What is SPACE?
SPACE: Supportive Parenting for Childhood Anxious Emotions
Evidence-based, parent-based treatment that helps children and teens overcome anxiety by empowering caregivers to become a powerful source of change.
A compassionate approach that helps families build confidence, strengthen connection, and foster greater independence, even when a child or teen is unwilling or unable to participate in therapy.
Why Families Choose SPACE
Unlike traditional therapy that focuses primarily on changing the child, SPACE empowers caregivers with practical, evidence-based strategies they can use every day. As parents learn new ways to respond, children gradually develop greater confidence, resilience, and independence while anxiety has less influence on family life.
What You'll Learn
Through SPACE you'll learn to:
• Respond to anxiety with confidence.
• Reduce accommodations that unintentionally reinforce anxiety.
• Encourage resilience and independence.
• Strengthen your relationship while supporting change.
Is SPACE Right for My Family?
SPACE may be a good fit if your child's anxiety is affecting daily life, family relationships, or independence. It can be especially helpful if you:
- Are looking for practical tools to reduce family stress and respond to anxiety with greater confidence.
- Have found that traditional child-focused therapy hasn't been effective or isn't possible right now.
- Want to help your family experience greater calm, stronger connection, and improved daily functioning.
- Have a child or teen who is resistant to therapy, unwilling to participate, or too young to engage meaningfully in treatment.
Who participates in SPACE?
The child is the identified client, but caregivers attend the sessions.
The child is the identified client, but caregivers attend the sessions.
Children do not attend sessions. Instead, caregivers learn practical, evidence-based strategies that help reduce anxiety's impact while fostering confidence, resilience, and greater independence at home.
SPACE Can Help With
• Separation anxiety
• Generalized anxiety and excessive worry
• Social anxiety
• School avoidance
• OCD
• ARFID
• Anxiety-related dependence / failure to launch
Backed by Research
Developed by Dr. Eli Lebowitz at the Yale Child Study Center, SPACE is an evidence-based treatment shown to reduce childhood anxiety while improving family functioning.
Learn more:
- Visit the Yale Child Study Center's SPACE Program
- Watch Dr. Eli Lebowitz's TEDx Talk: Rethinking Treatment for Child Anxiety and OCD
Ready to learn whether SPACE is right for your family?
Schedule a complimentary 15-minute consultation to discuss your family's needs and determine whether SPACE is the right fit.