Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) Program
What is SPACE?
SPACE stands for Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions and is a parent-based treatment program for children and adolescents with anxiety, OCD and related problems.
First developed by Dr. Eli Lebowitz at the Yale Child Study Center, SPACE has been evaluated through randomized control trials and found to be effective in treating child and teen anxiety.
Who is SPACE for? Who is the patient?
SPACE aims to treat children and adolescents with anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. What is unique about this treatment is that the parents (not the child) attend treatment. The treatment itself is focused on changing parent behaviors that contribute to the maintenance of anxiety. After treatment, children and teens feel less anxious and parents are more skillful.
When is SPACE appropriate?
SPACE treatment is appropriate when parents have concerns about:
- Separation anxiety
- Social anxiety
- Generalized anxiety
- Fears and phobias
- Panic
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
What happens in SPACE treatment?
Caregivers who participate in SPACE learn skills and tools to help their child overcome anxiety, OCD or related problems. The treatment focuses on changes that parents can make to their own behavior, rather than trying to change child behavior. SPACE teaches parents how to supportively decrease accommodation, which inadvertently maintains anxiety. The treatment is an active process with opportunities to practice and role play the skills being taught so parents can feel empowered to make meaningful and lasting changes.
Here at CBC, we have clinicians who are specially trained in SPACE and offer treatment in both individual (parents) and group formats.
Visit spacetreatment.net for more information about SPACE and check out our events calendar to learn about upcoming SPACE intensives at CBC.