Insights from Child Life Specialists: Embracing Death, Dying, and Bereavement

1. Insight from Child Life Specialists who work in the field of death, dying and bereavement Cythia Vejar, PhD Lisa A. Martinelli Beasley, MPS, CCLS, ATR-BC

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Increase people’s comfort level with death, dying, and bereavement, at individual, community, and societal levels. • Motivate people to become inspired by their own mortality – i.e., acknowledgment of death encourages people to forge more meaningful lives. • Encourage people to become more supportive of other people when they are faced with a chronic/terminal illness, or when they’ve lost a loved one. • Conceptualize death, dying, and bereavement in creative terms in order to personalize/normalize the experience.

3. PRESENTATION OUTLINE • What is child life • Factors affecting familiarity with death • Data collection overview • Prevelant themes in data • Creating Metaphors • Conclusion

4. WHAT IS A CHILD LIFE SPECIALIST? “Child Life Specialists help infants, children, youth and families cope with the stress and uncertainty of acute and chronic illness, injury, trauma, disability, loss and bereavement.” (Association of Child Life Professionals, 2017)

5. CHILD LIFE SERVIES • Therapeutic and medical play • Procedural preparation and alternative focus to reduce fear and anxiety • Collaborate with interdisciplinary team to promote patient and family-centered care • Emotional support for patients, siblings, and families • Grief and bereavement services

6. CHILD LIFE CERTIFICATION REQUIRMENTS • Child Life Specialists are also required to have a background in child development, play, family systems, grief and bereavement, expressive therapies , and ethics. • Child Life Specialists are also required to have a background in child development, play, family systems, grief and bereavement, expressive therapies , and ethics. • Child Life Specialists are also required to have a background in child development, play, family systems, grief and bereavement, expressive therapies , and ethics. Child Life Specialists are required to have a background in child development, play, family systems, grief and bereavement, expressive therapies, and ethics. (Association of Child Life Professionals, 2017)

7. FACTORS AFFECTING FAMILIARITY WITH DEATH • The multigenerational home • Change in death rituals • Life expectancy and mortality rates • Geographic mobility and intergenerational contact • Life-extending technologies

8. EXAMINING ASSUMPTIONS • Death is part of our lives- not thinking or talking about death doesn’t remove us from its power • Ostrichlike behavior limits our choices for coping with dying • Societal views: how death is acknowledged • Professionals “deal” with death – doctors, nurses, funeral directors, etc.

9. DATA COLLECTION • 108 individuals in the Child Life profession were surveyed • Snapshot of people’s experiences • Description of questions that were asked • Why we devised this questionnaire • Limitations • Implications for follow-up questionnaire

10. DATA THEMES • Some relevant themes that emerged from the data: • Language • Support • Lessons & Perspectives • Legacy Building • Metaphors

11. METAPHORS IN RELATION TO DATA • Theoretical frameworks that encourage use of metaphors/Creative Approaches: • Art Therapy • Family Systems Theory 2. Gestalt Theory 3. Solution-focused Brief Therapy (Miracle Question) 3. Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy • Why are metaphors/creative approaches important in working with the death, dying, and bereavement community?

12. METAPHOR ACTIVITY • Think of the following: • Something found in nature (person, animal, plant, a cycle, a natural phenomenon), a bodily, emotional, an intellectual experience, a relationship dynamic, an event, or an object. • Imbed a timeline into what you selected for #1. • Describe something about journeying through the timeline: • Make sure that the emotional or thoughtful elements of your timeline reflects your perspective on life and death. • (Optional): Keep a memento handy that represents your metaphor. For example, if your metaphor is about a butterfly, put a picture of this by your work desk, buy a butterfly keychain, etc.

13. CONCLUSION • Q & A: 2. We would like to review our learning objectives: • Increase people’s comfort level with death, dying, and bereavement, at individual, community, and societal levels. • Motivate people to become inspired by their own mortality – i.e., acknowledgment of death encourages people to forge more meaningful lives. • Encourage people to become more supportive of other people when they are faced with a chronic/terminal illness, or when they’ve lost a loved one. • Conceptualize death, dying, and bereavement in creative terms in order to personalize/normalize the experience. Thank you for attending!

14. Cythia Vejar, PhD: cvejar@mcdaniel.eduLisa Martinelli Beasley, MPS, CCLS, ATR-BC: lmartinelli@towson.edu