Mission Statement:
"To empower future child life specialists by bridging university education with impactful, international service-learning experiences. Through structured child life practicum placements globally, we equip students with diverse clinical insights, global cultural competency, and the hands-on skills needed to advocate for children and families worldwide."
CAPES Students Will:
Benefit from High-Yield Professional Mentorship
A Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS) understands how to translate child life theory into clinical practice. Under their guidance, you will learn to apply core developmental concepts—such as healthcare play, psychological preparation, and distraction techniques—within diverse, fast-paced clinical environments internationally. Students experience 1:1 mentorship and guidance from an experienced CCLS and academician.
Cultivate Cultural Humility
Learning in an international healthcare setting exposes you to different cultural beliefs surrounding illness, pain, and family structures. A supervising CCLS will teach you how to adapt your therapeutic interventions to support families who speak different languages or hold unfamiliar cultural values. Cultural humility is the ongoing process of self-reflection. True immersion places you in situations where you are the outsider. The CAPES experiential service-learning program teaches you to recognize your own cultural biases, accept that your way of doing things is not the only way, and learn to defer to local expertise.
Discover through Immersion
Reading about another culture in a textbook is passive. Immersive discovery—such as participating in cultural events, navigating public transit, trying new foods, and visiting unfamiliar places —replaces stereotypes with genuine empathy. You experience firsthand how local families celebrate, grieve, and live, which is critical for building trust and understanding with diverse populations in your future career.