Making Practicum a Reality Through a True Partnership Between the Academic and Clinical Settings - LIGHTNING PASS 2025
This webinar explores a collaborative practicum model currently being implemented by two academic programs. This innovative approach involves a true partnership between academic faculty and clinical teams, where Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) faculty members work alongside clinical sites to support a cohort of practicum students. In this model, university faculty attend practicum sessions with their students, providing real-time education, debriefing after experiences, and offering support to practicum supervisors. Clinical supervisors, in turn, deliver hands-on learning and mentorship, collaborating with faculty to enhance the overall experience. The session will also present findings from a pilot study evaluating this model, including feedback from students, clinical supervisors, and academic partners. Survey data will be shared to highlight key strengths, areas for growth, and the overall impact of the approach. Attendees will leave with a deeper understanding of how this partnership model supports students and professionals alike and how it may be adapted by other programs seeking to strengthen practicum experiences.
Suggested Domain: Professional Responsibility
Credits: 1.0
Learning Objective(s):
1. Become familiar with an innovative approach to practicum that increases opportunities for students, decreases the burdens of clinical sites, and increases the number of practicum students served through a true partnership in which CCLS faculty members work alongside practicum supervisors to offer a cohort of students a practicum.
2. Summarize the outcomes and feasibility of an academic and clinical partnership approach to practicum, including benefits to students, clinicians, and academicians.
3. Reflect on the challenges and opportunities presented by an academic and clinical partnership approach to practicum and discuss implications for practicum and academic programs, and the child life field.
Please note: All webinar content and its certificate will expire on June 9, 2028, regardless of when it is purchased, accessed, or completed. At that point, the contents will no longer be available in any form, including as an archive or as a PDU certificate. It is the responsibility of the learner to complete the contents and download and save the certificate for their records prior to June 9, 2028.
Sherwood Burns-Nader
Associate Professor
University of Alabama
Sherwood Burns-Nader, PhD, CCLS, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Alabama where she coordinates the undergraduate and graduate child life programs. Sherwood’s research interests include examining the psychosocial issues affecting children and families in the healthcare setting, the benefits of child life interventions, the experiences of child life specialists and emerging professionals, and the value of play in development and coping. Sherwood has served as an Association of Child Life Professional’s Research Fellow since 2020, including as the Lead Fellow from 2023-2025.
Fairfax Davis, CCLS, MS
Child Life Specialist
Children's of Alabama, United States
Fairfax Davis is a Certified Child Life Specialist at Children’s of Alabama. She works clinically with the inpatient rehab and epilepsy monitoring populations. In 2022, Fairfax became the practicum coordinator for Children’s of Alabama. She now currently coordinates students’ clinical experiences for pre-internship and internship. Over the years, she has developed a research resume by collaborating with members of the health care team and members of academia. Her research interests include medical play, trauma informed care, and student clinical experiences. Fairfax began collaborating with in state universities in 2024 to adapt pre-internship experiences to accommodate students and Certified Child Life Specialists alike. This graduate level practicum model continues to be utilized. Fairfax has been a member of the child life team and Child Life and Education Department at Children’s of Alabama for 9 years.
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