Child Life Specialist Preparation Certificate

Cuiting Li, Professor
Office: Room 238, College of Professional Studies Building
Phone: 715-346-4082
Email: cli@uwsp.edu

This certificate is ideal for you if you are seeking a career as Child Life Specialists and helps you meet the first, academic, steps towards certification. It is also beneficial if you are seeking skills and understanding that can be employed in a variety of settings such as hospitals, child advocacy centers, schools, camp and bereavement programs, women’s shelters, hospice, trauma centers and more. Students from any major may complete the certificate which is particularly well suited if you are pursuing a major in Family and Consumer Sciences: Child Life & Family Studies Option, BS.

Using the national Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) academic eligibility requirements as a guide this certificate encompasses the 10 required course content areas. Each of the courses in our program has been pre-approved by ACLP helping to expedite child life course verification as part of the eligibility assessment requirements needed to qualify to sit for the national examination.

This certificate by itself does not qualify you to work or identify yourself as a Certified Child Life Specialist. It is designed to meet the mandatory academic requirements designated by ACLP. Additional requirements are needed for full certification such as volunteer hours in and out of medical settings, practicum(s), internship(s), and completion of the national exam. See the national ACLP website at childlife.org for a comprehensive list of all requirements to become an official Certified Child Life Specialist.