Pediatric Potential Inc.
Redefining International Pediatric Healthcare Experiences
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Despite the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and World Health Organization (WHO) rights outlined for children in healthcare settings, there is limited evidence evaluating the extent to which these rights are implemented in pediatric hospitals or pediatric care in general worldwide. Without access to consistent evaluation of pediatric healthcare facilities delivery of psychosocial care, there continues to be a risk of underserved children experiencing developmental disruption due to an absence of, or gaps in buffering psychosocial protective factors, which can lead to trauma and a lifetime of poor healthcare behaviors and coping.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Friends Without A Border (FWAB); Lao Friends Hospital for Children (LFHC)
STAFF EDUCATION/TRAINING:
Facilitate skill development on appropriate language and engagement of pediatric patients.
SERVICE DEVELOPMENT:
Creation or enhancement of sustainable pediatric psychosocial services and staffing.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN CONSULTATION:
Promote development of child-friendly healthcare environments.
RESOURCE FOSTERING:
Attract visionaries to our partners to support opportunities for psychosocial programming facilitation, research, and development through our global networks.
KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE:
Collaboratively identify strengths to enhance child-friendly engagement utilizing the Pediatric Patient's Hierarchy of Developmental Needs (PPHDN) © as a framework.
The Priyanka Foundation, Child Life Services Program; Bangalore
STAFF EDUCATION/TRAINING:
Facilitate skill development on appropriate language and engagement of pediatric patients.
SERVICE DEVELOPMENT:
Creation or enhancement of sustainable pediatric psychosocial services and staffing.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN CONSULTATION:
Promote development of child-friendly healthcare environments.
RESOURCE FOSTERING:
Attract visionaries to our partners to support opportunities for psychosocial programming facilitation, research, and development through our global networks.
KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE:
Collaboratively identify strengths to enhance child-friendly engagement utilizing the Pediatric Patient's Hierarchy of Developmental Needs (PPHDN) © as a framework.
University of Turin, Italy; Department of Psychology
RESEARCH:
Collaboratively use and conduct research to support the positive impact of pediatric psychosocial care.
Miami University; Department of Family Science & Social Work
EDUCATION:
To serve as a resource for student education and experience.
Anouk Foundation
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN CONSULTATION:
Promote the development of child-friendly healthcare environments via the installation of visual art mediums.
RESEARCH:
Use and conduct research on the benefit of therapeutic murals and child-friendly therapeutic healthcare environments to support the positive impact of these services on individual organizations and communities.
Juzoor for Health & Social Development
RESEARCH:
Use and conduct research to support the positive impact of pediatric psychosocial services.
STAFF EDUCATION/TRAINING:
Facilitate skill development on appropriate language and engagement of pediatric patients.
SERVICE DEVELOPMENT:
Creation or enhancement of sustainable pediatric psychosocial services and staffing.
Nixi for Children
RESOURCE FOSTERING:
Attract visionaries to our partners to support opportunities for psychosocial programming facilitation, research, and development through our global networks.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN CONSULTATION:
Promote development of child-friendly healthcare environments.
RESEARCH:
Use and conduct research to support the positive impact of these services on individual organizations and communities.
St. Jude India ChildCare Centres
KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE:
Collaboratively identify strengths to enhance child-friendly engagement utilizing the Pediatric Patient's Hierarchy of Developmental Needs (PPHDN) © as a framework.
SERVICE DEVELOPMENT:
Creation or enhancement of sustainable pediatric psychosocial services and staffing.
STAFF EDUCATION & TRAINING:
Facilitate skill development on appropriate language and engagement of pediatric patients.
RESOURCE FOSTERING:
Attract visionaries to our partners to support opportunities for psychosocial programming facilitation, research, and development through our global networks.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN CONSULTATION:
Promote development of child-friendly healthcare environments.
RESEARCH:
Use and conduct research to support the positive impact of these services on individual organizations and communities.
Where we work
External reviews

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Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Our Goal:
To improve hospital care for children in order to minimize developmental delay and facilitate positive lifetime health behaviors through the application of a human rights-based approach.
Our Approach:
We collaborate with partner hospitals, clinics and NGOs globally, in order to sustainably enhance evidenced-based pediatric psychosocial care practices.
Our Method:
To reinforce protective frameworks and optimize healthcare experiences for the children and families, we provide our partners an on-site strengths assessment, identify resources and services, and implement a strategy to support their goals.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We believe that in order for enhanced healthcare experiences for children and families to become sustainable, training must be accessible, culturally responsive and empower local healthcare practitioners to apply pediatric psychosocial care practices within the hospitals/clinics of their unique cultural contexts. For this reason, we employ the following approach to assist our global partners:
1. On-Site Visit
Each partnership opportunity is unique. As the first step in the process, we meet on-site with the team to learn about their organization, their goals and their resources.
