Hi everyone. I was talking with another person who went through the SPACE program earlier this year and we were wondering how providers are finding delivering this treatment in the current context of Covid, homeschooling/working parents, and the general uncertainty and stress in many families. I feel like parental capacity is fairly stretched and parents are already quite stressed, and I worry about the additional demands that this treatment would require. I'm very new and have used it loosely with some folks but not in its entirety yet - I was hoping to start marketing and doing that this year and now I am wondering about the timing.
How are other providers finding the delivery of SPACE at this time?
Hi Anna - I have continued to provide SPACE over the past few months (via telehealth) and have had good experiences/outcomes. While families are definitely stretched thin, it seems that helping them make very specific plans to reduce accommodation, increase support, and disengage from disruptive behavior in fact reduces their feelings of being overwhelmed by providing some clear directions/goals. Also, there is more opportunity right now for some families to work on certain targets, for example, not accompanying children around the home (in cases of separation anxiety). Other targets have been slightly more challenging, such as social anxiety related concerns. But, we have been able to get creative about how to address these as well (e.g., recruiting supporters to contact child over FaceTime and parents not speaking for them). Of course, open communication about whether or not a given plan is going to "work" for the family right now is key, in addition to validating what a difficult time this is.