Evidence Based Therapies
Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE)
talk therapy
SPACE is an active, approach-based therapy that helps caregivers learn how to respond effectively to their child's anxiety.
SPACE teaches caregivers how to change their own behaviors to support their child's recovery. Caregivers also learn communication and validation skills to use with each other and with their other child(ren).
SPACE frequently improves relationships between family members by decreasing the negative impact of youth anxiety on the entire family system.
MODALITIES
SPACE sessions are conducted with one or more caregivers and a SPACE-trained therapist, without the youth present. SPACE is currently offered in both individual and group formats.
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BEHAVIORS
Relationship
What SPACE is:
Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) is a short term, parent-based intervention for problematic anxiety in children and adolescents. Research has shown SPACE to be as efficacious as individual CBT for youth, which is the current gold-standard treatment for childhood anxiety! The treatment is designed to be conducted with caregivers only as it directly targets caregiver’s responses to their youths’ anxiety. This is not because caregivers are to blame but rather they can be a big part of the solution! Anxious youth naturally turn to caregivers for reassurance and protection, which over time can entangle caregivers in a challenging cycle. Treatment focuses on helping caregivers to a) respond supportively to their child’s anxiety with a combination of validation and confidence, and b) reduce reinforcing or accommodating their child’s anxiety. This process helps caregivers get out of the common traps of “protecting” their child, “demanding” they manage their anxiety, or feeling lost and overwhelmed with how to help. By exclusively focusing on changing parental behavior instead of youth behavior, SPACE reduces the escalation families often experience when trying to force youth to change course and empowers parents to take action to support their youth.
What SPACE treats:
SPACE is designed to treat a range of anxiety disorders in youth, including OCD, social anxiety, separation anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, selective mutism, generalized anxiety, and specific phobias. As a parent-based intervention, youth involvement is not required for any portion of treatment. This makes SPACE an ideal option for caregivers of youth who are unwilling or unable to engage in their own treatment. SPACE is also a great adjunct for caregivers when their youth is engaged in individual treatment, as SPACE uniquely attends to caregiver behavior. While the target of treatment is the youth’s anxiety, most parents find SPACE improves their own well-being and sense of competence in navigating their child’s anxiety.
Individual Video-Assisted SPACE Treatment: Caregivers may purchase our 15-part video series to stream at their own convenience through the Vimeo platform. These videos are taught by Dr. Chloe Zachary and guide caregivers through the core components of SPACE training. Instructions on when to spend time practicing a skill before watching the next video are provided and homework is assigned between most videos. Families are strongly encouraged to meet with a TAP SPACE provider before communicating their new plan to their child. Families will be prepared to deliver this plan after watching the first 12 videos in the series. Every family is different and we encourage all to get individualized professional advice to ensure any variables unique to their family or circumstance are taken into proper account.
Per the request of Dr. Leibowitz, creator of SPACE Treatment, the TAP video-assisted e-learning course is only accessible to TAP clients. As such, an intake with a TAP provider is required to access this content. Alongside the videos, families will also be able to download the TAP SPACE Parent Workbook and PDFs of all content taught in videos.