Leslie Daniels, CCLS, is a Child Life Manager at Children’s Mercy Hospital (CMH) in Kansas City, Missouri. Leslie received her Bachelor of Science degree in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Missouri-Columbia. For over twenty years, Leslie has worked in direct patient care, primarily serving in critical care areas and the emergency department, and she served as child life internship coordinator. Leslie has played an active role on the CMH Aftercare Committee, providing support to children and adolescents who have experienced the death of a sibling. Leslie holds a certificate in Pediatric Bioethics. Leslie has been active with ACLP, specifically the CLCC, most recently serving as Chair of the Certification Commission. Away from the hospital, Leslie enjoys spending time with her husband, Billy, and her children, Alex, Cheyanne, and John. She also enjoys visiting with family and friends and traveling.

Lucy is the Assistant Director of the Child Life Department at Children’s Mercy Hospital Kansas City. Lucy has served on the ACLP Board of Directors as the Child Life Certifying Commission Chair and has been chair of the Ethics Committee for ACLP. Lucy has been a certified child life specialist at CM for 25 years, working clinically with a variety of patient populations and diagnoses. She is focused on facilitating psychosocial interventions that build and fortify resilience in patients and families facing healthcare challenges. Lucy is committed to prioritizing the coping, developmental, and emotional safety needs of patients and their families. 

Isabel A. Barata, MS, MD, MBA, FACP, FAAP, FACEP, FAAEM is Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine Hofstra/Northwell. She is the Pediatric Emergency Medicine Quality Director, for the Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics service lines. She has dedicated her career to improving the care of children in the emergency department through her extensive work in research, committee participation, and speaking engagements at the local, regional, national, and international level. Dr. Barata has been recognized with national and state awards for her commitment to the care of children in the emergency department.

Stephanie Cuvier began her career over fifteen years ago as a Certified Child Life Specialist at Children’s Hospital of NY Presbyterian Hospital in New York (CHONY) in the pediatric emergency department and continued in that capacity at Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, NY for six years.  Stephanie is currently the Lead Child Life Specialist at North Shore University hospital in the Northwell Health system in Manhasset, NY, where she specializes in pediatric emergency care and providing support for families of adult patients.  Stephanie is also a certified educator of infant massage, trained in Resolve Through Sharing, and is skilled in level two Reiki. She is also part of the NSUH Team Lavender that consists of interdisciplinary group of professionals who are dedicated to supporting their colleagues during times of stress and/or hardship.  She lives on Long Island, New York with her husband, her eleven-year-old son, and their rescue dog Zoey.

Chrissy received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT.  She received her Master of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education from Adelphi University in Garden City, NY.  

Chrissy has been a Certified Child Life Specialist for ten years. She has worked in both the pediatric emergency department as well as the inpatient unit at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital in Stony Brook, New York. Currently, Chrissy is a Senior Child Life Specialist at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, New York. Here Chrissy currently works in the NICU, Labor and Delivery, outpatient radiology, and the pediatric emergency department in addition to assisting with adult referrals. In 2017, Chrissy was the recipient of the Hospital Hero Award. She actively assists families with various coping strategies in their time of need.  She is dedicated to working with siblings and families during the time of a family loss to help them cope. Chrissy lives on Long Island, NY. She enjoys running and spending time with her family and friends.

Courtney Dill, MS, CCLS, LMT is a child life specialist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is currently working the capacity of training coordinator, where she guides practicum, intern and cooperative students in the Department of Child Life, Education and Creative Arts. Courtney's interest include promoting well being and alternative healthcare.

Samantha Flick, MS, CCLS is a child life specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is currently working in the pediatric Emergency room at our satellite campus in King of Prussia, PA. She has worked previously in our Pediatric ICU and Cardiac step-down and ICU. Samantha’s interests include sibling support, bereavement work and trauma-informed practice.

Courtney Dill, MS, CCLS, LMT is a child life specialist at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. She is currently working the capacity of training coordinator, where she guides practicum, intern and cooperative students in the Department of Child Life, Education and Creative Arts. Courtney's interest include promoting well being and alternative healthcare.

Elizabeth Olsen has been a Certified Child Life Specialist for over fifteen years. Her previous experiences in healthcare include working in the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of NY Presbyterian and Good Shepherd Hospice in Long Island. She has been working at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) for the past five years and began her career there in the Special Delivery Unit. Elizabeth has been working with SSD Dilly, CHOP’s first Facility Dog, hospital wide for the past two and a half years. Elizabeth and Dilly help to support patient’s during procedures, co-treat sessions with various therapies, and with the Hospital School Program. Elizabeth has focused much of her career to supporting grieving children and families. She helped to develop the curriculum for the Hospice and Palliative Care of New York State Interdisciplinary Pediatric Palliative Care. In her new role, Elizabeth is currently working on a certification in Service and Therapy Dog Training Professional. She has presented at several national and local conferences on grief and loss, Animal Assisted Therapy interventions, and Perinatal Hospice.

