Education Commons^™

When Disaster Strikes: A Proposed Model For Child Life Programming In Disaster Relief Settings, Caralyn Perlee

Graduate Student Independent Studies

In the aftermath of a major natural disaster, few are equipped to respond effectively to the unique emotional and psychological needs to children. Child life specialists are specifically trained to help children effectively cope with traumatic situations, though very few child life specialists have engaged in disaster-related work. There exists the need for a medium through which child life specialists can become involved and offer their crucial and unique services. This project offers a rationale for why this medium is necessary and proposes a model for the integration of child life into the pre-existing Red Cross disaster relief model.