Playful Healing, LLC

Emily is a master’s-level Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) who provides quality therapeutic play for families living in Southcentral-Southeastern Wisconsin and Northcentral-Northeastern Illinois. As a child development expert, she assists infants, children, teens, and their families with acquiring healthy coping skills to manage unexpected, challenging, and potentially traumatic situations related to medical care and life events. Through play and expression Emily provides opportunities for children to gain a sense of mastery and understanding of illness, transitions, and loss. Her support is individualized for each child and family to meet their specific needs, with inperson or telehealth options available.

Diagnoses, procedures, or surgeries have a high risk in creating fears and stressors in infants, children, and teens that lasts into adulthood. Studies show that utilizing a patient-and-family-centered approach, developmentally appropriate language, sensory preparation, and other evidence-based child life interventions, children can not only become more compliant during their treatment, surgeries, or procedures, the time for assimilation back to their normal life decreases dramatically, even when “normal” includes living with a chronic condition. Evidence-based non-medicinal pain techniques provided by Emily promote healthy coping skills, reduce the number of staff required in the room, decrease the use of sedation or anesthesia, reduce the need or amount of narcotics prescribed, increase the child’s cooperation, and maximizes the safety of the child and staff.

Childhood clinical experiences that last into adulthood also include the illness of an adult loved one, not just as
pediatric patients. Including children in the illness experience of their adult loved ones strengthens the family
relationship and is the definition of patient-and-family-centered-care.

If you are a provider who is interested in learning more about how child life interventions may help with your
practice’s best outcomes, efficiency, education, and comprehensive care your patients receive, Playful Healing, LLC is ready to collaborate with you. Businesses, schools, and community organizations may also contact Playful Healing, LLC to discuss opportunities for community health and wellness events.