Kaley Rose, certified child life specialist, helps patients feel safe and empowered during and after clinic visits
Emotional support and a friendly face can make all the difference for children and teens who are receiving specialty care for medical conditions or for those who’ve experienced abuse and neglect.
Meet Kaley Rose, BS, CCLS, a certified child life specialist with our Child and Family Life Services team. She supports patients at M Health Fairview Pediatric Specialty Clinic – Voyager and M Health Fairview SafeChild Clinic, where she supports pediatric patients and families. Rose, who has been with our health system for over a year, previously supported children receiving care at M Health Fairview Ridges Hospital as a child life specialist. Now, she is excited to make a difference for a new group of patients.
During Child Life Month, we caught up with Rose to learn more about her role and what makes her passionate about supporting children and teens in hospitals and clinics.
How do you support patients at the different clinics?
I am the primary child life specialist at Voyager Clinic and the SafeChild Clinic, which means I support a variety of patients with many different needs.
The Voyager Clinic serves patients with gastrointestinal conditions and those with appointments with a weight management clinician. Some patients at this clinic have to take an injectable form of medication. During those moments, I am able to reduce medical trauma by teaching and supporting injection coping techniques. The Adoption Medicine Clinic is also located within Voyager, and I also support families as part of a team caring for adopted children and families throughout the entire adoption process. These appointments can be long for families. I’m able to normalize the environment and build rapport with these patients to empower them to develop their own coping plans. Some coping plans are very specific to what a child needs for an individual healthcare experience and other coping strategies they can utilize over and over in many situations or environments in which they feel distress in the future.
At the SafeChild Clinic, we provide care for youth who have experienced abuse or neglect. We work as tight-knit team. The medical and psychosocial providers collaborate to provide care and support through a trauma-informed lens. In addition to building rapport, I provide anxiety-reducing strategies to help bridge the gap to therapy for the patient. This population of patients holds a special place in my heart. It’s an honor to be a support person, a safe person, to these families while they are in the depths of a terribly traumatic experience.
What made you pursue Child Life as a career?
Having a sister with a chronic medical condition, my family experienced support from many child life specialists throughout her journey. From major surgeries to long hospital stays (many times over a holiday) to pain and palliative care, our family had the support of Child and Family Life Services along the way. I can recall many memorable interventions facilitated by child life specialists. One of the most memorable was a field trip to the roof of the parking garage so my sister could enjoy the fireworks on her favorite holiday. Being one of five children, we each had a unique experience. It was wonderful to have a child life specialist meet each of our own psychosocial needs. These encounters and many others were the driving force for me to pursue an education and a career in Child Life.
What is your favorite part about your role?
It’s hard to choose just one favorite aspect! So, I’ll say two.
- Building rapport. I love finding ways to connect with our patients and families by discovering what we have in common and how I can learn from them. Sometimes, that includes introducing myself and explaining my role in their first language or simply discussing our favorite summer activities.
- Helping to empower patients and families to become strong advocates and gain confidence in the healthcare setting. Sometimes, that comes quickly and sometimes it takes time. Either way, it is incredibly rewarding to watch a patient walk away feeling proud of their own coping and advocacy skills.
What is the most challenging part of your role?
Not always knowing what’s around the corner for patients and their families can be difficult. I develop such beautiful connections with these patients, I don’t always get to see the next steps for them.
What little things do you do to make a difference for patients?
I try to stay connected to youth pop culture and surprise my patients by knowing the rarest legendary Pokémon or Taylor Swift’s little brother’s middle name.
