Child Life Internships
CoxHealth accepts one Child Life intern three times per year: spring, summer and fall semesters.
Our child life team has already accepted an intern for the summer semester. We will not be accepting application packets until the Fall 2025 application cycle.
Our internship program is a full-time, 600-hour program that covers the Association of Child Life Professionals' internship modules. If additional hours are required, special arrangements can be made. Interns may be required to work around or on a holiday. Evening and weekend shifts will also be included in the experience.
The internship curriculum incorporates Child Life programming and strategies to address current health care issues. Students are given opportunities to build independent, professional assessment and intervention skills with patients of diverse ages and varying diagnoses.
The internship includes two set rotations, six weeks each (12 weeks total), with an emphasis in Pediatrics/Pediatric Intensive Care Unit/Surgery and Pediatrics/Pediatric Intensive Care Unit/Neonatal Intensive Care Unit or ED. Three additional weeks of experience are offered in the Emergency Department, Adult Intensive Care Units for coverage of visitation and bereavement consults, Pediatric Urgent Care, injury prevention and other areas of the hospital caring for children. This child life internship follows all ACLP guidelines, learning modules, assignments, and recommendations.
Students will also have opportunities to be involved in community activities and organizations, including Safe Kids Coalition, First Steps, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, Ronald McDonald House and Lost & Found Grief Center. Our specialists are also certified child passenger safety technicians and provide assistance with car seat installations/checks, and interns will observe these activities as well.
As we are a community hospital with a pediatric unit, Child Life covers many areas throughout the hospital system. Interns are scheduled on a variety of shifts between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. and will provide services alongside the CCLS wherever consults are received. Most recently, our interns have been completing four 10-hour shifts from 6:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. There are also times interns are scheduled to attend community events, meetings, and shadowing in other hospital areas that care for children.
Internship Objectives & Responsibilities
About CoxHealth and Child Life
CoxHealth is the only locally owned, not-for-profit health system based in Springfield, Missouri. Cox Medical Center South is a community hospital with a pediatric unit, pediatric intensive care, and private neonatal intensive care rooms. In addition to supporting these units, Child Life serves patients 18 and younger who are admitted to other hospital departments. Adult patients throughout the system who are developmentally delayed also fall within our scope of care.
The Child Life department was established in 1991 and currently has three full-time and one part-time Certified Child Life Specialists (CCLS). Our program provides coverage seven days a week. Child Life is an integral part of the health care team, often consulted to assist children and families throughout the organization.