Bridging medical & behavioral health for better experiences.
Poke Pals™ is a trauma-informed program helping children access healthcare with confidence.
Trust transfers. So does trauma.
Behavioral support for children who struggle with medical procedures due to anxiety, autism, sensory differences, or past experiences. built by a phlebotomist who is also a behavioral health specialist — because the two have always belonged together
- Dental Visits: Overcoming chair fear, sensory overload from tools, and mouth manipulation.
- Routine Pediatrics: Vaccines, physical exams, and blood pressure cuffs.
- Laboratory Medicine: Stress-free blood draws and IV placement.
Blood draws and medical visits do not have to be traumatic
Poke Pals™ prepares children for the medical moments that matter most — blood draws, dental visits, vaccinations, imaging, and more — using behavioral science, trauma-informed care, and tools that actually reach the kids who need it most.
Children don't separate their medical experiences Neither should we
Adults experience healthcare in silos. Dentist. Lab. Pediatrician. Specialist. Each visit is its own discrete event.
Children experience it as one continuous story — and every encounter shapes the next one.
The child who is held down during a blood draw learns that medical environments aren't safe.
That child becomes the one who won't open their mouth at the dentist.
Who won't hold still for the MRI.
Who stops telling adults when something hurts.
This isn't one missed appointment. It's a pattern that follows a child for years — and it starts the moment we fail to prepare them.
For children with autism, sensory differences, or anxiety, the stakes are even higher. Their distress is misread as defiance. Their needs go unaddressed not because they are hard to help, but because the right support was never offered.
Poke Pals exists to interrupt that pattern — at the first moment, and at every one that follows.
For neurodivergent children — children who are nonverbal, sensory-sensitive, or without the words to say what they need — the stakes are even higher. Their distress is misread as non-compliance rather than recognized as communication. Their needs go unmet not because they are difficult but because the approach is wrong.
They are not obstacles to the procedure. They are the patient.
Every one of them deserves not just to be seen in the waiting room — but to be reached inside it.
Poke Pals exists because the children have waited long enough.
For many children—especially those who are anxious, sensitive, or neurodivergent—blood draws are the most distressing part of medical care.
When distress escalates:
- procedures fail
- schedules break down
- and children leave with lasting medical anxiety
Poke Pals™ changes what happens before
Poke Pals™ helps children access healthcare when anxiety, sensory differences, autism, or previous experiences become barriers to care.
Built by a phlebotomist and behavioral specialist—because these two worlds should never have been separate.
A comfort-first, evidence-informed approach that combines:
- clinical accuracy
- nervous-system–aware preparation
- developmentally appropriate support
So children feel:
more prepared
more in control
more able to participate
Who We Help
For Families & Caregivers
Your child deserves to feel ready — not restrained.
Whether it's an upcoming blood draw, a dental cleaning, a vaccine, or a medical exam your child has been dreading, Poke Pals gives families the preparation tools and one-on-one coaching to make the visit go differently this time.
- Virtual family coaching sessions
- Customized procedure preparation plans
- Neurodiversity-affirming strategies (autism, ADHD, SPD, anxiety)
- Visual storyboards for blood draws, dental visits, vaccinations, imaging, and more
- Support for children of all communication levels, including nonverbal children
For Pediatric clinics, Dental Practices & Specialty Providers
Fewer failed appointments. Less staff escalation. Families who come back.
When a child refuses a procedure, everyone loses — the child, the caregiver, and your practice. Poke Pals trains your team to prevent escalation before it starts, using behavioral strategies that translate across every procedure type.
This isn't crisis management. It's preparation science — applied to the moments your team faces every day.
- Staff training workshops (in-person or virtual)
- Procedure-specific preparation protocols
- Pediatric intake and family communication frameworks
- Custom co-branded family preparation materials
- Consultation for practices serving neurodivergent populations
Ideal for: Pediatric dental offices · Primary care practices · Mobile and outpatient labs · Specialty clinics · ABA therapy centers · School-based health teamsE
For Corporate Sponsors & Community Partners
Sponsor something that reaches families where they are — and changes what happens when they get there.
Every pediatric dental practice, therapy clinic, school district, and children's healthcare organization in your community serves families navigating the same invisible problem: kids who are terrified of medical procedures, and caregivers who don't know how to help them.
Poke Pals is a community wellness program with measurable reach — family coaching, professional training, visual preparation tools, and published thought leadership all under one mission-driven brand.
Sponsorship with Poke Pals means:
- Visible, values-aligned community impact
- Co-branded family-facing materials distributed through your practice or organization
- Speaking and staff training engagements that carry your name
- Connection to a program backed by peer-reviewed publications and credentialed expertise
- Access to a growing audience of caregivers, educators, and pediatric healthcare professionals
Sponsorship is not a donation. It's a partnership with outcomes.
Why It Works
Poke Pals addresses the gap between clinical skill and patient readiness.
Most teams are trained to perform the procedure.
Few are trained to prepare the child.
That’s where success is determined.
ABA clinics and BCBA Practitioners
blood draw preparation reduces session disruption and supports carryover of behavioral goals into medical settings.
For Mobile Lab Partners
Your hardest pediatric draws don’t have to stay hard.
Most mobile labs have strong clinical skill.
Very few have a behavioral framework for what happens before the needle.
Poke Pals fills that gap.
- Pediatric intake & prep process review
- Protocol development
- Staff training
- Family-facing materials
- Co-branded pediatric-friendly services
About the Founder
I'm Franchesca Kelly — a certified pediatric phlebotomist (PBT, ASCP), Registered Behavior Technician (RBT, BACB), and Medical Laboratory Assistant (MLA, AMT).
I spent years working directly with children in clinical settings — drawing blood, supporting behavioral goals, watching kids shut down in the middle of procedures that didn't have to go that way.
Poke Pals™ is what I built when I stopped waiting for the system to fix itself.
It's not a theoretical program. It's grounded in nearly a decade of frontline pediatric healthcare experience, published peer-reviewed work, and direct observation of what actually happens to children when preparation is absent — and what becomes possible when it isn't.
My work has been published in:
- ASCP Critical Values (2024, 2025, 2026)
- Contemporary Pediatrics
- Clinical Lab Products
I train teams, coach families, and speak to the healthcare and education professionals who are ready to do this differently.
If that's you — I'd love to connect.
Visit: youtube.com/@PokePalsKids
Published Work & Thought Leadership
Selected articles on pediatric phlebotomy, medical anxiety, and trauma-informed outpatient care.
https://clpmag.com/diagnostic-technologies/pediatric-testing-problems-labs-arent-measuring/
FOR FAMILIES
FOR ORGANIZATIONS
Making medical care trauma-informed and child-centered
Our Mission
Poke Pals™ exists to make children feel safe inside healthcare — and to make that safety the standard, not the exception.
We prepare children for the procedures that trigger the most fear: blood draws, dental cleanings, vaccinations, sensory exams, and imaging. Through behavioral preparation, family coaching, and professional training, we help children arrive ready — so the people caring for them can actually do their jobs.
Because a child who freezes in the dental chair, refuses the blood draw, or melts down during an exam isn't being difficult. They're communicating that no one helped them prepare.
Poke Pals changes what happens before the procedure begins.
Storyboards
Preparation Tools (Storyboards)
Some children need to see what’s coming before they can feel safe.
Poke Pals storyboards walk children through medical procedures step-by-step using simple visuals and predictable language.
Available for:
- blood draws
- vaccinations
- dental visits
- imaging (MRI/CT)
- and more
→ Visit the Poke Pals Shop
https://www.etsy.com/shop/PokePalsKids?ref=dashboard-header
