Supportive Parenting of Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE)

When a child is struggling with anxiety, OCD, or related challenges, parents often feel unsure how to help. You may find yourself walking on eggshells, rearranging routines, or avoiding certain situations to ease your child’s distress — and yet, the anxiety remains.

The SPACE program (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions), developed at the Yale Child Study Center by Dr. Eli Lebowitz, is an evidence-based, parent-focused approach designed to reduce childhood anxiety by giving parents clear, practical ways to support their child’s emotional growth.

In SPACE, parents learn how to respond to their child’s anxiety with calm, supportive confidence while gradually reducing the accommodations that unintentionally reinforce fear. As parents make these shifts, children begin to feel less anxious and more capable — even without attending therapy sessions themselves.

SPACE can be helpful for children experiencing separation anxiety, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, OCD, phobias, panic disorder, selective mutism, or ARFID (avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder).

This structured, collaborative program offers parents concrete guidance and ongoing support — helping the whole family move toward greater resilience and ease.

Sessions are typically 50 minutes.