Child Life Practicum I

Catalog description

The child life camp practicum experience is meant to support, enhance, and extend your volunteer work with Camp Kids Are Kids Chicago (CKAKC) by adding curated content, discussion, and reflection to your experience as a cabin counselor or activity director before, throughout, and following the week of camp. Practicum content will focus on the subjective experience of children who have a cancer-related diagnosis, as well as the subjective experiences of siblings, caregivers, extended family members, and medical personnel through post-camp class sessions. Ongoing reflective meetings will integrate this knowledge with perspectives and ethical considerations around a family’s experience through the oncology journey. Students will also have received training and demonstrate knowledge around the developmental understanding of illness and mandated reporting as a part of the onboarding experience in preparation for camp. Practicum students will complete written and oral reflections and self-assessments throughout the in-person camp week that allow them to more deeply explore themes, events, and observations from individual camp experiences and help them to identify their own areas of strength, growth, and opportunities to continue their learning. This practicum will provide 200+ hours of documented pre- internship experience. Please note that this practicum primarily takes place off-campus within the defined camp community spaces in and around Chicago. Program Director permission is required for registration