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Becoming An Effective CCLS While
Maintaining A Healthy Work Life Balance
Michelle Ashford, CCLS
Jessica Palumbo Dufur, CCLS
Christy Winfree, MS,LRT/CTRS,CCLS
Objectives
Participants Will Be Able To: • Identify “superhero identities” versus effective professional habits
• Identify approaches to advocacy and ways in which child life advocates
• Identify prioritization and its relationship to professional efficiency
• Articulate reasons quality of care can be shifted from quality to quantity
• Identify professional boundaries and clinical scope
• Embrace the ability to “say no”
• Master and maintain good self care
• Recognize qualities of a healthy mentor/mentee relationship
• Identify challenges related to work/family/life balance.
The Superhero Complex
Certified Child Life Specialist
Child Life Specialist
CCLS
Professional
Student
“Superhero Complex” Q & A
Many Child Life Specialists work for several years before they realize they are being seen as a superhero and find themselves starting to feel that they’re losing the joy and value behind their work.
Ethics & Effectiveness
Child Life Council Code of Ethical Responsibility
Principle 5:
Individuals shall promote the effectiveness of the child life profession by continuous efforts to improve professional services and practices
provided in the diverse settings in which they work and in the community at large.
Source: www.childlife.org
Advocacy
Definition of ADVOCATE
1 one that pleads the cause of another; specifically : one that pleads the cause of another before a judicial court
2 one that defends or maintains a cause or proposal
3 one that supports or promotes the interests of another
Source: Miriam Webster
Conflicting Priorities
• High Priorities• Administrative versus
patient care• Trauma versus
bereavement• Staffing Considerations
• Unrealistic expectations of role/goals
Strategies to Promote Effectiveness
Advocacy
Prioritizing Responsibilities
Mentorship Relationships
Goal Setting
Work Life Balance
Self Care
Advocating For Our Profession & Our Specific Role
We got here due to our passion to support others, but how do we advocate for ourselves?
Graceful advocacy:• Confident in our profession
• Find your “allies”
• Understand your organization’s leadership structure
Advocating for Patients & Families
• When to advocate?
• How to balance your advocacy duties in the workplace
• Resources
• Professional Boundaries• Not burn bridges
• Know when to push and when to yield
Professional Boundaries
Professional Boundaries = Respect
• Respect for our patients
• Respect for ourselves
• Respect for our profession
Professional boundaries ensure a
secure and therapeutic
environment where both the provider and patient are respected.
Source: ncctinc.com
Professional Boundaries Zones
Under-Involved
Over-Involved
Zone Of
Helpfulness
Source: www.ncsbn.org/professionalboundaries
Professional Boundaries
Respectful Boundaries Disrespectful Boundaries
providing therapeutic care providing care above therapeutic measure
checking on patient while hospitalized checking on discharged patient through social media
exploring patient’s understanding of a procedure
sharing your own personal experience with a procedure
active listening gossiping
Prioritization
Prioritization…Such a Delicate Balance
• Where do I even start? …You mean I can say no?
• What does “No” Mean?• Difficult to really grasp for some, inability to say “no”
• We must prioritize!
• We must ask for help!
• We must say “no” sometimes!
Why “Must We” Prioritize?
Less really can be more…why drive thru when you can dine in?
It is true! To protect not only our patients but our work life balance sometimes we must say no! We have to focus on having quality interactions with few versus many interactions that were “drive by” child life services.
Needs Assessment Tool- Inpatient
HEALTHCARE VARIABLES: Chronic illness Emergency admissions/ trauma Pending diagnosis New diagnosis Poor prognosis Pain Procedures Isolation/ restricted mobility NPO Intebated/ sedated/ vented Compliance issues
FAMILY VARIABLES: Family physically or emotionally unavailable Family having difficulty coping with admission/ diagnosis Cultural/ language barriers DFACS (protective services) involvement Family stress outside of hospital admission Bereavement Siblings: Siblings present for bereavement Sibling visit Sibling support
CHILD VARIABLES: Ineffective coping techniques Lack of understanding of admission/ diagnosis Changes in Behavior Difficulty expressing emotions/ change in affect Child is anxious Child not meeting developmental milestones (not including developmental delays) Regression from baseline Needs normalization
5 or more checked items = high needs
Shared from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Child Life Program
Needs Assessment Tool- Outpatient
HEALTHCARE VARIABLES: New diagnosis Poor Prognosis First Clinic Visit Pain (at present time) Procedures Repeat Visit (with ineffective coping techniques previously) NPO Compliance issues Nurse/ Doctor Referral Hospital Tours/ Pre-op
FAMILY VARIABLES: Family physically or emotionally unavailable Family having difficulty coping Cultural/ language barriers DFACS (protective services) involvement Family stress outside of hospital admission Family Presence Policy Parent Request Bereavement Sibling support
CHILD VARIABLES: Ineffective coping techniques Lack of understanding of admission/ diagnosis Changes in Behavior Difficulty expressing emotions/ change in affect Child is anxious Child not meeting developmental milestones (not including developmental delays) Regression from baseline Needs normalization Age
ED SPECIFIC: Acuity (blue, red, pink) Age (3-12) Admit
3 or more checked items = high needs
Shared from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Child Life Program
What’s your Dream?
