Program Details

The child life internship is a demanding, full-time, unpaid 16-week internship, which provides 600+ hours of clinical experience, with continual educational opportunities. We offer rotations in the following areas: inpatient general pediatrics/PICU, NICU, ED and Outpatient surgery and radiology. During the last weeks of the internship, the intern may follow a small caseload, functioning as a child life specialist with close supervision. In addition to the clinical experience, the internship includes an extensive curriculum, based on the Association of Child Life Professionals “Clinical Internship Curriculum”, with weekly topics, assignments, role plays, projects, and presentations.

Intern hours vary throughout the internship, with some evening, early morning and weekend hours. We highly recommend that the intern focus exclusively on the internship and not carry an outside workload at the same time. We find that the internship is a very intensive experience that requires full attention and energy throughout the 16 weeks.

Each intern is supervised by the child life supervisor/internship coordinator, as well as a Certified Child Life Specialist who provides guidance during each rotation. Sutter CPMC child life staff, with our various backgrounds, experience and expertise, are all here to support interns through the internship experience.

We offer internships in the winter/spring and fall, and abide by ACLP application deadlines. We accept both affiliated and non-affiliated interns.