ROCHESTER — Dagney Willey Adamson and Marne Perrin know that play and education can go hand-in-hand, especially for children facing big life changes or scary moments.
“We are specifically trained to be … that therapeutic presence, present in the moment of the acute stress or trauma as it’s happening,” Perrin said.
Willey Adamson and Perrin are both certified child life specialists, professionals who are trained in child development and help those kids and teens cope with stress and trauma. Often,
guiding pediatric patients through new, scary or painful things such as surgery or chemotherapy.
“But our scope and our skill set and our competencies are not necessarily health care-specific,” Willey Adamson said.
So, after working together in an outpatient setting for a health system, the two decided to take their services to the wider community. In April 2024, they launched Coping Copilots, their private child life practice. It was a step inspired by Laura Sufka, whose Twin Cities-based child life practice was the first of its kind in the state, Willey Adamson said.
“She was just doing private practice and being successful at it,” Willey Adamson said. “So it was kind of, ‘Oh, so this is like a real thing we could do.'”
The two work with children of all ages, often navigating medical and non-medical issues: demystifying fears about a dentist appointment, creating healthy coping mechanisms for anxiety at school or helping a child navigate a big life change, such as a new baby or switching schools. That work can take the form of structured play, creating art, writing letters and more.
In one instance, Willey Adamson said she worked with a child whose grandparent had an incurable brain tumor. Within the child life framework, they had conversations about grief, anticipatory grief and understanding why treatment would not cure the grandparent.
“We’re building resiliency,” Willey Adamson said. “We are not trying to fix the hard things. … We’re not saying we’re taking all of the trauma out of it, but we’re hopefully reducing that footprint by creating elements of control and understanding and choice and play.”
Child life can work in tandem with other services, too. Willey Adamson shared how Perrin, with one client, uses play to process feelings and everyday worries ahead of that child’s therapy sessions.
“That day-to-day stuff that they’re processing in the moment has made him have that ability that when he goes into his therapy appointments, he can really go deeper for that underlying therapeutic need,” Willey Adamson said.
Through Coping Copilots, the two founders aim to fill some of the care gaps for children, especially those living in the more rural areas around Rochester.
Dené K. Dryden is the Post Bulletin’s health reporter. Readers can reach Dené at 507-281-7488 and ddryden@postbulletin.com.
