Mental Health Landscape of Asian Immigrant Youth and Families in the United States - (2025)

Anisha S. Reza, MS, CCLS is a Certified Child Life Specialist in the Greater Philadelphia area. She is passionate about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as a second-generation immigrant who grew up in the Southeast. Over the past decade, Anisha remained adjacent to child life while in pursuit of a career in pediatrics. She attended medical school for a few years and completed a Master's in Biology (Medical Sciences). After gravitating more towards the psychosocial well-being of children, she reevaluated her career goals and fully redirected to child life.

As a child life professional and lifelong learner, Anisha investigates evidence-based ways to provide improved psychosocial support and services to diverse populations. She shared some of these findings with a poster presentation on the "Importance of Addressing Sociocultural Challenges in Working with Immigrant Families" at the 2024 Association of Child Life Professionals Child Life Conference.

Anisha is constantly seeking to share her experiences and education through writing and speaking. Some of these stories can be found on her independent publication “Shedding Light on Child Life” found at childlifewithanisha.org, including a page for child life specialists. This publication’s mission is to share educational resources and personal stories through her lens as a Person of Color (POC) career changer from medicine to child life. There, she explores the intersection of diversity, student experiences, and psychosocial health and advocacy for children.

Cristie is a Certified Child Life Specialist, educator, curriculum reviewer, and course developer with over two decades of clinical, leadership, and program development experience in the hospital setting. 

Cristie is an Adjunct Professor at Nova Southeastern University and Loma Linda University, where she strives to guide graduate students toward their professional goals. She is passionate about mentoring and supporting aspiring child life professionals by helping them bridge the gap between theory and practical application.

Cristie has presented at several regional and national conferences, published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing and Frontiers in Education, and was honored to write a book review for the first volume of the Journal of Child Life. She is a long-time active member of the Association of Child Life Professionals, most recently serving as Secretary on the ACLP Board of Directors. 

Cristie is working toward her Ph.D. in education with an emphasis on leadership studies from Chapman University, focusing her research on racial identity and belonging, perceptions of anti-racist leadership, and homogeneity within the child life profession. She aims to become a better leader and educator for the next generation of child life practitioners.