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A nurse and a young girl playing and smiling.

At Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, our goal is to make your child feel comfortable and cared for during hospitalization. Our Child Life Program can help reduce the stress that pediatric patients and their families may experience when faced with illness, medical procedures, and unfamiliar surroundings.

Services

The Child Life Program offers an opportunity for children to engage in everyday childhood activities to help minimize anxiety. The program provides therapeutic, educational, and recreational activities to meet the unique emotional and developmental needs of children during their hospital stays.

The goals of Child Life Program services include:

  • Minimizing overall stress and anxiety
  • Providing normal play opportunities
  • Enhancing normal living patterns and experiences within the hospital environment
  • Promoting normal growth and development during hospitalization
  • Lessening the emotional impact of illness and hospitalization
  • Advocating and supporting the patient’s and family’s roles in the healthcare team
  • Offering supervised play and activities

Since play is children’s “work” and their means of exploration, discovery and conflict resolution, it is the primary tool of the Child Life Program. Child Life staff will provide games, toys and activities at the patient’s bedside for those children who are isolated during hospitalization and unable to visit the playroom.

Our Team

Certified Child Life Specialists

Certified Child Life Specialists are trained in child development and are equipped to deal with the effects of hospitalization on children. They work closely with the healthcare team to assess and address the individual needs of young patients and their families wherever children are served in the hospital.

Child Life Specialists and volunteers also provide a variety of activities to patients, including age-appropriate toys and games, arts and crafts, movies and music in designated activity areas and at patient bedsides.

Patient Resources

Stony Brook Children's Child Life Specialists: Helping Kids and Families Cope, Hope and Heal

Support Child Life Services

Child Life Services is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for patients and families during a hospital stay. Here are some ways you can give:

  • Money. Your financial gift can be used to help families with children in the hospital to pay for parking and meals. For information on how to give a financial donation to our Child Life Program, call (631) 216-3636.
     
  • Toys, crafts or supplies. New toys, crafts, games, sleepwear and supplies are always needed and much appreciated by our young patients. To make it as easy as possible for you to donate, visit our Amazon Wish List

Make a secure online gift to the Child Life Program here

Learn More About Gifting to Child Life

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