732-835-8363
COASTAL COPING
Child Life Private Practice & Consulting
A Certified Child Life Specialist...
is a trained healthcare professional who helps improve children's coping with challenging healthcare and life experiences through the use of therapeutic modalities such as medical play, age appropriate diagnosis education, non-pharmacological pain management, coping plans, sibling support, legacy building, grief support and more. A CCLS utilizes a variety of techniques based in an extensive knowledge of child development to meet the individual needs of children and families facing healthcare experiences.
​
Whether your child is nervous when visiting the doctor, has anxiety for annual bloodwork, has an upcoming medical test, procedure or surgery, had a recent traumatic experience in the emergency department, or just received a life-altering diagnosis, a CCLS can help support kids and families at all levels of care. Our goal is to ensure all children facing medical challenges have an opportunity to still be a kid, to still have a childhood. We do this through play, preparation, empowerment and support.
CHILD LIFE PRIVATE PRACTICE SERVICES
Child Life private practices provide a variety of services to children & families, healthcare professionals, schools, and child life students. Please explore our menu of services. Looking for a service that is not listed here? Please contact us to share more about your needs. We understand each person's needs are different. We will do our best to design individualized interventions which are within our scope of clinical practice.
HOW IT ALL STARTED...
Coastal Coping, LLC was founded by two Certified Child Life Specialists who worked together in a small community hospital. For years, they were asked by families, "where do we go for outpatient child life services?" Sadly, there was nowhere to send these families. Outpatient child life services did not exist anywhere in the state of NJ.
​
So, they decided to change that.
Coastal Coping was born out of a love and passion for supporting children and families through life's biggest challenges. Amidst the chaos and fear of the Covid-19 pandemic, the two child life specialists decided there was no better time to bring child life into the community and launched Coastal Coping in 2021.
​
Coastal Coping is honored to have the privilege to continue to support children, families, child life students, and child life professionals; offering these vital support services beyond hospital walls.
ABOUT
APRIL SLOWENSKI
MBA, MEd, CCLS, CPMT, IAC
Hi! I'm April! I am the owner of Coastal Coping, LLC. I have been a Certified Child Life Specialist since 2010. I earned my B.S. in Psychology-Child Life from Utica College of Syracuse University, a Master's in Education Child Development from Ashford University and my MBA in healthcare administration from Southern New Hampshire University. I completed my child life practicum at Connecticut Children's Medical Center and my child life internship at Prisma Health Children's Hospital. In additional to being a Certified Child Life Specialist, I am also a Certified Pediatric Massage Therapist and a Certified Integrative Aromatherapy Practitioner.
For the last 16 years, I have provided child life services around the country and have gained experience with a large range of patient populations including the emergency department, general pediatrics, hematology/oncology and a community-based program serving children with both medical and social complexities. These experiences have lead me to have special interests in working with children who have chronic illnesses or who have experienced medical trauma.
​
I have experience in creating and directly supervising a child life practicum and internship program. I created and taught the first child life undergraduate course in the state of NJ at Monmouth University. Supporting child life students and professionals is a passion of mine. I feel a strong commitment to helping new child life professionals be successful in the field.
​
Whether your are a parent looking for support for you child, a child life student just starting your journey into the profession, a new certified child life specialist seeking clinical supervision, or an organization seeking to consult on best practices in children's psychosocial care, I look forward to working with you!
"We found ourselves in a situation we had not imagined/ prepared for. My nearly four year old son was heading to the emergency room sick with his dad while I was in labor and in the hospital getting ready to deliver. Our son woke up not being able to walk and his blood work showed levels similar to those of someone with leukemia. He was admitted to the hospital and was monitored and evaluated by different doctors over the weekend while we waited for a bone marrow biopsy. Being overwhelmed in the hospital with different potential diagnosis for my 4 year old and having a new baby led me to reach out to Coastal Coping. After talking with them I felt so much more prepared to help my son understand what was going on in a developmentally appropriate way and had tools to explain what might occur which helped ease some of the stress of all of us. I am so thankful and lucky that things have taken a better turn for us with his health and am so thankful for the support we received and tools to help our son during that difficult time. We even received some ideas of how to help ease the transition for when our son was able to come home from the hospital and also experience being a big brother for the first time! Â Thank you for the support and developmentally appropriate guidance during a difficult time!"
