HISTORY OF THE CHILD LIFE POST GRADUATE DIPLOMA PROGRAM (1988 – 2016)

McMaster University began the only post professional child life specialist training program in Canada within the Department of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Health Sciences. Founded in 1988 by Ruth Snider, past-president of the Child Life Council, Child Life Studies at McMaster became an internationally recognized post-baccalaureate education and training program in the field of child life.

This post-baccalaureate diploma program provided students with intensive academic course work and clinical learning experiences with internship partners from across Canada.

This program has graduated child life specialists from all across Canada, as well as from the United States, Cayman Islands, Singapore, Japan, the Netherlands and Africa, over its 25 years.

The Child Life Studies diploma program has now officially closed. The Department of Pediatrics in the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster is now pleased to offer the first and only Master’s program in this field in Canada. The new Masters in Child Life & Pediatric Psychosocial Care began the fall of 2016.