What is Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE)?
Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) is an evidence-based treatment designed to help children and teens with anxiety, OCD, and related challenges by working directly with their parents or caregivers. Unlike traditional therapy, SPACE does not require the child to attend sessions. Instead, parents learn practical, compassionate strategies to support their child while reducing the accommodations that unintentionally reinforce anxiety.
Treatment begins by understanding how anxiety is affecting your child and your family. Together, we'll identify the ways anxiety has influenced daily routines, family interactions, and the choices you make as a parent. While these accommodations often come from a place of love and protection, they can sometimes keep anxiety from improving over time.
Throughout treatment, I'll help you develop skills to respond to your child's anxiety with empathy, confidence, and consistency. Together, we'll create a personalized plan to gradually reduce anxiety-driven accommodations while strengthening your child's ability to tolerate uncertainty, build resilience, and develop greater independence. The goal isn't to eliminate your child's distress, but to help them learn that they are capable of managing it.
If your child's anxiety, OCD, school avoidance, or fears have begun to impact everyday life, or if you find yourself constantly reassuring, accommodating, or changing family routines to prevent distress, SPACE may be an excellent treatment option. By empowering parents with effective tools and strategies, meaningful change is possible—even when your child isn't ready or willing to participate in therapy.
Some of the main anxiety problems treated with SPACE include:
Separation anxiety | Social anxiety | Generalized anxiety | Fears and phobias
Panic disorder and Agoraphobia | Selective mutism | Obsessive-compulsive disorder
I received training in SPACE from the founder of SPACE himself, Dr. Eli Lebowitz.