Child Life Internship
The Child Life Department at Golisano Children's at UK offers a comprehensive 600-hour child life clinical experience in affiliation with the UK College of Agriculture Child Life Accelerated Masters’ Pathway.
The child life clinical internship experience is designed based on recommendations for competency development and learning experiences outlined by the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP). After completing this child life internship, each intern will be prepared to begin practice as an entry-level child life specialist and will be eligible to sit for the ACLP certification exam.
Child life internship clinical experience
The child life internship experience will be integrated into the final year of the UK Child Life Accelerated Masters’ Pathway. Along with coursework and the successful development and defense of a related thesis, students will complete in a minimum of 600 hours of clinical experience throughout the Fall and Spring semesters of the final year. This internship experience is exclusive to UK Child Life Accelerated Masters’ program students as of January 2027.
Child life clinical interns/ students will be supervised by certified child life specialists during their clinical experiences. Clinical child life specialists supervising students have demonstrated competency, are credentialed by the Association of Child Life Professionals, and have met the ACLP guidelines for clinical experience of 4,000 paid work hours. Interns/ students will be required to complete academic and clinical learning assignments that support the growth in critical thinking and skill development.
Interns/students will gain hands-on experience in assessing patient psychosocial needs, providing developmental and therapeutic play opportunities, facilitating diagnosis teaching and preparation, providing procedural and coping support, offering emotional and grief support, and supporting siblings and family members.
