SPACE was developed at the Yale Child Study Center by Dr. Eli Lebowitz, and is a systematic program that teaches parents how to change their own behavior so that they can best support and respond to their child’s anxiety. By reducing an ‘accommodating’ approach to a child’s anxiety, parents are able to engage in a manner that ultimately enhances the child’s ability to cope with anxious thoughts and feelings.

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The goal of the group is to jumpstart a change in family behavior by teaching parents how best to respond to their anxious child. Family accommodation is a way that some parents engage with their children in order to decrease their anxiety. Instead of helping your child avoid anxiety-provoking stimuli, you’ll learn new ways to engage that encourage confronting, rather than avoiding their fears. We will help parents take the initial steps in confronting their own accommodating behaviors towards their child’s rituals and anxious routines.  

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You can expect to:

• gain confidence in parenting your anxious child

• develop the tools to effectively address your child’s anxiety

• reduce some of your own accommodating behaviors

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This is a live, parent education and coaching group, NOT individual therapy for the child.  This means the therapist leading the group will not conduct individual assessments, provide diagnostic impressions or discuss individual treatment recommendations outside the context of the coaching services provided within the group.  Parents will have the opportunity to schedule individual consultation sessions outside of class times if needed for additional support.