DISCOVER The Child Life and Creative Arts Therapy Department
April 2025
A Day in the Life of a Child Life Assistant: An Interview with Erin and Jeffrey Erin DiIorio, CLA: Jeffrey, how long have you worked as a Child Life assistant?
Jeffrey Novick, CLA: I started end of October 2023. And I was a volunteer a year before that. What about yourself? E: I started as a CLA in April 2024, and before that was a volunteer from June 2023 to April 2024. So, I am about to hit my year next month! What does a typical day look like for you? J: My role as a CLA is more that of like a floater. Roughly, my schedule in the morning is inpatient P5/P4S, doing intros, helping with needs on the floor. Then in the afternoon it can go anywhere from P5/P4S, heading over to the outpatient Hem/Onc clinic, and more recently I've been helping out in the ICUs. E: The first thing that strikes me is that my day is a lot more structured than your day. I run every evening Zone group from 5:30 - 7:30PM, and I also run afternoon zone group three days a week from 2:00 - 4:00PM. Additionally, I have patients that I see in the dialysis clinic on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and I typically go down there around 4:45 or 5:00PM. The rest of the time I primarily float between P5/P4S and the NICU helping Katie out with projects and interventions. What kinds of things can we catch you doing on the units? J: You can catch me introducing new admissions to our child life and creative arts therapy services, helping out with needs or activities or referring them to the proper person. You can also catch me doing a bedside session with patients, whether it's just playtime, reading a book, or coviewing one of our KZTV shows, such as bingo. Now, I'm very curious for you as a CLA who runs Zone group, since part of your responsibility is to be in charge of running a specific space. Do you feel like you’re more at home in Zone because it's “your space?” E: Ooh, that's a good question. I definitely feel at home in Zone. I love running groups and I love curating a vibe for our patients when they come down into the space. I really love our team, so I do also love being up on the units working collaboratively with everybody. So it's a perfect mix, it's nice that I kind of get to experience the whole scope of the hustle and bustle of the hospital and the units during the day and then when things naturally quiet down at night, I get to work more independently and closely with patients down in the Zone. What is your favorite part of your job as a CLA?
J: My favorite part of the job is working with so many different people in different areas, I’m exposed to so many things that I never thought I would get experience doing. E: We have so much to do here. We have so many services, and I think for patients that are feeling like they want to engage, but maybe like don't know how, just talk to us! KZTV is a really incredible resource because you can do it from the comfort of your rooms. If there's a show that interests you but you just want someone to chill and watch with together, we are always down to do that with patients. I’m biased, but I'm also gonna plug the Zone if your medical team gives the okay for you to come down. E: Thank you! Okay, if you had to describe your job, our department or our work in three words, what words would you pick? J: I would say “support,” and that involves emotional, mental, physical, basically every kind of support that you would need. So “support” for sure. “Play.” And “joy.” We have the capacity to bring joy to a situation that isn’t easy. E: I concur! I was on the exact same page with two of the words. My final word was “engaged.” I think we're really engaged with our patients and families, and we hope to continue to bring that support and that play to the forefront of our work. LB 2019
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