August 5, 2025: When Therapy Isn’t an Option: SPACE as a Breakthrough for Child Anxiety & OCD

We are excited to have Alex Littleton, PsyD, presenting for OCD Colorado on August 5th, from 5:30-6:30pm on SPACE. The talk will be located at: 8310 South Valley Highway
Suite 300
Englewood CO 80112

“When Therapy Isn’t an Option: SPACE as a Breakthrough for Child Anxiety & OCD”

Calming anxiety by empowering parents, not pressuring kids.

SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) is a structured, parent-based approach to treating childhood anxiety & OCD — especially effective when kids resist therapy. Instead of targeting the child’s behavior, SPACE helps caregivers change their responses to the child’s anxiety & fear, creating lasting change without ever asking the child to do anything differently.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Recognize How SPACE Fills a Critical Treatment Gap
    • Understand how SPACE helps when children won’t engage in therapy, by working solely through parent behavior.
  2. Explain the Core Framework of SPACE
    • Emphasize that SPACE never asks children to change — only the caregiver’s behavior is adjusted.
  3. Identify and Reduce Accommodation
    • Spot common accommodating behaviors and why they continue.
    • Learn how to systematically reduce them without increasing conflict.
  4. Use Supportive Statements Across Contexts
    • Deliver clear, confident, and compassionate messages that validate the child’s feelings — without enabling avoidance.
    • Practice using supportive statements in varied situations: school refusal, bedtime, transitions, and more.
  5. Apply the SPACE Plan at Home or in Practice
    • Walk through the practical steps of implementing SPACE with families, focusing exclusively on caregiver-led change.