Child Life Specialist - Palliative Care

Company: Intermountain Health
Location: Salt Lake City
Posted on: January 7, 2026

Job Description:

Job Description Job Description: Interacts directly with pediatric patients, families and other health team members and facilitates age-appropriate interactions and activities to help make the health care experience easier for patients and families. Reduces patient and family distress, increases effective patient and family coping, fosters patient independence, and promotes optimum development. Provides supervision to volunteers, child life pre-internship students and child life assistants. Job Description Click on the video link below to see "A Day in the Life of a Child Life Specialist" $3000 Sign-On Bonus for new hires. Posting Specifics - Pay Rate: Based on experience. - Shift Details: Full-time (40 hrs/wk) Four 10 hour shifts, Tuesday - Friday (8:00am – 6:30 pm). No weekends or evenings No on-call requirements, 1 major holiday is required every 5 - 6 years - Department: Primary Children's Hospital Salt Lake City - Additional Details: In addition to the responsibilities listed below the Palliative Care Child Life Specialist works with the unit child life specialists and the palliative care multi-disciplinary team to support families navigating the challenges that arise when a child is diagnosed with a chronic or life-limiting illness. This includes providing grief and bereavement interventions and implementing legacy and memory-making activities for the entire family. Required Qualifications - Bachelor's degree. Education must be obtained from an accredited institution. Degree will be verified. - Documentation of a successfully completed 600-hour internship supervised by a Child Life Specialist - Child Life Certification from Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) is required within 15 months of hire. - Experience with pediatric patients in a medical, hospital or behavioral health setting - Experience in Child Life Core Competencies which include but are not limited to 1) Establishing supportive relationships 2) Meeting needs of child and family members, with a focus on social, emotional, and cognitive development. 3) Providing education to and communicating with children, families, and team members 4) Providing coping support and comfort management 5) Guiding children in therapeutic play techniques 6) Ongoing assessment and written documentation of clinical care - Computer experience in word processing, spreadsheets, and databases or similar applications. Essential Functions - Accurately assesses, prioritizes, and documents pediatric patient and family care - Develops, implements, and evaluates effective pediatric patient and family centered health care plans - Provides developmentally appropriate education, psychological procedural preparation, coping support, comfort management, and play opportunities, to pediatric patients and families - Participates in selection, supervision, and training of new hires, students and volunteers - Provides education for staff (e.g., in-services, newsletter articles, etc.) - Assists with community outreach and Foundation partnerships - Adheres to Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) Child Life Code of Ethics - Meets requirements outlined in child life department expectations Skills - Pediatrics - Training and mentoring - Writing documentation - Communication - Relationship building - Taking initiative - Critical thinking - Teamwork - Growth Mindset - Accountability Preferred Qualifications - One year experience with pediatric patients in a medical, hospital or behavioral health setting. - Work experience as a child life assistant - Experience as a child life pre-internship/practicum student - Supervising volunteers while working with children and adolescents - Spanish speaking Physical Requirements: Physical Requirements - Frequent interactions with patient care providers, patients, and visitors that require employee to verbally communicate as well as hear and understand spoken information, alarms, needs, and assess issues quickly and accurately, particularly during emergency situations to maintain safety - Ongoing need for employee to see and read information, documents, monitors, identify equipment and supplies, and be able to assess customer needs. - Manual dexterity of hands and fingers to manipulate complex and delicate equipment with precision and accuracy. This includes frequent computer use for typing, accessing needed information, etc. - Expected to lift and utilize full range of movement to transfer patients. Will also bend to retrieve, lift, and carry supplies and equipment. Typically includes items of varying weights, up to and including heavy items. - May be expected to stand in a stationary position for an extended period of time Location: Intermountain Health Primary Childrens Hospital Work City: Salt Lake City Work State: Utah Scheduled Weekly Hours: 40 The hourly range for this position is listed below. Actual hourly rate dependent upon experience. $24.06 - $37.15 We care about your well-being – mind, body, and spirit – which is why we provide our caregivers a generous benefits package that covers a wide range of programs to foster a sustainable culture of wellness that encompasses living healthy, happy, secure, connected, and engaged. Learn more about our comprehensive benefits package here. Intermountain Health is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. At Intermountain Health, we use the artificial intelligence ("AI") platform, HiredScore to improve your job application experience. HiredScore helps match your skills and experiences to the best jobs for you. While HiredScore assists in reviewing applications, all final decisions are made by Intermountain personnel to ensure fairness. We protect your privacy and follow strict data protection rules. Your information is safe and used only for recruitment. Thank you for considering a career with us and experiencing our AI-enhanced recruitment process. All positions subject to close without notice.

Keywords: Intermountain Health, Logan , Child Life Specialist - Palliative Care, Healthcare , Salt Lake City, Utah