Upcoming Events

Stay tuned for more webinars and information about our annual fall conference!

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Upcoming Events

Save the Date!

"Cultural Humility in Child Life: Conversations with Child Life Specialists"

Presenter:

Kathryn Cantrell, PhD, CCLS

Texas Woman's University

Tuesday January 20, 2026

7:00PM - 8:30PM

1.5 PDUs in DEI

In pediatrics, the construct cultural humility has been adopted to support providers in ensuring their practice meets the needs of all patients and families. Cultural humility (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998) is the process-oriented approach toward gaining cultural competence that involves life-long reflection and openness. Though cultural humility is taught in child life curriculum required for certification, it is unclear how CCLSs use this construct in their day-to-day work with children, youth, and families. Too, this topic has yet to be studied in the child life profession. In this presentation, we will describe findings from a phenomenology study that asked the question, “How do certified child life specialists practice cultural humility?” Qualitative data (n=21) suggest that child life specialists practice cultural humility within the context of their therapeutic relationships. Too, specialists’ ability to practice cultural humility depends on the quality of their relationships, leading to implications for how we socially support child life specialists. This presentation will review the method, results, and implications of this study.

Members - Free with promo code

Non-Members - $20

Please register by Jaunuary 18th.

The webinar will be recorded and available for one month after the live session to those who register for the event by 1/18/26.

Past Events

Annual Fall Conference 2025

October 27, 2025
The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp - Ashford, CT

June 2025 Webinar

"Strategies for Tolerating Distress for Patients and Clinicians"

Presenter:

Kate Kreider, BA, MSW, LICSW

Baystate Health, Springfield, MA

Problems or issues don't always have solutions. When our patients and families are faced with insurmountable distress how do we support them? The work can feel daunting for clinicians as we hold so much for our patients and families. At times, it may feel impossible to be “helpful.” Dialectical Behavior Therapy is not a "cure," it is a set of values, skills, and interventions to help get through distressful times. Together, we will explore the foundation and core content of Dialectical Behavior Therapy from a health care perspective.

January 2025 Webinar

"An Overview of Cultural Humility"

Presenter:

Jenise Katalina, MSW, LICSW

Women of Color Health Equity Collective, Springfield, MA

Cultural Humility is a philosophy that empowers individuals to effectively engage in interpersonal relationships that are dynamically diverse and mutually respectful. Unlike Cultural Competence, cultural humility is a life-long and ongoing process of self-reflection and self-critique in which individuals expand their capacity for learning, listening and understanding, regardless of their experiences with cultures other than their own. Cultural humility empowers the individual to recognize and redress power-imbalances that exist within their immediate social and organizational structures. This training will provide attendees with the opportunity to be introduced to each of the tenets and start their journey toward Cultural Humility.

May 2024 Webinar

The Child Life Scope of Practice and the Pediatric Mental Health Crisis

Presenter:

Allison "Allie" Butler, BS, CCLS

Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children's Hospital Colorado

Exploring the child life scope of supporting patients in mental health crisis. The presenter works within the Pediatric Mental Health Institute at Children's Hospital Colorado and has established the child life programming throughout the institute. This webinar will share the support, programming, and interventions facilitated to patients within this demographic. This presentation will discus both 1:1 supports and facilitating groups to promote coping, emotional safety, and normalizing mental health treatment for patients and families.

March 2024 Child Life Month Event

Celebrating Child Life Month with the Courageous Parents Network

Presenters:

Blyth Lord, Executive Director

Jennifer Seidman, Director of Community Engagement and Senior Producers

Severe Neurological Impairment (SNI) is a complex condition and until now, has come without a roadmap for caregivers. NeuroJourney.org is an educational resource for families and clinicians navigating ever-evolving SNI, integrating prognostic content on the medical and psychosocial aspects of the disease trajectory with compassionate, family-centered commentary. Two of its authoring producers from Courageous Parents Network presented this powerful tool and discussed ways that patients, families, and clinical learners can benefit from its use. They discussed Courageous Parents Network's wider library of resources to empower, equip, and orient parents and others caring for children living with serious medical conditions.

February 2024 Webinar

"Research Roadmap: An Experimental Child Life Study from Start to Finish"

Presenters:

Hannah Knott, PhD, CCLS, Azusa Pacific University

Natalie Chicas, MA, CCLS, Shriner's Children's Southern California

This webinar will showcase an experimental child life research study, a double-blind, randomized controlled trial exploring the impact of a video modeling preparation technique on preoperative anxiety. The webinar will involve a discussion of the process of designing, proposing, and implementing a clinical prospective research study from start to finish. Participants will be able to view the video preparation tool used in the study and discuss the implications of this research for how to approach the preoperative preparation of school-aged children.