Do you want to get your child on the path to eating disorder recovery but they are not interested?
Are you trying to convince, cajole, and negotiate your child into recovery but it’s not working?
Do you have endless (and fruitless) conversations about the value of recovery?
You can make a difference in recovery even if your child is not on board!
You’re In The Right Place If:
✔️ You’re a parent whose child has an eating disorder.
✔️ You’ve tried to get your child into recovery but either they refuse or you don’t think they’re fully engaged and making progress.
✔️ You are committed to making a difference, learning, and growing as a parent, and you’re not afraid of some hard work to make recovery happen.
I was tired of seeing parents left out of the recovery process, and was looking for a solution when I came across Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). The program was developed by Dr. Eli Lebowitz and his team at Yale University. After being trained by Dr. Lebowitz, I created this course to give you a strategic, parent-led approach to eating disorder recovery.
SPACE is parent-led, which means it doesn’t require your child to attend any meetings or sessions. Your child can continue with their existing eating disorder treatment, but you can supercharge recovery by learning how to respond to their behaviors and support recovery. It can be used by itself or in addition to other eating disorder treatments, including Family Based Treatment (FBT).
space 4Ed Training
Parent-Led Treatment to Supercharge Eating Disorder Recovery
“It’s like night and day. I went from feeling like there was nothing to do to seeing all the little things I could do to change things.”
— S. Perry
The SPACE solution
SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) is an evidence-based treatment program that helps kids who suffer from severe anxiety symptoms. With eating disorders, anxiety symptoms may include not eating, a small list of acceptable food, binge eating, food rituals, over-exercise, and body-checking. With SPACE, children are the treatment targets, but parents are the ones who attend coaching sessions.
SPACE treatment can help parents deal with eating disorder behaviors and anxiety around eating, food, and body image. Because while the available treatments can be helpful, they require engagement from the kids and rarely teach parents how to respond effectively to eating disorder anxieties when they show up at home.
With SPACE treatment, I’m able to teach parents exactly what to do, what not to do, and how to make a difference in eating disorder anxiety.
Recently the creators of SPACE developed and tested SPACE-ARFID, which provides even more guidance about how I can help parents who are dealing with food anxieties.
SPACE is very effective in helping parents help kids learn to surf the waves of their anxiety with you by their side. And the kids don’t need to show up or engage in a single session. Parents do the work, but the kids benefit from the treatment. This is especially helpful when the child is resistant to treatment.
When parents face kids with an eating disorder, they often feel overwhelmed and exhausted. This is because it takes tremendous effort to convince these kids to feed their bodies and take good care of themselves. The eating disorder anxieties often grow and expand even as parents make their best efforts to help their kids recover.
With SPACE, parents are the ones who attend coaching sessions. You don’t need to force kids to attend SPACE treatment sessions. Your kid doesn’t need to be engaged or motivated to change their behavior for SPACE to work.
space 4Ed Training
Parent-Led Treatment to Supercharge Eating Disorder Recovery
Frequently Asked Questions
Will this be helpful if we’re doing FBT?
Yes. Often with FBT parents are given information about what they need to do (e.g. feed your child), but little instruction on how to do it. SPACE is an evidence-based treatment that teaches parents how to support kids in doing the things that make them anxious. It gives parents a recipe for holding boundaries during FBT and making significant progress.
Which eating disorders does SPACE 4ED work with?
It works with any eating disorder because the focus is the behaviors, not the specific diagnosis. SPACE is a treatment for anxious emotions and behaviors. We’ll target eating disorder behaviors that are driven by anxiety. These include food and eating behaviors, body checking, body talk, treatment resistance, exercise, and more. If you’re not sure if SPACE is a fit for you, please contact me and I’ll be happy to talk it through with you.
It seems like SPACE is for younger children. Can you recommend something similar for kids who are over 20?
SPACE can work for any age, but it is typically most effective when your child lives with you. Please contact me if you’d like to talk about whether it’s the right fit for you.
Is SPACE appropriate for kids who have ADHD and/or Autism?
Yes. SPACE has been effective in working with kids who have ADHD and/or Autism. Please let me know if your child has either/both so that I can intentionally work that into your treatment plan.