Job outlook for child life therapists in the United States

What skills stand out on Child Life Therapist resumes?

Dr. Nathan Tenhundfeld Ph.D.: 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.: 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.

Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Child Life Therapists to find work opportunities?

Elizabeth Morgan Ph.D.: One potential outcome of the pandemic is that place may matter less as jobs are created and sustained with remote work environments. For example, it might be possible to participate in education endeavors, community mental health, human services in general, or consulting remotely, which render geography less important.

In addition, there will likely be changes in the types of jobs available to graduates in Psychology as employers are rethinking employee productivity in the wake of the coronavirus and need human resources specialists or industrial/organizational psychologists to consult on organizational change. Individuals with training and experience in delivering services remotely may find themselves able to secure some of these new positions; recent graduates will have a leg up in that regard, since they experienced training in a remote environment.

How do you envision technology impacting Child Life Therapists in the next 5 years?

Elizabeth Morgan Ph.D.: The forced use of technology to connect with others during the pandemic will likely encourage lasting change in education, counseling and human services, business and marketing endeavors, research, and other areas where graduates in psychology end up. This will create shifts in what the jobs look like, what training is needed, and even perhaps, the mental health and well-being of workers in general. As these technological changes are introduced, new graduates will need to learn and embrace them to keep up with the trends, as well as evaluate their effectiveness.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Child Life Therapists in the next 3-5 years?

Sonia Manuel-Dupont Ph.D.: Telehealth and teletherapy. Building meaningful relationships and providing top quality intervention through telehealth and teletherapy is already becoming an essential skill for new graduates.

What general advice would you give to a Child Life Therapist?

Ron Precht: Generally, metropolitan areas have had more openings for massage therapists. This is a report from the end of 2019 that has the most recent data we have available. Report

What type of skills will young Child Life Therapists need?

Lyndal Khaw Ph.D.: Most of our graduates in the field of Family Science and Human Development are in this field because they want to help professions that work with children, individuals, and families. Thus, there are several skills they should have when they graduate and enter the workforce. First, they need to have excellent interpersonal and communication skills. If you want to work with people, that is an absolute given.

Second, students should demonstrate their ability to adapt to new challenges and changes, including technology skills. When working with children and families, the natural ebbs and flows of family life, across the life course, necessitate flexible professionals and who can still be useful under changing circumstances. Third, skills make you stand out in working with people, like conflict management and leadership skills. Employers want to see that graduates are not only "book smart" but have the experience to use these skills when needed on the job.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Child Life Therapists in the next 3-5 years?

Debra Persinger Ph.D.: -Simplified technology for the not-so-tech-savvy employees will be necessary to accommodate the span of generational employee demographics engaging in remote work.
-Employees will need to be adaptable - to learn and accommodate the rapid introduction of new and better technological efficiency tools.
-Controls will increase. Much like parental controls to monitor online activity, company restrictions will be implemented to prevent inappropriate online behaviors, accidental sharing, and training on basic etiquette and interpersonal communications.
-Technology that supports work and life activities - order groceries online, stress reduction apps - will demand.
-Time away from the screen will be necessary. Seems counterintuitive for a technology question. For example, I'm predicting that paper books will make a comeback - nobody wants to look at another screen for pleasure reading after working online all day.

What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Child Life Therapist job market given the pandemic?

Debra Persinger Ph.D.: -More people were looking for careers (self-employed) that are not reliant on hiring/firing decisions or at the mercy of others' business understanding. I know we see that it's often a second or third career for others in the massage therapy profession.
-More remote working and working from home arrangements; less in-person business travel.
-I think organizations will restructure and flatten - to accommodate leadership responsibilities being assigned to more employees, including junior colleagues. Perhaps more part-time or contracted talent instead of full-time dedicated positions.
-Those with high emotional intelligence will be in demand - the ability to read a room has shifted to the ability to read a Zoom - those able to lead and inspire team members will be crucial. I found that the typically quieter team members had an opportunity to shine as each person brought forth their vulnerabilities and strengths with the pandemic situation and supporting each other.
-Companies will play a more integral role in employee well-being to ensure the social connections that people want and need that is not met via remote connections. That will be among employees as well as the employee-customer interface. I found myself playing a much more significant role in the employee mental health/well-being arena than previously. We are offering resilience workshops and compassion fatigue workshops to counter external demands on employees.

What type of skills will young Child Life Therapists need?

Dr. Eva Moya Ph.D.: 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

Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Child Life Therapists?

Dr. Erica Holmes: It is difficult to guess what the future holds and what the long-term impact of a global pandemic might be for psychology graduates. We have certainly experienced many academic and training challenges that arise during this time. For example, many summer graduate students had to complete their remaining courses, graduate thesis, defend their dissertations, analyze research results, etc. using video conference technology, and adapt in-person therapy skills to continue seeing clients using teletherapy platforms.

I am sure that there will be an enduring impact of transitioning into the world of therapy during a global pandemic, and I'd like to think that the impact will include both positive and negative elements. Some positive elements may be increased resilience and flexibility, broader thinking about career paths and professional roles, along with the development of new skills and techniques to use with their clients, and increased access to mental health services.

How do you envision technology impacting Child Life Therapists in the next 5 years?

Dr. Erica Holmes: The COVID19 crisis thrust many therapists into the world of telehealth. Many of whom, never imagined working with mental health clients over video-conferencing, and a large number were vehemently opposed to the idea. However, as the old saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of invention." With no other option, mental health practitioners and their governing licensing boards have been forced to move from the standard face-to-face delivery model to technology-based platforms, to continue providing much-needed services to their clients.

This has necessitated the development of HIPPA compliant software, adoption of new ethics and legal codes to protect client welfare, and a myriad of new protocols. I doubt that our field will ever completely return to operating the way we were trained, prior to the pandemic. I believe that our field will continue to have increased integration of technology in our standard operations to a much greater degree than any of us could have imagined at the beginning of this year. I foresee the use of teletherapy; electronic session note keeping, automated scheduling, using text messaging to communicate with clients, etc. will become standard practice over the next five years.