fbpx

Parent-Led Treatment For Eating Disorder Behaviors

SPACE 4ED Teaches Parents

To Do 3 Essential Things:

1. Support healthy eating & food flexibility

2. Build anxiety resilience

3. Stop accommodating eating disorder behaviors

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!

Are you frustrated because your child isn’t “choosing” recovery?

I was trained by Dr. Eli Lebowitz who developed the Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) program. I’ve adapted SPACE specifically for eating disorder behaviors to help you improve food flexibility and acceptance, support anxiety resilience, and stop accommodating disordered eating behaviors.

My 8-week on-demand SPACE 4ED training course helps you make a difference in your child’s’ eating disorder recovery. The best part about SPACE is that it doesn’t require your child to get on board, commit to recovery, or attend any meetings or sessions. It’s an entirely parent-driven treatment.

Why SPACE?

Most eating disorder treatment focuses almost entirely on changing the child’s behavior. This can result in nasty power struggles and deeper entrenchment of the disorder.

But by focusing on what you can change (yourself!) you stop accommodating the eating disorder and support recovery.

Curious? Watch the first 11 minutes of the course:

space treatment eating disorder
space treatment eating disorder

✔️ Stop accommodating the eating disorder

✔️ Increase food acceptance and flexibility

✔️ Change how you respond to disordered eating behaviors

✔️ Build anxiety resilience

space treatment eating disorder

SPACE Treatment for Eating Disorders

An 8-week intensive coaching program for parents who have kids with eating disorders. Be supportive and firm. Learn exactly how to stop accommodating the eating disorder. Stop walking on eggshells, and start making a difference.

  • Reduce parental accommodation
  • Reduce your child’s anxiety
  • Increase your child’s food flexibility
  • Reduce your child’s food rigidity
  • Support your child in a variety of food environments
  • Decrease food-related stress
  • Respond to body-checking effectively
  • Expand the list of “accepted foods” your child will eat
  • Support your child as they face resistance and fear about recovery
Yale University

SPACE: Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions

Developed and validated by scientists at Yale University, SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) is an evidence-based, parent-based treatment. It teaches parents to stop accommodating, a major “maintaining” factor in eating disorders.

space treatment eating disorder

space 4Ed Training

Learn how to respond to anxiety and supercharge recovery

$475

$395

✔️ 8 weeks of online lessons

✔️ Worksheets & Homework

✔️ Email check-ins with Ginny

✔️ 24×7 access to course lessons for 6 months after registration

Bonus Items

eBook containing the structure, worksheets, tips & tricks

Plus: 1 private coaching session with Ginny (value: $150)


“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.

This changes everything.

.01

You’ll understand how loving parents get stuck in accommodation patterns.

.02

You’ll know what to do instead of accommodating and giving into anxiety, worry, and anger.

.03

You’ll know that you are doing everything in your power to make recovery possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

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 at least some of the time. About half of my clients have kids who are over 18, so I have a lot of experience working with parents who have older kids. I use both SPACE and a more fluid/less structured coaching style with these parents, and it’s been very effective! Please contact me if you’d like to talk about the best approach 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.

eating disorder

SPACE for Eating Disorders

Stop accommodating eating disorder behaviors and supercharge your child’s recovery