • Rehabilitation
  • Crisis Intervention
  • CPI
  • Family Therapy
  • Vital Signs
  • ADL
  • Medical Supervision
  • In-Home Care
  • Transport Clients
  • Community Integration
  • CCS

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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