The Role of Child Life Specialists in Community Settings

Genevieve Lowry received her BS from Wheelock College (1990) in early childhood education and child life and her M.Ed from Fordham University (1998). From 1990-2007 she worked as a certified child life specialist in a major New York City hospital and later as a private practitioner. Currently she is faculty at Bank Street Graduate School of Education in the fully online Child Life Program. Genevieve is also the founder of the The Convenient Classroom, an online learning platform for Child Life Specialists offering opportunities for professional development. She writes and presents on topics related to children and families as well as online education. She is interested in strategies for supporting adjuncts teaching online and providing advisement to students online. Lindsey Murphy, PhD, CCLS, is an Assistant Professor and Graduate Child Life Studies Program Director at Missouri State University in Springfield, MO, USA. She got her doctoral degree from University of Missouri, where she studied the experiences of first responders working with children during emergency events. She co-founded the nonprofit organization, Child Life Disaster Relief (CLDR), in 2016. She served on the CLDR Board of Directors from 2016-2020, and led a team of Certified Child Life Specialists nationwide that worked to integrate child life specialists into their communities during crises. She has been a Certified Child Life Specialist since 2009, she began her career in the level 1 Pediatric Trauma and Emergency Department and continued her clinical work later in the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. She is on the Founding Council for the Child Life Academic Society and currently serves on the Association of Child Life Professionals Community-Based Practice Committee. Cara Smith received her BA in Psychology from Graceland University (2003) and her MA from University of Missouri – Columbia in Human Development and Family Studies – Child Life (2005). Cara worked as a Certified Child Life Specialist at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, MO for 8 years before moving in to an academic role as a child life clinical instructor at Missouri State University for 9 years. During her time in academia, Cara continued her clinical work as a CCLS with the Wellness and Resiliency program of the Kansas City Police Athletic League and through volunteer and professional work with Child Life Disaster Relief. Cara has worked around the globe to advocate for the psychosocial needs of children facing challenging experiences. She is currently employed as a full time CCLS in a hospital in Doha, Qatar. Cara integrates her trainings in mindfulness, resiliency building, self-regulation, interpersonal neurobiology, Trust Based Relational Interventions (TBRI), and yoga (RTY-200) into her clinical practice and teachings. She is passionate about the healing powers of connection and play in building resiliency.