Our Maryland Therapists Take You To SPACE (Treatment)

What is SPACE? Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions. And evidence based treatment for child anxiety. And our Maryland therapists offer it!

Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions or SPACE Treatment is a clinically proven therapeutic intervention to help with anxiety, OCD, and other related problems.

How is SPACE treatment different from other child therapy approaches? Unlike other approaches, SPACE improves child anxiety by working with the parents of an anxious child. Does this approach mean that child anxiety is the parent’s fault? Definitely not.

This clinically proven approach views the parents as the experts of their children and family. The role of a therapist is more of a consultant and coach. As parents make adjustments to their behavior to influence a change in their child’s functioning. Over time children become happier, more empowered and less anxious.

What happens in SPACE treatment? How does it work?

SPACE begins with educating parents about childhood anxiety. Next, the parents identify their child’s anxious behavior. They then reflect on their reaction to the behavior, looking for places where their parenting has changed in response to the child’s anxiety.

Any changes parents make to avoid anxious behavior (i.e. changes in behavior that they would not normally do or have done for other children) is called “accommodation.” Once an accommodation list is made, the parents and the therapist will decide on which recurring accommodation would most improve family life if it no longer occurred. This is called the “target.”

After the target behavior is identified, parents work on developing a formal statement that is presented to the child informing them of the change in parents behavior. This step is very important. Time will be spent with the therapist to carefully craft a statement that is both empathic and supportive.

Before the statement is delivered and intervention begins, the therapist and parents problem solve every possible scenario. Parents also practice a strategy called “supportive statements,” to begin empowering the child to make a change. After implementation, parents and therapists meet regularly to review progress or set backs and work collaboratively to solve them.

Is SPACE treatment a good fit for my anxious child?

Do you dread bad weather? Going to new places or social events? Trying to get your child to sleep at night? Making a special dinner for your picky eater? All because you are worried about your child’s reaction? You aren’t alone and SPACE is perfect for this!

Maybe your child screams. Throws things. Refuses to get out of the car. Maybe they cry over everyday events that seem tiny. Or refuse to go to camp or school.

These can all be examples of anxious behavior exhibited by your little one.

It can be so incredibly frustrating, exhausting and embarrassing to parent these behaviors. You feel helpless and overwhelmed when these situations occur. Especially when you can feel others judging you.

It makes sense that as a parent you might make small adjustments or avoid certain situations. Maybe there isn’t time for any more BIG emotions today. You just need to get on with things!

And all good parents try to protect children from danger and keep them safe. The difference is childhood anxiety is almost always rooted in irrational fears, rather than real danger. Your child’s reaction is real. And the danger feels real.

So when we see these big behaviors we are seeing the flight, fight or freeze response in our children. I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty hard to reason with me when I am scared. So imagine your child’s autonomic nervous system is triggered and they don’t have the emotional development to understand why they feel unsafe, they just do.

Is your child’s anxiety your fault? Absolutely not. But you can be part of the solution.

We aren’t sure what causes anxiety yet. Some people have a stronger predisposition for it and some people develop it from repeated experiences. No matter the cause of your child’s anxious behavior, you have the tools to help them conquer their dreams and goals. If you recognize that your child is really just dealing with fear.

Why do our Maryland SPACE Treatment Therapists work with Parents?

Often parents bring us their anxious little one and want us to cure them of these difficult behaviors. You put your faith in our professional training and expertise to help them learn to cope with their big emotions and process them in a healthy manner.  Which is a great honor for us. But we are limited by time.

You will always have more influence over your children than we do. And more time with them. Can you imagine your child growing more confident, outgoing, independent, and empowered with reduced or little anxiety? We can. And we can show you how to make it happen. Of course we are still here to work with your children when they are stuck. But wow, imagine what could happen when we work together!

Want to learn more? Reach out. All of our therapists have been trained in SPACE by the Yale Child Study Center.

Bring yourself and your intimate partner or the whole family!  Conquer anxious childhood emotions to create a more fun, more adventurous and peaceful family.