Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) is a novel treatment approach for child anxiety developed by Dr. Eli Leibowitz at the Yale Child Study Center. Throughout sessions, parents learn ways to promote brave behavior in their youth by changing the way they respond to their child’s anxious symptoms.
What areas of concern are addressed through SPACE?
SPACE is used to address child anxiety and related conditions. This includes symptoms related to:
- Social anxiety
- Separation anxiety
- Generalized anxiety
- Specific fears
- Panic disorder
- Selective mutism
- Obsessive-compulsive disorder
What does SPACE treatment look like?
While children are considered to be the patients in SPACE treatment, parents are the sole participants in sessions. Treatment focuses on helping parents gain a better understanding of their child’s anxiety and factors that may be maintaining their symptoms over time. Parents learn ways to increase supportive behaviors in response to their anxious youth and learn ways to decrease family accommodations that have been put in place in response to their child’s symptoms.