2. Identify Partners' Potential
During this phase we work with partners to determine what resources and services will be best suited to assist them in reaching their desired goals.
3. Tailored Support Delivery
Once we have collaboratively identified a strategy to assist our partners in meeting their potential, we work to support sustainable program or process improvements.
Our services aim to foster new resources and sustainable support systems for our partner hospitals, clinics, and NGOs globally, enabling them to enhance protective frameworks and strengthen healthcare experiences for the children and families in their care.
KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE:
Collaboratively identify strengths to enhance child-friendly engagement utilizing the Pediatric Patient's Hierarchy of Developmental Needs (PPHDN) © as a framework.
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN:
Promote development of accessible, child-friendly healthcare environments.
STAFF EDUCATION/TRAINING:
Facilitate skill development on appropriate language and engagement of pediatric patients.
SERVICE DEVELOPMENT:
Creation or enhancement of sustainable pediatric psychosocial services and staffing.
RESEARCH:
Use and conduct research to support the positive impact of these services on individual organizations and communities.
RESOURCE FOSTERING:
Attract visionaries to our partners to support opportunities for psychosocial programming facilitation, research, and development through our global networks.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Services provided by Pediatric Potential are guided by the diverse educational and clinical experiences of our team, which ranges from North America, South East Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent.
Our team developed the Pediatric Patient’s Hierarchy of Developmental Needs (PPHDN)©, which is a prioritization framework for addressing pediatric psychosocial care gaps and to inform evidence-based approaches for enhancing access to culturally responsive psychosocial care globally.
Pediatric Potential utilizes the PPHDN© as a lens for collaboratively learning about each organization's strengths and areas of potential in addressing patients’ psychosocial needs, with the ultimate goal being 'Developmental Well-being: Physical/Mental Health and Community Integration.'
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
PEDIATRIC PSYCHOSOCIAL ENHANCEMENT
INDIA
The Priyanka Foundation, Child Life Services Program; Bangalore
Service Development
- Consulted on psychosocial service enhancements with hospital and program leadership
- Assisted in the recruitment of a new team member
Resource Fostering
- Successful co-facilitation of a grant to support needed therapeutic materials and developmentally appropriate toys for children in hospital
Staff Education/Training
- Remote mentorship to Child Life Practitioner team members
- Facilitated pediatric psychosocial care education modules on-site
LAOS
Friends Without a Border (FWOB), Laos Friends Hospital for Children (LFHC); Luang Prabang
Service Development
- Consulted on psychosocial service enhancements with hospital and program leadership
Staff Education/Training
- Remote mentorship to their LFHC Child Life Therapist team member
- Supported the successful application for their LFHC Child Life Therapist to attend an international psychosocial care conference
Resource Fostering
- Successful co-facilitation of a grant to support needed therapeutic materials and developmentally appropriate toys for children in hospital
PEDIATRIC RESEARCH
QATAR
Our team is at the end stage of collecting data for a multidisciplinary study titled ‘Parental Holding to Manage Children’s Anxiety with Venipuncture: Experiences from Qatar.’
ITALY
University of Turin, Department of Psychology; Turin
Submitted two research proposals to initiate collaborative research.
NEXT
Continued collaboration with our current partners and the development of innovative pediatric psychosocial care initiatives with global network partners in Palestine, Switzerland and the U.S., while continuing to identify and support the initiatives of new partners.
As a catalyst for facilitating sustainable change, Pediatric Potential will continue to embrace the value of building a diversity of stakeholders from a wide-array of expertise and backgrounds in academic, community based, and governmental settings worldwide to ensure the availability of connecting partners with the lasting resources needed to implement a psychosocially informed rights-based approach to pediatric health.
In addition, we aim to be a leading advocate by continuing to publish the results of our collaborative work in peer-reviewed publications, and presenting at relevant meetings and conferences.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Pediatric hospitals, clinics and NGOs.
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How is your organization collecting feedback from the people you serve?
Electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.),
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals,
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
We adjusted our goals for collaboration and deliverables.
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With whom is the organization sharing feedback?
The people we serve, Our staff, Our board, Our funders, Our community partners,
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How has asking for feedback from the people you serve changed your relationship?
No
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback,
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback,
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Pediatric Potential Inc.
Board of directorsas of 02/28/2023
Jeanine Clapsaddle, MA, LMFT, CCLS
Hisham Morsi, MD, MS, PhD
Lead Consultant, Quality of Life (QOL), Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar
Sheila Palm, MA, CCLS
Retired, Manager/Director, Child Life Department, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota
Paulina Pérez-Duarte Mendiola, MD, MS
Clinical Pediatrician
Megan Cesarini, PhD
Researcher
Kirsten Black, MS, CCLS, CPMT
Certified Child Life Specialist
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/28/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.