Author: debvilasconsult

Parallel Process – A Rap Love Song to My Job

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During this past academic year,  fellow faculty members met in small inquiry groups to study our work in the advisement of graduate students in supervised fieldwork. The process was reflective, exciting, daunting and helpful. How do we assist graduate students in developing their personal and professional selves as they prepare to work in public and private schools, museums and hospitals? The lyrics to this song came to me as I tried to wrap my brain around the work that we do – and how to represent it to others who have never experienced the challenges and joys of advisement, as either a graduate student or a faculty member. Here is what came to me in the middle of a sleepless night.

 

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Driving the Camel: Installment #11

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Dear newcomers to my blog,

Driving the Camel is a memoir that I am publishing as a serial on this blog. It follows my adventures as a child life specialist during a transformative year of my life when I battled breast cancer and travelled the world. It includes reflections on my past work as a child life specialist, my personal life and stories of the wonderful people I met on my travels. You can find previous chapters in the side menu categories under “Driving the Camel: Adventures of a Child Life Specialist.

…There was one more thing that Garth wanted to show me. He led me across the pasture and into a copse of trees that felt like an elven forest straight out of the Lord of the Rings. We hiked for a bit until I saw another large outcropping of rock. As we approached it, I could see a small opening in the rock face.

“The cave you just climbed through; that’s nothing. This is where I used to take kids abseiling,” he said. “We’d tie up a rope here, and drop them about 100 feet down into the cave. The stream you saw in the other cave – it comes out here. So, we’d lower them down and then they’d swim out.”

“A terrifying thought,” I said.  Continue reading →

Driving the Camel: Installment #10

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Dear newcomers to my blog,

Driving the Camel is a memoir that I am publishing as a serial in this blog. It follows my adventures as a child life specialist during a transformative year of my life when I battled breast cancer and travelled the world. It includes reflections on my past work as a child life specialist, my personal life and stories of the wonderful people I met on my travels.

Cave Man

One morning mid week, I was struggling to figure out the electronics of the kitchen stove. The electric teakettle was easy, but I couldn’t figure out the touch buttons on the range to save my life. I reached for a book of manuals that Marianne kept amongst the recipe books. As I opened it, a small slip of paper floated to the floor.

It said simply, “For cave tours, call Garth” with his number scribbled in pencil.

“This is no accident,” I told myself. I had always loved caves, at least from the standpoint of a visit to a tourist trap in Bermuda when I was 11 years old.

I dialed the number and was greeted by a robust voice,.

“Garth here.”

I told him that I was interested in touring a cave.

“Well, I haven’t done THAT in a long while!” he said. “What is your level of expertise?”  Continue reading →

Driving the Camel: Installment #9

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BeachCombing the Soul

Each day at the beach held a gentle routine. The solitude became less and less threatening as I relaxed into it, walking the beach twice a day, cooking simple meals, feeding the goldfish that swam in a large planter by the deck, sleeping, and writing. The mornings found me waking early as the first rays of sun reflected off the water and shimmered across my upturned face. I arose eagerly and walked the length of the beach, pants rolled to my calves, enjoying the surprisingly warm water at the edge of the tide. I marveled at the plucky seabirds, pipers and oyster catchers running alongside searching for their morning meal in the wet sand. They felt like the perfect companions. I’ve always enjoyed beachcombing, and the treasures underfoot competed with the rumbling surf for my attention. There was so much beauty everywhere that it was hard to know where to look.  Continue reading →

Get Ready to Play!

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Okay, so call me a nerd. Few things bring me more joy than teaching a subject that I love with a colleague who has even more passion and enthusiasm for the subject than I do. I have had the pleasure over the years of co-teaching with many wonderful and talented colleagues – Betsy Wilford, Elizabeth Laureano, Edna Garces, Karen Marschke-Tobier, Caitlin Koch and Jon Luongo, to name a few. In each of those situations, whether it was Sunday school, a therapeutic nursery school, graduate school, in another country, or at a conference, I became a better teacher within the partnership than I ever would have been alone.

And now, as I prepare for my upcoming gig at the Child Life Council’s 34th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida next week, I celebrate the colleagues that I will be teaming up with.  Continue reading →

Child Life Bibliotherapy

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Guest Blogger: Mary Pat Benning

 

Many child life specialists are familiar with the quizzical expressions that come when sharing their professional title and job responsibilities. Imagine that scenario- but magnified- when telling someone you are a child life specialist with a niche in bibliotherapy! For me, this revelation often requires a little illumination. And, truthfully, since the publishing of Heartfelt Books, I can say –I have gotten skillful in the art of explanation!  Continue reading →

Driving the Camel: Installment #8

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Homesick

 

Once the conference began, I was surrounded by like-minded professionals, everyone eager to learn and share.  In order to earn my keep, I was slotted to present three times on three topics, the first a workshop on play techniques to use with angry or withdrawn children. The audience was receptive and participants volunteered readily to assist me in demonstrating several activities. They shared what made them angry, hurled wet toilet paper at a paper target, and erupted a play dough volcano with glee.  Continue reading →

