SPACE Parenting in Raleigh, NC

SPACE stands for Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions. It's a parent-based program for parents of anxious kids and kids with OCD, and here's the part that surprises people: parents attend the sessions, not the child.

Your Journey Through runs SPACE as a six-week, in-person group at our Raleigh office, and we work with families throughout Wake County.

Schedule a Free Consultation

When Your Child's Anxiety Starts Running the House

It starts small. One more reassurance before bed. Sitting outside the bathroom door. Driving the long way so you don't pass the dog that scared her. Then the mornings get harder, school drop-off turns into a standoff, and the rituals take up more of the evening than dinner does.

You didn't do anything wrong. Parents accommodate anxiety because it works in the moment, and because watching your child panic is genuinely painful. But accommodation tends to grow, and the anxiety gets a little more room each time. Between school pressure, packed after-school schedules, and the quiet exhaustion of managing all of this yourself, many parents tell us the same thing: they're out of ideas, and they're tired.

Waiting rarely helps. Anxiety left unaddressed in childhood is linked to ongoing struggles later on, and one in three youth experience a clinical anxiety disorder before adulthood. Doing something different now is worth it.

Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions

SPACE is a parent-based program developed by Dr. Eli Lebowitz at the Yale Child Study Center. Here's what makes it different: your child doesn't have to attend, agree to therapy, or even want to change. You come. You make the changes. The anxiety often loosens its grip from there.

The core of the work is what researchers call family accommodation, meaning the ways families adjust around a child's anxiety, which research links to keeping childhood anxiety going.

SPACE helps parents gently reduce those accommodations while adding more supportive responses, so your child hears two things at once: I understand this is hard, and I know you can handle it.

It's used with children and teens dealing with separation anxiety, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, panic, selective mutism, and OCD.

How to Join the SPACE Parenting Group in Raleigh

  1. Schedule a free consultation. A short call to talk through what's happening at home and whether SPACE fits.

  2. Have an intake conversation. We go deeper into your child's anxiety patterns and what you want to be different.

  3. Enroll in the next six-week group. Reserve your seat in the upcoming in-person cohort at our Raleigh office.

  4. Attend weekly sessions. Six consecutive weekly SPACE group sessions with other parents doing the same work.

  5. Practice at home. Try the techniques between sessions and bring back what happened, with facilitator guidance each week.

Reserve Your Spot in the Next Group

Instead of asking your anxious child to change first, SPACE gives you concrete language and steps to change what you do. Parents learn:

  • How to spot accommodation patterns you probably don't notice anymore

  • How to write and deliver supportive statements that pair acceptance with confidence

  • How to reduce one accommodation at a time, on purpose, without going cold turkey

  • How to hold steady when your child pushes back, because they often will at first

This isn't guesswork. In a randomized trial of 124 children with anxiety disorders, a full course of SPACE delivered only to parents worked as well as cognitive behavioral therapy delivered directly to the child. You're genuinely part of the solution here, not the cause of the problem.

SPACE Parenting Techniques

How SPACE Supportive Parenting Helps Your Child

  • Format: In-person group only, at our Raleigh office, 8305 Six Forks Road, Suite #207, Raleigh, NC 27615 (North Raleigh, off Six Forks Road).

  • Length: Six weeks, six group sessions.

  • Cost: $75 per session. We're out-of-network, so we don't bill your insurance directly. Most insurance providers reimburse some percentage of the fee, and we give you the superbill paperwork to submit.

  • Facilitator: [Facilitator name, credentials]

  • Who it's for: Parents of anxious children and adolescents, including kids with OCD. You come, not your child.

  • Service area: Families in Raleigh and throughout Wake County, meeting in person at our North Raleigh office.

SPACE Parenting Program Details

Benefits of SPACE for Raleigh Families

  • Fewer standoffs and less household conflict built around anxiety

  • Specific scripts and tools instead of trying one more thing you read at midnight

  • A clear picture of where accommodation is happening, and a plan to walk it back over six weeks

  • A path forward even when your child flatly refuses to see a therapist

This is likely a good fit if:

  • Your child avoids school, struggles with separation, or needs constant reassurance

  • Rituals or compulsions are shaping the family's routine

  • You can commit to attending all six weeks

  • You've been accommodating for a while, and things haven't improved

It's probably not the right starting point if you're looking for a drop-in service or immediate crisis support. If you want individual work instead, individual parenting therapy or family therapy sessions may be a better place to begin, and we'll tell you so on the consultation call.

If your child is older and the friction at home looks more like slammed doors and one-word answers than bedtime reassurance, our anxiety group for teens tackles that stage directly.

Is the SPACE Parenting Group Right for Your Family?

Mary Beth Somich founded Your Journey Through in 2016, and we've worked with Raleigh families ever since. Our team includes therapists credentialed as LCMHC, LCMHCA, and LCSWA, and this program follows the model built by Dr. Eli Lebowitz and his team at the Yale Child Study Center, not a homemade version of it.

Beyond SPACE, families here also work with us for group therapy in Raleigh and child therapy. Parents managing their own worry alongside their child's often add one-on-one parenting therapy.

Why Raleigh Families Choose Your Journey Through

SPACE Parenting Group FAQs

  • Just you. SPACE is a parent-based treatment program. Your child doesn't attend, doesn't need to agree to it, and doesn't need to know the details of what you're learning. The changes happen through what you do at home.

  • Most anxiety treatments, like CBT, work directly with the child. SPACE works through you. Your child doesn't attend or need to agree to anything. You learn to ease back on accommodating the anxiety and respond with support instead of rescue. In a randomized trial, parent-only SPACE worked as well as CBT delivered to the child.

  • In person at our Raleigh office, 8305 Six Forks Road, Suite #207, Raleigh, NC 27615, in North Raleigh. There's no virtual option for SPACE.

  • Sessions are $75 each. We're an out-of-network practice, so we don't bill insurance directly. Most insurance providers reimburse some percentage of the fee, and we give you the superbill paperwork to submit to your insurer. We can't promise a specific reimbursement amount, so it's worth a quick call to your plan.

  • Six weekly group sessions over six weeks.

  • Kids and teens with anxiety and OCD, including separation anxiety, social anxiety, generalized anxiety, panic, and selective mutism. If the anxiety is spiking around school specifically, our guide to anxiety support for teens is a useful read before your consultation.

  • Start with the free consultation. We'll talk about what's happening at home and give you an honest answer, even if that answer points somewhere else.

  • Start with the official SPACE program website, run by Dr. Eli Lebowitz, who developed SPACE at Yale. It has videos, research and audio resources. His book Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD is written for parents. Or bring your questions to your free consultation with us.

You've tried the extra reassurance, the workarounds, and the late-night searching. What you haven't had yet is a clear plan for this exact problem and a group of parents who understand what your evenings look like. Over six weeks, the goal is simple: less bracing for the next meltdown, and more knowing what to say when it comes. Your child doesn't have to be on board for you to start.

Schedule a Free Consultation, call (919) 296-3485, or email hello@yourjourneythrough.com.

Start the SPACE Parenting Group in Raleigh