Therapy for Parents of Anxious Kids & Teens in Tampa, FL
In person in Tampa · Virtual throughout Florida and vermont
The reassurance isn't helping. The avoidance is getting worse. There's another way.
I’m guessing you’re exhausted.
You’ve been managing your child’s anxiety for a while now. Maybe years. You’ve read the articles. Tried the strategies. Stayed up way too late Googling “what to do when your kid refuses to go to school” or “how to stop your child from having a meltdown every single morning.”
You’ve probably tried being patient. Tried being firm. Tried bribery. Tried just… going along with it because the alternative was worse.
And still - nothing is really working. Or maybe it works for a minute and then it doesn’t. And meanwhile, the anxiety seems to be spreading - to siblings, to your relationship, to you.
If this is your life right now
Here’s what parents tell me when they finally reach out:
“I don’t know what to do anymore. Nothing is working.”
“My kid won’t go to a therapist. I’m out of options.”
“I feel like I’m walking on eggshells in my own house.”
“I’m so tired of this I can’t even think straight.”
“I just want to help my kid navigate this better and am at a loss.”
If any of that sounds familiar, you’re in the right place. And here’s the thing nobody tells you until they do:
Your child doesn’t have to come to therapy for things to change.
Let’s get this out of the way first: you are not the reason your child has anxiety (or OCD or any other diagnosis). Anxiety is complicated - biology, temperament, nervous system wiring, the unpredictability of the world. It is not because you loved them too much or responded too quickly or weren’t consistent enough.
That said.
There’s a really natural thing that happens when you love an anxious kid. You try to protect them. You give a little extra reassurance. You adjust the routine slightly so today goes more smoothly. You pick your battles because honestly, you’re running on empty and a meltdown in the school parking lot is not what any of us need right now.
All of that makes total sense. And when it becomes a pattern it can accidentally keep the anxiety loop going. Not because you’re doing it wrong. Because anxiety is sneaky and these responses feel like help in the moment.
You Didn’t Cause This. And Also - Here’s What We Can Actually Do About It.
This is actually great news. Because it means there is something concrete you can do. The patterns that have developed between you and your child (the reassurance, the avoidance, the negotiating) can be shifted. And when they shift, kids feel safer. More capable. More able to face the things that have been feeling impossible.
You just need to know how to do it. And I can help with that.
what we actually do in sessions
What Therapy for Parents of Anxious Kids & Teens in Tampa, FL Looks Like
This is the part that surprises most parents.
You come to sessions. Not your child. We work together on understanding what’s driving the anxiety, on how you’ve been responding to it (with so much love, I know), and on building a new approach that actually helps your kid move through the hard stuff instead of around it.
Research shows that when parents change how they respond to their child’s anxiety, kids’ anxiety levels drop significantly - even when the child isn’t directly in treatment. This isn’t a workaround. It’s an evidence-based, parent-focused approach with a lot of real data behind it.
And honestly? It’s also really good for you. Because you’ve been carrying this for a long time, and you deserve support too.
What We’ll Work On:
The Reassurance Spiral
Your kid asks if everything is going to be okay. You say yes. They ask again. You say yes again. And somehow by the end of it you’re both more anxious than when you started. We look at what’s happening in those moments and find ways to respond that are warm and supportive without accidentally feeding the loop.
School Refusal & Avoidance
Whether it’s refusing school, avoiding friends, or saying no to activities they used to love, avoidance feels like relief in the short term and makes anxiety stronger over time. We build a plan for how to support your kid in gradually facing the things that feel hard, in a way that doesn’t blow up your whole morning.
Meltdowns & Emotional Overwhelm
When your kid goes from zero to full meltdown in thirty seconds and you’re just trying to get everyone out the doorwe talk about what’s happening in your nervous system in those moments, not just theirs. Your calm is contagious. We work on building it.
Walking On Eggshells
If you’ve started adjusting your whole life around your child’s anxiety—what you say, where you go, what you plan—we look at how to start gently reclaiming some of that space without it feeling like you’re abandoning them.
Co-Parent Friction
One of you wants to push a little. One of you wants to give it more time. Both of you are right in different ways and also driving each other completely nuts. We’ll work on getting aligned—because consistency matters and you deserve to feel like a team again.
