SPACE is a parent-only evidence-based therapy for parents of children and teens with anxiety and OCD that has been found to be just as effective as individual therapy.

Earlier this year before the pandemic shut down the world, I went to Yale to visit with the team there and received my certification in this awesome program.

Well, what’s the big deal? Wouldn’t it just be easier to take your child to therapy and drop them off?

I know that could be a precious hour that you could catch up on work, run errands, or have a moment of peace. It sounds awesome. Yet, this approach is not always effective. Why? Because we know a few things:

1) Most kids don’t want to go to therapy even with a highly effective therapist.

It’s just not the most fun thing you can do when you’re dealing with a pandemic. It’s easier for parents to commit to therapy.

By the way, a highly effective therapist is going to use evidence-based treatment (read – has mad skills) AND be highly interpersonally skilled (read – kids thinks he/she “gets it” and “isn’t full of crap like most grown ups” and is warm, caring, and maybe even cool!). But alas, it still isn’t Xbox.

2) The research is clear. The biggest variable that affects positive outcomes for individuals in therapy is their motivation and engagement.

So, if the child isn’t motivated to attend or engage in therapy, it doesn’t work as well.

3) Although there are biological factors at play, anxiety is a learned behavior, so it’s highly environmentally influenced. So, doing therapy with an anxious child or teen without involving the parents or supporting them will likely not work very well unless, perhaps, the child is EXTREMELY motivated and committed to work of therapy.

So, here’s my first video – taped on a Friday afternoon after I had been out biking with a helmet. Not my best idea. Then, I thought, “Why don’t I just bite the bullet and post on Youtube! I mean no one has ever had something bad happen there!” Well, at least my son thinks I’m cool now because I have a Youtube channel!