Important Updates
St Jude Children’s Research Hospital will begin accepting applications for the Fall 2025 internship deadline on March 1st, 2025, at 12pm CST. We will stop accepting applications after 50 completed applications are received OR until the deadline of Friday, March 15, 2025 at 11:59pm CST. Any applications received prior to March 1st, 2025 at 12pm CST will not be reviewed. Please email only your common application to childlifeinternship@stjude.org after 12pm CST on March 1st, 2025, to apply for the Fall 2025 internship placement.
Our philosophy
We are a program that is dedicated to developing creative and innovative approaches in supporting and advocating for children and families in an effort to minimize the psychological trauma of life-threatening illnesses. Therapeutic play, education, preparation, and legacy building are instrumental in our daily goals to promote normal development, self-expression, peer interaction, family centered care, a sense of mastery, and developed coping.
Interns are seen as helping us to fulfill this mission side by side while caring for our St. Jude patients. Our philosophy continues as job entry specialists leave our program and begin their own careers continuing to support children as experienced, knowledgeable, and confident professionals.
Our history
Child life was instituted at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in 1994 resulting from the research seen widely in the medical community of the benefits of children’s coping with stressful experiences through play. In 1998 developing a child life program became an institutional objective which included national managerial recruitment. Today, child life at St Jude Children's Research Hospital is an integral part of the medical team and is visible in every clinical arena from patient care to institutional program development. We currently have 21 certified child life specialists, 3 board certified music therapists, and a patient activity coordinator. St. Jude has had a child life internship program (in its current form) since 2008 and was accredited by the ACLP in 2017.
Internship Experience
We believe strongly in balancing both “hands on” child life experience coupled with essential educational components. There are educational seminars presented by staff for interns as well as weekly discussion/ wrap up meetings for peer support development. Seminars are given throughout the internship, i.e., child life assessment, diagnosis teaching, documentation, impact of hospitalization, legacy building, medical play, preparation, prioritization.
The internship is 640 hours (16 weeks) of clinical experience with immersion in inpatient and outpatient settings. Our medical service lines include bone marrow transplant, brain tumor, diagnostic imaging, hematology, leukemia, radiation therapy, solid tumor, and surgery. Hours are generally Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm with a few opportunities for nights and weekends.
The Child Life Program is proud to offer stipends for students completing a child life internship. By investing in stipends, we hope to support student professionals by acknowledging barriers, reducing burden, and fostering emotional safety. One identified burden includes any financial constraints that may otherwise prohibit a student’s ability to pursue a child life specialist profession. In order to qualify for a stipend, a child life internship student must be enrolled in a college or university and complete 40 internship hours a week. Potential stipends may include $400-480 per week. Students will have the opportunity to accept or decline the stipend and this will not be made public or have added requirements to their internship.
Application Process
St. Jude is only accepting the first 50 applications that are received via email to childlifeinternship@stjude.org starting at 12pm CST on March 1st, 2025. Please send only the completed common application to the above email address on the correct date and time. We will stop accepting applications after 50 completed applications are received OR until the deadline of Friday, March 15, 2025 at 11:59pm CST. Any applications received prior to March 1st, 2025 at 12pm CST will not be reviewed.