Marsha Moriah
Child Life '22
When I have my interactions and interventions with patients and then I get a hug from a little one or a caregiver, that’s when I can see how I helped their experience here at the hospital. That’s what really inspires me to keep going and what and reminds me why I'm in the field that I'm in.
As the Child Life Specialist at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, Marsha Moriah helps children and their families manage their hospital experiences by providing coping strategies that help minimize children’s anxiety and uncertainty during medical procedures and other stressful pediatric care or family health concerns.. Marsha said that her goal is “to promote and protect patients’ emotional safety, minimize the short- and long-term effects of anxiety and trauma, and ultimately empower children and their families.”
Marsha was introduced to the field in high school when she volunteered in the playroom at her local children’s hospital. After obtaining an undergraduate degree in psychology, she worked as an intervention coordinator at a Montessori School and as an assistant to a psychologist before she circled back to the field of Child Life, earning her master’s degree at Bank Street and becoming a Certified Child Life Specialist.
“At Bank Street, my professors were really supportive and encouraging,” Marsha said. “If I was going through anything, or if I just needed additional support, the professors and my cohort provided a community to turn to. I could email or call them, and that support has impacted me to this day. I’m still in communication with my cohort and professors.”
She noted that she’s constantly encountering other Bank Street alumni in the field and feels an immediate connection to them. Those connections bolstered her confidence to take on her current position leading a one-person Child Life program at Jacobi Medical Center. She revived the position that was held decades earlier by the former director of Bank Street’s Child Life Program, Troy Pinkney. In this role, Marsha offers patients and families access to a Child Life Specialist for the first time in 30 years.
Her hope is that Child Life programs continue to grow and that more patients and families can gain access to these services.
Marsha said, “I think that a lot of trauma and anxiety for our pediatric patients can decrease if we’re able to get more people aware of the value of Child Life services. We help families make informed decisions and understand how to advocate for themselves while they’re here at the hospital.”
Watch these clips from our recent conversation with Marsha learn more about her role and the ways she continues to draw resilience from her Bank Street community.