Coping with Cancer Through Journaling

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Guest Blogger: Deb Vilas at PediaPlay Participating in Visible Ink was a huge coping mechanism for me when I was treated for cancer in 2013. Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center runs this program on a strictly volunteer basis, matching cancer patients and survivors up with writing mentors to work on creative writing projects of the patient’s […]

via Coping with Cancer Through Journaling — Child Life Mommy

Driving the Camel: Installment #7

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Chapter 6: 17 Time Zones

Three planes and over 24 hours later, the North Island of New Zealand came into view as the plane made its way down through the clouds and circled for a landing. Excitement began to tilt the scales of anxiety as I disembarked and made my way through customs. Robyn, a member of the conference planning committee, had planned to meet me and escort me to the hotel. I scanned the group of people awaiting loved ones. I assumed that Robyn would be holding a placard with my name on it. No such luck. I milled around for about five minutes, before I heard a woman’s voice calling me.

“Dib?” her New Zealand accent changing e’s into i’s. Her cheerful smile and mom-like warmth were exactly what I needed to see,

I hugged her like a long lost friend.

“I can’t believe you came all this way to speak at our little conference!” she exclaimed, brushing her hand through her pageboy light brown hair.

“How could I turn down such a wonderful invitation?” I answered.

Robyn’s generosity along with that of the other conference planners was pleasantly overwhelming. The initial invitation to speak at the conference came from Marianne, the founder of the Hospital Play Association in New Zealand. Via e-mail, without ever having met me, she made an astounding offer. Not only were they going to pay my way to come to New Zealand, but she had heard that I was writing a book. She owned a house at Lang’s Beach on the North Island and asked if I would like to stay on for a month to do some writing. The dream of this house had been a rallying point for me during medical treatment. I would lie on the linear accelerator table receiving daily doses of radiation and picture my toes in the sand and a journal in my lap.

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My hotel room on the upper floor overlooked the city harbor, where fleets of sailing boats graced the waters. A gift basket of New Zealand teas welcomed me as I entered the room. I unpacked and fell happily into the king-sized bed and slept.

Marianne was a wonderful host in Auckland. She supplied me with a list of places to go and things to do. She picked me up at the hotel the morning after my arrival and we toured some volcanoes, along with Robyn’s Hospital Play department at the local hospital.

The volcanoes were lovely and afforded great views, but nerd that I am, I loved seeing the lay of the land in Robyn’s hospital even more.  In New Zealand, hospital play specialists have different training than American child life specialists. For the most part, they have backgrounds in early childhood education, and certification through the Hospital Play Specialist Association. Their departments are funded by both the Department of Health and the Department of Education, and their programs must meet the curricular requirements of early childhood education.  This allows for an approach steeped in a thorough grasp of child development and how children learn.

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I was pleased to see that every one of the hospital playrooms mirrored best practice in early childhood education.  Each playroom recognized the bicultural nature of the country, embracing literacy and cultural objects from both the tangata whenua (people of the land – Māori) and the tangata tiriti (the people there by virtue of the Treaty of Waitangi – non-Māori). A huge handmade sign welcomed visitors in several languages, including  English, Maori, Samoan, Hindi, and French. Beneath it stood a table laden with baskets. Each basket held items from nature, shells, rocks, pinecones,  inviting exploration and touch. Continue reading →

Driving the Camel: Installment #6

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Part Two  Outside my Comfort Zone

 

Chapter 5: Right on Time

9 months passed more quickly than I’d expected. Being Auntie Deb, writing, attending treatments and doctor appointments, hosting visits from well wishers, and navigating medical plot twists and side effects filled my days. One plot twist in particular was almost funny if it weren’t so worrisome. Beginning with the second round of chemo, within 24 hours of every infusion, my right breast would turn bright, stoplight red. After a trip to the emergency room and a few days in the hospital with a truckload of antibiotics, the doctors told me I had cellulitis.  From then on, after each chemo round, I would awaken the next day feeling like a warped version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and start yet another round of antibiotics. And yes, I wrote a song about that too.

To counteract my daily battles, Mark did his best to schedule things at night and on weekends that we could enjoy together, especially nights before surgery and chemo.  We went to many plays, concerts, lectures and baseball games during that time. Toward the end of my radiation treatment, we escaped for a few days to visit his family in Florida and take in spring training, And even though I fell asleep for a portion of many of our outings, the distraction and Mark’s hand in mine were a balm to my heart and healing body.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the end of treatment snuck up on me and whacked me on the head, none too playfully. What I thought would be a huge milestone to celebrate turned into a marshy landscape pitted with hidden sinkholes. After gliding through treatment with a positive attitude and no shortage of energy, the very end of treatment rolled over me like a tank. It took extraordinary energy to brave the crappy winter weather and walk each day to and from radiation therapy. We had record low temperatures and snowfall that year. Getting anywhere in the city was a brutal task. I was exhausted, deeply sad, and once more, highly anxious. Continue reading →