CHRISTUS Health Internship Program

The Child Life Department at The Children's Hospital of San Antonio offers a 15-week/600 hour clinical accredited child life internship designed to give the intern maximum experience in the hospital setting. The first week is an orientation to our Children's Hospital and the Child Life department. The remaining weeks are divided into clinical rotations giving the intern experience with all ages of children from infants to adolescents. One week will be designated for site visits to other child life programs, community resources and benevolent organizations that compliment child life services. Child Life interns will also be exposed to a variety of medical settings and experiences designed to strengthen each intern's skill set.

Interns work in various inpatient and outpatient settings gaining experience in the following skill sets:

Building rapport with patients and families,

Planning and facilitating developmentally appropriate play activities for hospitalized children both in playrooms/group activities and individual sessions,

Providing child life therapeutic interventions,

Participating in preparation for and support during procedures and treatments,

Conducting medical play sessions,

Conducting assessments, developmental observations and other assignments, all under the supervision of Certified Child Life Specialists.

Our internship provides 2 clinical rotations along with 2 roundtable learning experiences weekly, reading assignments, weekly journals, article reviews, and project work. Interns will have weekly meetings with their preceptor and the internship coordinators. Intern applicants should expect to work 40-plus hours a week with additional reading and project work to be done aside from assigned hospital hours. The internship is aligned with ACLP curriculum modules.