BSN to Child Life Specialist

[nshah0211]

Hello,

I have finally found direction. I have felt so lost and confused for awhile. I know that nursing is not meant for me, I truly respect those who do it, but it is not where my passion lies. I absolutely love working with children and I want to help those in need and I have found a career that I believe is a great fit for me. Being a child life specialist will allow me to fulfill my passion of helping children. Now that I have found what I want to do, the next step is to make it happen. Have any of you taken the journey of becoming a child life specialist? Where do I start? I have done some research. I wanted to know if my BSN is sufficient as the bachelor's degree required to become a child life specialist? I also read that there are 10 specific classes that need to be taken in order to be able to take the certification exam. Are any of the classes I took in nursing school sufficient? What are those 10 specific classes I need to take? I am under the assumptions that most of them will be psych/development courses. I have also read that I would need to complete 480 hours of an internship. Are there schools nearby that will have child life specialist programs for someone who already has a bachelor's degree? I live in LA (if that is of any help). Any information/advice would be greatly appreciated!

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Hello,

I have finally found direction. I have felt so lost and confused for awhile. I know that nursing is not meant for me, I truly respect those who do it, but it is not where my passion lies. I absolutely love working with children and I want to help those in need and I have found a career that I believe is a great fit for me. Being a child life specialist will allow me to fulfill my passion of helping children. Now that I have found what I want to do, the next step is to make it happen. Have any of you taken the journey of becoming a child life specialist? Where do I start? I have done some research. I wanted to know if my BSN is sufficient as the bachelor's degree required to become a child life specialist? I also read that there are 10 specific classes that need to be taken in order to be able to take the certification exam. Are any of the classes I took in nursing school sufficient? What are those 10 specific classes I need to take? I am under the assumptions that most of them will be psych/development courses. I have also read that I would need to complete 480 hours of an internship. Are there schools nearby that will have child life specialist programs for someone who already has a bachelor's degree? I live in LA (if that is of any help). Any information/advice would be greatly appreciated!

BSN can still be used for the bachelor's requirement. No nursing school clinicals don't count. Nursing classes might count. The specific classes that count are listed here:

Child Life Council : Eligibility Requirements

[passionflower, BSN, MSN, RN]

No information to offer just wanted to congratulate you on finding your path.

[Kate25]

Hi my name is Katie. I am currently a Sophomore in Nursing school and have suddenly been questioning my major choice. I know I absolutely want to help people and work with children. I would love to work in a hospital. With all of this said, I just don't know if nursing is the right profession for me. I don't know much about a child life specialist, but have been researching and am already falling in love with it. I have yet to change my major and still am not exactly sure about it, but I would love some more information. Did you change your profession? If so, are you happy with the choice you made? I'm so confused and would love some insight about it. Thank you!

[dishes, BSN, RN]

@kate25 have you considered volunteering with a disability education program such as Kids on the Block puppet program or an injury prevention program such as ThinkFirst?