Supervising Children's Counselor (Certified Child Life Specialist)

NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue is America's oldest public hospital, established in 1736. Affiliated with the NYU School of Medicine, the 844-bed hospital is a major referral center for highly complex cases, with its 6,000 employees including highly skilled, interdisciplinary clinical staff. It sees more than 110,000 emergency room visits and 500,000 outpatient visits annually. Bellevue is an academic medical institution of international renown. We have served as an incubator for major innovations in public health, medical science, and medical education. Bellevue is a Level I Trauma Center delivering around-the-clock care in adult, pediatric, psychiatric and pediatric psychiatric emergencies as well as in the nationally-designated categories of cardiology, neurology, toxicology, and neonatology. In addition to providing comprehensive inpatient and outpatient state-of-the-art care Bellevue is a city-wide medical specialty referral source. Bellevue's clinical centers of excellence include: Emergency Medicine and Trauma Care; Cardiovascular Services; Designated Regional Perinatal Center and Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (ICU); Comprehensive Children's Psychiatric Emergency Program; and Cancer Services.

At NYC Health + Hospitals, our mission is to deliver high quality care health services, without exception. Every employee takes a person-centered approach that exemplifies the ICARE values (Integrity, Compassion, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence) through empathic communication and partnerships between all persons.

Job Description

Child Life Specialist, in collaboration with multi-disciplinary teams, provide psychosocial and developmental services to children and families individually and/or in groups in medical or psychiatric setting, on an inpatient or outpatient basis.

Job Responsibilities:

1. Provides psychological and medical preparation an support to pediatric patients and their families in the Pre-Hospitalization Program Blood lab and Dental Clinic.
   1. Uses medical play, and other age appropriate materials to explain and demonstrate medical treatment.
   2. Use play for preparation and therapeutic interventions
   3. Assess each patient's coping during medical procedures.
   4. Provides support to patient and family during the medical procedure and after.
   5. Accompanies patient to other diagnostic sites when appropriate.
2. Developmental Screenings and Referrals
   1. Use informal developmental assessment to determine patient's cognitive, social and emotional level.
   2. Identify any developmental concerns about the patients and reports to medical team and document in chart.
3. Provide play environments where children's cognitive, emotional, and developmental growth can be stimulated, and facilitated through the use of developmentally appropriate play.
   1. Through the use of play, allow children to express themselves or to use play to help soothe or relax.
   2. Make appropriate referrals to outside agencies for children.
   3. Encourage peer support and socialization.
   4. Provide activities/environment to encourage medical compliance for adolescents so that they can maintain control.
   5. Provide informal developmental assessments.

Minimum Qualifications
1. A Master's Degree from an accredited college or university in Social Work, Early Childhood Education or a related field deemed appropriate by the department, and two years of full-time relevant experience working with children in an educational, hospital or mental health setting; or,
2. A Baccalaureate Degree from an accredited college or university, with at least twelve semester hours in Child Psychology, Early Childhood Education, Social Group Work or related coursework, and four years of full-time experience as described above; or,
3. A satisfactory equivalent combination of training, education and experience.

Department Preferences

Child Life Specialist Certification or eligibility to sit for certification exam preferred.

NYC Health and Hospitals offers a competitive benefits package that includes:

• Comprehensive Health Benefits for employees hired to work 20+ hrs. per week
• Retirement Savings and Pension Plans
• Loan Forgiveness Programs for eligible employees
• Paid Holidays and Vacation in accordance with employees' Collectively bargained contracts
• College tuition discounts and professional development opportunities
• Multiple employee discounts programs