SPACE
(Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions)
Supporting Students with Anxiety and School Refusal
In addition to my work as a therapist, I am the former coordinator of the HOPE program, a middle and high school program designed to help students who struggle to access their education due to anxiety and school refusal. Drawing on my experience in this role and my training with Dr. Lebowitz in the SPACE protocol, I provide a compassionate and effective approach to addressing these challenges and empowering families.
The protocol typically takes approximately 8-12 sessions, depending upon the areas being addressed. You can pay per session or we can discuss a package that fits your family's needs.
FAQ's
1
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.
SPACE was developed by Dr. Eli Lebowitz at the Yale Child Study Center and has been tested and found to be efficacious in randomized controlled clinical trials.
2
Who is SPACE for? Who is the Patient?
SPACE aims to treat children and adolescents with anxiety disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Although children do not have to attend SPACE sessions - they are the patients! When SPACE treatment is successful children feel less anxious and function better following treatment.
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
Parents (and other caregivers) participate in SPACE treatment sessions. In most cases the child or adolescent does not need to attend the treatment sessions.
3
What Happens in SPACE Treatment?
Parents who participate in SPACE will 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, they do not need to make their child change.
The two main changes that parents learn to make in SPACE treatment are to respond more supportively to their anxious child and to reduce the accommodations they have been making to the child symptoms.
