Space Anxiety Treatment
Discover the transformative power of SPACE, a groundbreaking approach designed to help your child conquer anxiety- by teaching YOU the parent how to effectively support your child in facing their fear and discomfort. Although this program works only with the parents it fosters resilience and confidence in children. Unleash your child's full potential – explore SPACE treatment today!"
What is SPACE?
SPACE is an innovative child-anxiety treatment program developed by Dr. Eli Lebowitz at the Medical School Child Study Center at Yale University In their research of anxiety treatment programs, they discovered that parents inadvertently reinforce their child’s anxiety by solving their problems or reassuring them when they are uncertain. Parents often allow children to avoid those situations that make them anxious or uncomfortable. While this parenting behavior helps the child in the short term by alleviating their discomfort this intervention actually helps maintain the anxiety in the long run. The SPACE treatment is a systematic program that helps parents become aware of how anxiety works, how they accommodate their child’s anxiety, and then learn how they can respond differently to their child’s anxiety. Although this is a child anxiety treatment program, the child does not participate directly in treatment sessions.
Traditionally child anxiety treatment programs mirrored adult anxiety programs. This approach did not take into account the cognitive or developmental differences between adults and children. It also did not consider the important attachment between parents and their children. When a child is unset or nervous it is natural for a concerned parent to try to intervene to help their child feel less distressed. This behavior allows the child to stay reliant on their parents and it robs them of the opportunity to develop their own resiliency. SPACE is especially useful when a child is too young to have the cognitive skills to use a CBT-type treatment approach or when a child or teen is resistant to treatment. You can’t make a child change their behavior but you can teach a parent to change how they react to their anxious or uncomfortable child.
How does SPACE work?
I have been trained by Dr. Lebowitz to implement the SPACE program with my clients. I have found this program to be very effective when parents commit consistently to the 12 weeks program and complete the assigned homework. Parents become aware of the ways they accommodate their child’s anxiety. They also learn better ways to effectively support their anxious children by saying supportive statements that encourage them to push through their anxiety rather than avoid it. Together we pick one significant behavior problem caused by a child’s anxiety and plan a systematic intervention to address the parent’s role in the behavior pattern. Parents realize that they can tolerate their child’s uncertainty and insecurity. With the parent’s supportive statements, children are empowered to confront their anxieties rather than listen to their fears. This new confidence propels the child to make behavior changes that allow the whole family to feel more calm and free. If you feel this program might be right for your family, give me a call!