10 weeks · 8 sessions · Online
Anxiety Reduction (Parent-Led)
Over 10 weeks, a neurodiversity specialist coaches you through eight 45-minute 1:1 online sessions to change how your family responds, helping your child face more and avoid less. Your child never needs to attend.
- 8 sessions of 1:1 time (6 hours)
- Booked at your own pace
- Save £160 on booking the sessions separately
- Switch specialist anytime
Not sure this is the right programme?
This programme includes
Anxiety assessment and goal setting
- Map your child's triggers, avoidance and your family's current responses
- Leave with two target behaviours and any referral needs identified
Psychoeducation: accommodation baseline
- Identify what you do to prevent distress and how it maintains anxiety
- Create a chart of your family's current accommodations
Supportive communication and scripts
- Practise supportive statements that acknowledge difficulty and confidence in coping
- Take away scripts tailored to use with your child
Reducing accommodation: first target
- Choose one accommodation to reduce and predict your child's reaction
- Build a step-by-step response plan for the first change
First plan review and adjustment
- Review the first plan and adjust what is not working
- Prepare for escalations, siblings and grandparents
Second target and anxiety focus
- Choose a second target and one anxiety area to focus on
- Shape next steps around school, sleep, separation or sensory anxiety
Second anxiety focus or de-escalation
- Explore another anxiety area or practise de-escalation and co-regulation
- Take away responses matched to the pattern you choose
Progress review and relapse plan
- Compare progress with your two targets from week one
- Create a relapse plan and know when to seek NHS support
The research behind it
This programme is informed by the research behind SPACE (Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions), developed at the Yale Child Study Center to address child anxiety by changing parent responses only. A 2020 randomised trial by Lebowitz and colleagues in JAACAP found this parent-only approach as effective as child CBT, although individual outcomes vary.
How we'll know it worked
Your baseline is captured in session 1 and re-measured in the final session, so you can see the two side by side and keep a written summary. Success means more target situations faced without avoidance and fewer accommodations from you.
- Two or three goals in your own words, scored from 0 to 10 in session 1 and again at the midpoint and end. A move of 3 or more points is the standard CAMHS benchmark for meaningful change.
- A 30-second weekly diary counting the accommodations you make and situations your child avoids.
- The same validated anxiety questionnaire before and after: the free SCAS parent version (SCAS-P) or RCADS-P, as used in research trials.
Is this for me?
Your child avoids school activities, sleepovers, separation or ordinary situations because anxiety takes over.
You want to help your child face more without pushing them into situations they cannot manage.
You answer endless reassurance questions, sleep beside your child, speak for them or avoid anything that might trigger distress.
You want practical ways to respond differently, including when sensory-driven anxiety is part of your neurodivergent child's experience.
Your child has refused counselling or CBT, or is too young or too anxious to engage with it.
Only you attend because the parent-only model is the design, not a compromise, and your child never joins a session.
Just want one online conversation for now? Chat with a Neurodiversity Specialist fits better.
No waiting lists, specialists on-demand
HCPC verified4.9Dr Helen Marsh
Educational Psychologist
Helps families understand assessments and build a clear plan, without the jargon.
RCSLT verified5.0Mei Chen
Speech & Language Therapist
Gentle, play-based sessions that build confidence and communication at home.
HCPC verified4.8Sophie Bennett
Occupational Therapist
Practical sensory and motor strategies that fit into real, busy family routines.
Ready when you are
A programme of 1:1 video sessions with a vetted UK specialist, with the same continuity throughout.
No subscription · switch specialist anytime
Not ready to book?
Vetted before they ever meet your child
Enhanced DBS, qualifications verified against the awarding body, identity confirmed in person.
This is specialist guidance for parents, not diagnosis or treatment. Session 1 always screens for anything that needs your GP, NHS or CAMHS first, and we tell you straight away if it does.
Common questions
Who attends, and are sessions online?
The programme is fully online and only you attend. Your child never attends, which is the point of the parent-only approach the programme draws on, and partners or other carers are welcome on the calls.
Why can a parent-only approach help?
This programme is informed by the research behind SPACE. A 2020 randomised trial by Lebowitz and colleagues in JAACAP found the parent-only SPACE approach as effective as CBT delivered to the child, although no outcome can be guaranteed.
Is this therapy or a clinical service?
No. This is specialist guidance for parents, not diagnosis or treatment. Session 1 includes a screen for anything needing clinical support, so red flags are routed to your GP, the NHS or CAMHS.
Why are there 8 sessions across 10 weeks?
Weeks 5 and 9 are deliberate practice weeks, giving you time to use the new responses in real family life before the next session or final review. You also have a message check-in with your specialist.
What if it does not work?
No outcome is guaranteed, and the final session says plainly if your goals have not been met. You will be routed to a different programme or specialist if the original understanding was wrong, a discounted top-up block if more time is needed, or a written GP or CAMHS referral summary if the need is clinical.
Book your programme
A programme of 1:1 video sessions with a vetted UK specialist, and a written summary after each.
No subscription · switch specialist anytime
Not ready to book?