Your Own Anxiety
Anxious kids often come from anxious families—which is not a judgment, it’s biology. Sometimes the work involves looking at your own fear, your own nervous system, your own patterns. That’s not a detour. That’s often the most important part.
The Approach: SPACE Treatment
The work I do with parents is grounded in SPACE, which stands for Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions. It’s a research-based, parent-focused treatment developed at Yale that specifically targets the accommodation behaviors that keep anxiety going. It’s been studied with families navigating anxiety, OCD symptoms, school refusal, selective eating, and more.
SPACE is designed to be done with parents - not children. Which means it works even when your kid is resistant to therapy, not ready for therapy, or already seeing someone else. It’s not a replacement for child therapy. It’s a proven path forward when waiting for your kid to “be ready” isn’t working.
I use it alongside everything else I bring to the room: a warm, shame-free, nervous-system-aware approach that takes your experience as a parent seriously - not just as a variable in your child’s treatment, but as someone who matters in this too.
Did you know?
SPACE is also a treatment that works well for kids and teens with picky eating or ARFID.
Hey, I'm Keri
I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Tampa, FL. I specialize in anxiety, body image, parenting challenges, and the complicated relationship between our nervous systems and the world around us.
I’m also a parent. I have a kid with ARFID - a feeding and eating difference that comes with its own mountain of anxiety, avoidance, and “what do I even do here” moments. I’ve sat exactly where you’re sitting. I’ve Googled the things. I’ve tried the things. I know what it’s like to love a kid whose anxiety is bigger than both of you, and to feel completely out of options.
That experience shapes everything about how I work with parents. I’m not just clinically trained in SPACE - I get it from the inside. And I bring that into the room with you.
My approach is warm, direct, and completely judgment-free. I’m not here to evaluate your parenting. I’m here to help you find a way through this that actually works for your family.
I see families in person in the Carrollwood area of North Tampa, and virtually throughout Florida and Vermont.
Questions?
FAQs
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Nope. This is one of the things that makes this approach different from traditional child therapy. SPACE treatment is designed to be done entirely with parents. Your child’s willingness to participate - or lack of it - doesn’t determine whether this can help.
If you have an older child or one who wants to be involved, then they absolutely can! It’s just not required.
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It’s really common for parents to be in different places on this. One parent might be ready to try something new; the other might be skeptical, overwhelmed, or just not sure. You don’t have to come in as a perfectly aligned team - we can work on that alignment together. Many parents start on their own and bring their partner in when it feels right.
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Absolutely! SPACE is designed to complement, not compete with, what your child is already doing in therapy. Often parents find that the work they do in SPACE actually supports and accelerates what’s happening in their child’s sessions. I’m always happy to connect with your child’s therapist if that feels helpful.
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Parenting coaching can be useful, but it’s a different scope of practice. SPACE is a clinical treatment - evidence-based, research-backed, and specifically designed to reduce anxiety in children by changing accommodation patterns (and yes, there are helpful accommodations for kids as well). It goes deeper than general parenting strategies and addresses the nervous system and relational dynamics underneath the behavior. As an LCSW, I’m also equipped to support you with your own anxiety or overwhelm that’s coming up in this process.
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Across the board - from younger kids (around 5 and up) through teens and into young adulthood. The SPACE model adapts depending on the age and developmental stage of your child. Whether you’re navigating separation anxiety in a seven-year-old or a 17-year-old who won’t leave the house, we can talk about what this would look like for your family.
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Yes. I offer virtual SPACE treatment throughout Florida and Vermont. In-person sessions are available at my office in the Carrollwood area of North Tampa.
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SPACE is typically a shorter-term treatment - many families see meaningful change within 10–20 sessions. Of course, every family is different. Some need more time, some need less. We’ll check in regularly on how things are shifting and adjust the plan as we go.
You’ve Been Waiting Long Enough.
You don’t have to wait for your kid to be ready. You don’t have to wait until things get worse. You don’t have to keep doing the same thing and hoping it eventually clicks.
There is a path forward here. It starts with you. And you don’t have to figure it out alone.
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation and let’s talk about what this could look like for your family.
Accepting new clients · Tampa in-person & virtual throughout Florida & Vermont
Therapy for Parents of Anxious Kids & Teens in Tampa, FL
Services also offered virtually throughout Florida and Vermont