Alexandria has been a Certified Child Life Specialist since 2016 and began her career as a one person program in the largest community hospital in Ontario in 2017. In this role she provided child life services for a 29-bed paediatric inpatient unit, the largest outpatient community oncology clinic in the province, the surgical program, the paediatric palliative care program, and the Botox clinic. As Alexx continued her work in this organization, word of child life programming spread and by 2022 she was receiving referrals from labour and delivery, NICU, paediatric rheumatology clinic, KidFit clinic, outpatient labratory medicine, adult medicine, adult oncology, adult palliative care, and the adult ICU. It was her work in the adult ICU where a light shined on the huge gap in services to children of critically ill adult patients. Alexx and a colleague took it upon themselves to formally publish a children’s book to provide preparation to children visiting an ICU setting with FAQ and suggestions for the adults that will support them. In 2018 Alexx completed infant massage certification and in 2021 received education as a Certified Trauma Professional. She is working on completing her certification in grief counselling. In February 2022 Alexx made the decision to leave the hospital environment and has since been working as part of a two-person child life team in a community hospice. Currently, Alexx sits on the ACLP’s Community-Based Practice Committee and is on a working group with Ontario Health to develop a standard of care for Paediatric Palliative Care within the province. 

Kirsten has been a Certified Child Life Specialist since 2011. Prior to her becoming a child life specialist, she worked with the cystic fibrosis community for ten years with CF camps and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Kirsten began her child life career working in hospice supporting children of adults, and moved into a pediatric hospice and palliative care program in Tampa, Florida. She also worked with children's bereavement camps, children's support groups and a grief center. After the elimination of child life from the pediatric palliative care program, Kirsten moved across the state to start a one person program for a hospice serving Brevard County, FL. In 2019, Kirsten challenged herself to try a new setting and is currently working in community hospital in Melbourne, FL where she provides child life services in the pediatric emergency department and pediatric inpatient units, as well as child family members of adult patients throughout the hospital, from trauma to the ICUs. While technically the program is a 2-person program, Kirsten started the program as the sole specialist as she developed the program. Kirsten and her colleague still function as a one person program for six days of the week, when only one specialist is working at a time.

Lisa Wolff has been a child life specialist at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital for five years. She received her master's degree in Child Life and Family-Centered Care from Wheelock College in Boston, MA. Lisa partnered with Amy Carter and Chris Mattson in 2019 to create a child life-focused elective for medical students and recently collaborated on a community engagement elective for residents. Lisa's primary clinical focus is the support of hematology and oncology patients and their families. She also has a passion for educating healthcare team members on the role of child life to increase interdisciplinary collaboration and improve the care of patients and families.

Amy Carter is a lead child life specialist at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children’s Hospital.  She joined the team 24 years ago after receiving her master’s degree in Child life and Family Centered Care from Wheelock College in Boston MA.  Over the course of her career, Amy has worked as a child life specialist providing psychosocial support to enhance patient and family coping in both inpatient and outpatient settings.  She currently holds a lead position where, in addition to supporting clinical needs on the team, she coordinates student programming, assistants, and donations.

Christopher Mattson is a second-year fellow in the pediatric critical care medicine fellowship program at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. He received his MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed his residency training in pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital. He is also a graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago Master in Health Professions Education program. His research interests include learner assessment, interprofessional education and collaboration and training systems. 

Sarah Scott has been a certified child life specialist at Children's Hospital Colorado for 8 years.  She worked in the cardiac intensive care and step-down units for 7 of those years, where she discovered a passion for advocating for patients with chronic illnesses.  While in cardiology, Sarah helped create the CINCO volunteer program to better serve this patient population.  Sarah now oversees the medical dog program at CHCO and continues to work with patients and families in cardiology on a consult basis with her facility dog, Galaxy.

Kelly Wolfe is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and serves as the Director of the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Follow-Up Program and the Clinical Director of Neuropsychology at Children’s Hospital Colorado. She is also current Co-Chair of the Cardiac Neurodevelopmental Outcome Collaborative

Emily Maloney is one of the primary Physical Therapists in the Heart Institute and a pediatric clinical specialist at Children’s Hospital Colorado.  I have been at Children's since 2013 and in the Heart Institute since 2016. 

Ashlie Woodburn, M.Ed., CCLS, CIMI is currently working as a child life specialist in the CVICU at Phoenix Children's and has been practicing as a CCLS for five years. Ashlie has experience implementing a wide range of child life interventions that meet the needs of diverse patients and families across outpatient clinic, inpatient acute and critical care settings. Ashlie is particularly interested in meeting the developmental needs of infants with chronic medical conditions and has worked to implement programs to increase the utilization of child life support during infant procedures and encourage developmentally appropriate sensory support in the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. Ashlie is a contributing author for the child life value proposition statement and is passionate about evidence-based practice in child life. Her academic training includes Bachelor of Science degrees in Psychology and Family and Human Development from Arizona State University and a Master of Education degree in Child Studies from Vanderbilt University. 

Haley Herdman, B.S., CCLS is currently working as a child life specialist in the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders (CCBD) at Phoenix Children’s. Her exposure to hematology and oncology didn’t begin as a child life specialist. Before entering the field, Haley volunteered in the CCBD. She also gained experience working with children with special needs and facilitating support groups for bereaved families. After completing her internship, Haley’s love for the hem/onc population landed her back in the CCBD where she began her career as a child life specialist. She has now been a CCLS for three years and enjoys supporting patients and families as they navigate life altering illnesses such as cancer or chronic blood disorders.