Internship

Thank you for your interest in our ACLP accredited Child Life Internship Program.The Children's Hospital of Michigan typically offers an unpaid 16-week internship for the Winter, Summer and Fall semesters. The internship requires at least 40 clinical hours per week, Monday through Friday with occasional evenings and weekends. Our child life clinical training experience provides high quality instruction and preparation for child life professionals.

Program Schedule

The first two weeks are an intensive orientation to our medical facility and department, which includes an overview of policies and procedures. You will have an opportunity to shadow rotation supervisors to discuss the highlights of their assigned areas and attend educational in-services. During each six week rotation, you will have the opportunity to (1) introduce services to patients and families, (2) assess patient and family needs, (3) plan developmentally appropriate, supportive interventions, (4) implement and evaluate intervention plans, and (5) document interventions in patient charts and daily statistic spreadsheet, all under supervision of a certified child life specialist. After completing two rotations, the last two weeks of the internship provide an opportunity to select a unit from a previous rotation to independently provide services on that unit and carry our house pager responding to all areas of the hospital.

Rotations include:

Burn/Surgery and Rehabilitation
Hematology/Oncology, Nephrology and Bone Marrow Transplant
Same Day Surgery
Emergency Department
Neurosurgery, Neurology, Endocrinology and Pulmonary
Urology
Infectious Diseases
Cardiology and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (ICU)
Radiology
Burn and Hematology/Oncology Clinic

Application Overview

Application Deadlines

Please note: We are currently only accepting university affiliated students.
Incomplete applications or applications post marked after the deadline will not be considered.

Required Readings prior to the internship:

Child Life Council Child life beyond the hospital (2008)
Handbook of Medical Play Therapy and Child Life: Interventions in Clinical and Medical Settings by L. Rubin (2017)
Psychosocial Care of Children in Hospitals: A Clinical Practice Manual by L. Gaynard et al (1990)
The Handbook of Child Life by R. Thompson 2nd Edition (2018)

Stipend

No stipend will be paid to Children’s Hospital of Michigan child life interns.

Application Contents

To be considered for an internship at the Children’s Hospital of Michigan, an application must contain the following items:

Association of Child Life Professional’s Child Life Common Internship Application
Current resume
Transcripts from all academic institutions. Transcripts must verify a GPA of 3.0 or higher and may be official or unofficial.
Association of Child Life Professionals Eligibility Assessment.
Must verify 10 courses in approved classes & child life course (taught by a Certified Child Life Specialist) All courses must be complete with verification by the start of the internship.
ACLP Child Life Practicum Verification Form or Child Life Practicum In Progress Form.
Practicum must be complete with verification by the start of the internship.
ACLP Verification of Related Experience Hours Form must be included for any experiences 50 hours or more.
Application fee of $25 (Application fees are nonrefundable. Please make any checks payable to Children’s Hospital of Michigan.)
Signed Children’s Hospital of Michigan Application checklist
Three completed ACLP recommendation forms mailed in with completed application. All recommendation forms must be signed and sealed.
- Academic professor
- Child life specialist supervisor for volunteer or practicum hours
- One additional professional work experience

Download Internship Application Form