• What’s my ideal Child Life dream job?
• What’s my ideal job setting?
• What keeps me going day in and day out?
• What made me passionate about this field?
Goal Setting
Savvy Goal Setting
• Does this goal fit my role?
When goal setting, think short and long term.
• What do I want to accomplish this year? In the next two years?
• How do I know if I met this goal?
But I Set It As My Goal…
Goal setting is GREAT, but we must be realistic!• How will I feel if I can’t meet this goal that I set for myself?
• Do I truly recognize this is a very “reaching” goal…
• What happens if I don’t reach it- performance evaluation?
Mentorship
Mentorship & You!
Mentors MenteesEffective Mentors Require An Ability
to:Mentees Require An Ability to:
Invest time and effort in mentee and the program
Take initiative
Be accessible and approachable Take responsibility
Manage the development of the relationship
Consider new ideas
Actively listen Set goals
Facilitate decision making Follow through
Utilize appropriate learning strategies Actively listen
Suggested Selection Criteria
Mentorship Guidelines
Quality Versus Quantity
• Colleague Comparison• Statistics• Understaffing• Superhero complex
• Unrealistic expectations of role/ goals
Self Care
Self-Care is not about self-indulgence, it’s
about self-preservation
-Audrey Lorde
How To Care For Yourself
Comfort Measures
• Schedule desk time to keep life under control.
• Wear happy socks.
• Learn to sit quietly and accomplish nothing.
• Make a list of survivors.
• Do one thing at a time whenever possible.
• Fix the small things that annoy you and laugh.
Compassion Fatigue
How to Spot Compassion Fatigue
Work Life Balance
Work Life Balance
• How do we manage self care at work when life changes
• Modify hours
• Job Share
• Balancing work with school
• Starting a family
How to avoid this…
• Ask yourself the following questions:
What is in my control?
Is this meaningful?
Is this important or not?
• Ask for help.
• Create a daily transition from work to home.
• Allow time to decompress.
Be aware of limitations.
Work Life Balance Benefits?
Benefits of Work Life Balance Initiatives:
• Ability to manage work and individual commitments
• Improved personal and family relationships
• Flexible working arrangements
• Increased focus, motivation and job satisfaction
• Increased job security
Round Table
Sources
Barnsteiner, J. & Gillis-Donovan, J. (1990). Being Related and Separate: A Standard for Therapeutic Relationships. Maternal Child Nursing, 15, 223-228. Gottlieb, D., Hennessy, L., & Squires, V. (2004). Burnout: Knowing the Symptoms & Learning How to Care for Yourself, Too. Child Life Focus, 6(2), 1-4. Thayer, P. (2004). Navigating family relationships in child life. Child Life FOCUS, 24(3), 1-2.
(2013, June 6). Are you at risk for a professional boundary violation. Retrieved from Boundaries in Allied Health website: http://www.ncctinc.com/webinars/Boundaries%20in%20Allied%20Health.pdf (2013, June 6). Retrieved from Miriam Webster website: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
advocate (2013, July 6). A nurse’s guide to the importance of appropriate professional boundaries. website: https://www.ncsbn.org/Professional_Boundaries_2007_Web.pdf (2013, August 28). Retrieved from Code of Ethical Responsibility website: http://www.childlife.org/The%20Child%20Life%20Profession/CodeofEthicalResponsibility.cfm
Rupashree Baral, Shivganesh Bhargava, (2010). "Work family enrichment as a mediator between organizational interventions for work life balance and job outcomes",Journal of ‐ ‐Managerial Psychology, Vol. 25 Iss: 3, pp.274 – 30
Contact Information
Michelle Ashford: [email protected]
Jessica Palumbo Dufur: [email protected]
Christy Winfree: [email protected]
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