Our Mission
To make high-quality child life services accessible through community-based organizations.
We empower families, strengthen teams, and ensure children receive the support they deserve.
Our Story & Approach
Chicago Child Life Consulting was founded on the belief that child life shouldn’t be limited to hospitals. Children encounter medical trauma, caregiver illness, and death in all different types of settings. We partner with organizations to bring child life support directly into the spaces where families already seek connection, stability, and care.
We believe in empowering children and caregivers with knowledge, support, and resources they need to cope effectively and to strengthen trust and resilience within the family system.
Expanding child life into community programs ensures that all children are receiving the support they deserve, and Chicago Child Life Consulting is dedicated to this vision.
Meet the Founder
Alyssa Friedberg, MPH, M.Ed., CCLS, GCCA-C
Alyssa is the founder of Chicago Child Life Consulting, a Certified Child Life Specialist (CCLS), and advocate for expanding child life services beyond the hospital walls. With over a decade of experience, Alyssa specializes in bringing developmentally grounded child life work to organizations serving children and families.
Her work is guided by three main principles:
Equity- ensuring all families can access developmentally informed, trauma-responsive care.
Compassion- providing honest, developmentally appropriate communication during life’s most difficult moments.
Partnership- collaborating with caregivers, clinicians, and community organizations to strengthen the systems that impact children.
Alyssa is also the co-founder of the Child Life Hospice and Palliative Network, where she leads education, research, and advocacy efforts focused on increasing awareness of the benefits of child life and developing best practices for CCLS practicing in hospice and palliative care. She regularly trains interdisciplinary teams on integrating child life services into organizations and the benefits of these services for family-centered care.
Alyssa holds a Master of Public Health from Boston University and a Master of Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago.