Empowering Parents of Teens with SPACE: A Faith-Friendly Approach to Anxiety and OCD Support in Utah
Parenting a teenager with anxiety or OCD can feel overwhelming.
As parents, you want to provide comfort and guidance. But, the emotional and behavioral challenges your teen faces may leave you feeling unsure of how best to help. For Latter-day Saints families in Utah, these struggles can be further complicated by the desire to align mental health strategies with gospel principles. Fortunately, the SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions) program offers a compassionate, parent-focused approach. It can help your teen navigate anxiety and OCD while preserving their emotional and spiritual well-being.
Whether your teen is grappling with religious OCD or scrupulosity or is simply struggling to manage anxiety in daily life, SPACE empowers you to become their most effective advocate. Let’s explore how this evidence-based program works. Including its alignment with faith-based values, and practical ways you can use SPACE to support your child.
Understanding the SPACE Program
Parenting a teen with anxiety or OCD can feel overwhelming. Especially when traditional approaches don’t seem to fit your family’s needs or align with your values. For parents in Utah navigating these challenges, finding a solution that respects your role as a parent while addressing your child’s mental health is essential. The Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE) program offers a unique and effective way to support your child’s journey. All while strengthening your connection and fostering emotional resilience.
What Is SPACE?
SPACE was developed by Dr. Eli Lebowitz at Yale University. It is an innovative treatment approach for parents of children and teens with anxiety, OCD, and related challenges. Unlike traditional therapy, SPACE focuses on empowering parents rather than requiring the teen to attend therapy sessions. By equipping you with tools to create a supportive yet structured environment, SPACE helps reduce your child’s anxiety and OCD symptoms over time.
How Does SPACE Work?
SPACE focuses on two primary goals to help parents support their teens with anxiety or OCD. The first goal is to teach parents how to respond supportively to their child’s anxiety symptoms. This means validating your teen’s emotions. This includes acknowledging their fears and concerns—without engaging in behaviors that inadvertently reinforce those fears. For instance, instead of reassuring your teen excessively when they express anxiety, you can learn to validate their feelings in a calm way while encouraging them to face challenges.
The second goal of SPACE is to reduce accommodations that often enable anxiety. As parents, it’s natural to want to protect your child from distress. But, accommodating avoidance behaviors can unintentionally prevent them from building resilience. For example, excusing your teen from mutual or sacrament meetings due to anxiety may provide short-term relief but can reinforce avoidance in the long term. SPACE equips parents with strategies to gradually step back from these accommodations, empowering their teen to face fears and grow stronger emotionally.
This approach is particularly effective for managing conditions like religious OCD. Compulsive behaviors, such as excessive prayer or repeated confessions, can often dominate daily life. For Latter-day Saints parents seeking treatment for scrupulosity in Provo, UT, SPACE provides a faith-compatible framework. It helps guide teens toward healthier coping mechanisms while fostering both spiritual and emotional growth.
Recognizing Anxiety and OCD in Teens
Anxiety and OCD can manifest in ways that are easy to overlook. For Latter-day Saints teens, symptoms might include:
Repeatedly seeking reassurance about their worthiness or about whether they have done something wrong
Avoiding activities at school or church out of fear of “getting it wrong.”
Avoiding usual activities or media because of fear they will be exposed to something inappropriate
Engaging in repetitive behaviors, such as rereading scriptures or praying for hours to ensure “perfection.”
These patterns may seem like signs of dedication at first. But, they can signal underlying anxiety or OCD. Particularly if they interfere with your teen’s daily functioning or spiritual well-being. Recognizing these behaviors early is key to providing the right support.
How SPACE Aligns with Faith-Based Parenting
Bridging Faith and Mental Health
For Latter-day Saints parents, integrating mental health strategies with gospel principles is essential. SPACE aligns beautifully with these values, emphasizing compassion, accountability, and resilience—qualities deeply rooted in the gospel. By validating your teen’s struggles and gently encouraging growth, SPACE fosters a nurturing environment where emotional and spiritual health can thrive.
Addressing Religious OCD and Scrupulosity
Religious OCD, or scrupulosity, is a form of OCD characterized by intrusive thoughts about moral or spiritual worthiness. Teens with scrupulosity may fear they’ve sinned or failed to meet God’s standards, leading to compulsive behaviors like excessive prayer or confession. If your family is seeking religious OCD treatment in Arizona or treatment for scrupulosity in Provo, UT, SPACE can help you manage these challenges in a way that respects your faith while addressing your teen’s anxiety.
Strengthening Family Bonds
SPACE encourages open communication and collaborative problem-solving, reinforcing your family’s relationships. For Latter-day Saints families, this approach can deepen connections through shared gospel-centered discussions and a focus on trust and mutual support.
Practical Tips for Parents Implementing SPACE
Respond Supportively
When your teen expresses anxiety, it’s natural to want to fix the problem or provide immediate reassurance. However, SPACE treatment teaches parents to respond with understanding without reinforcing avoidance.
Example: If your teen struggles with attending sacrament meetings, acknowledge their feelings (“I know this is hard for you”) while encouraging small steps toward participation.
Reduce Accommodations
It’s tempting to shield your teen from anxiety-provoking situations. But, these accommodations can unintentionally reinforce their fears. SPACE helps parents gradually reduce these behaviors.
Example: If your teen avoids youth activities, start by encouraging them to attend for a short period, increasing their participation as they build confidence over time.
Blend Faith with Resilience
Use gospel principles to reinforce your teen’s resilience. Highlight teachings that emphasize God’s grace and understanding, such as Ether 12:27 (“My grace is sufficient for all men”) to remind them that perfection is not expected.
When and How to Seek Professional Support
If your teen’s anxiety or OCD symptoms persist despite your efforts, it may be time to seek professional support. A SPACE-trained OCD therapist can provide tailored guidance to help your family navigate these challenges in an effective way. When seeking help, look for therapists who understand the unique intersection of faith and mental health. Whether you’re exploring religious OCD treatment in Arizona or treatment for scrupulosity in Provo, UT, finding a professional who respects your beliefs can make a significant difference in your teen’s healing journey.
Encouraging Hope and Resilience in Your Teen
Encouraging hope and resilience in your teen is a vital part of their journey with anxiety and OCD. Through the SPACE program, teens gradually develop the tools they need to manage their challenges on their own. This process helps them build confidence in their ability to face fears and overcome obstacles, fostering emotional and spiritual growth along the way. The skills they learn not only address their anxiety but also empower them to navigate life’s ups and downs with greater resilience. Incorporating faith into the healing process can further strengthen your teen’s journey. Anxiety doesn’t have to overshadow their spiritual growth. By integrating the principles of SPACE with a faith-based perspective, you can help your teen focus on themes of grace, resilience, and God’s unconditional love.
This approach allows them to reframe their struggles in a way that aligns with their spiritual beliefs, promoting both peace and emotional well-being. It’s important to celebrate every step forward, no matter how small. Whether it’s attending a full sacrament meeting for the first time in weeks or successfully reducing compulsive behavior, acknowledging these victories reinforces the progress they are making. Celebrating these moments not only motivates your teen to keep going. It also highlights the power of perseverance and the hope that comes with incremental growth.
Guiding Your Teen Toward Healing and Growth
Parenting a teen with anxiety or OCD is a journey, but with SPACE treatment, you don’t have to navigate it alone. This evidence-based program empowers Latter-day Saints parents to respond supportively and reduce accommodations, creating an environment where emotional and spiritual growth can flourish. Whether you’re seeking religious OCD treatment in Arizona, treatment for scrupulosity in Provo, UT, or support closer to home, help is available.
With the right tools and a compassionate approach, you can make a meaningful difference in your teen’s life, helping them build resilience, confidence, and a stronger connection to their faith. Take the first step today and explore how SPACE can transform your parenting journey and support your child’s path toward peace and confidence.
Find Relief with Religious OCD Treatment in Arizona or Utah
Supporting a child with religious OCD or scrupulosity requires understanding, compassion, and effective treatment. With accurate diagnosis and evidence-based approaches like SPACE and ERP, families can overcome the challenges of OCD together. Whether you're seeking religious OCD treatment in Arizona or treatment for scrupulosity in Provo, UT, Mountain Home Center for Religious and Moral OCD is here to guide you. Take the first step toward peace by following these simple steps:
Reach out through our contact page or directly at claire@mountainhomeocd.com.
Meet with a compassionate OCD therapist.
Begin the journey to supporting your child and managing symptoms in healthier, faith-compatible ways.
Other Services Offered By Mountain Home Center for Religious and Moral OCD
At the Mountain Home Center for Religious and Moral OCD, I offer a variety of evidence-based treatments beyond moral OCD to help you achieve mental well-being. My services include specialized care for various OCD themes, anxiety disorders, and relationship challenges. Understanding the unique struggles faced by Latter-day Saints, I am dedicated to providing compassionate, tailored support. Whether you're dealing with religious OCD, relationship OCD, or general anxiety, I am here to help. You can find peace and improve your quality of life. Explore all our services and start your journey to recovery from religious OCD by reaching out today. Together, we can work towards a life of balance, peace, and spiritual fulfillment.
