SPACE for Super Picky Eaters
For families navigating ARFID and extreme picky eating
Mealtimes have become a battleground. Your child refuses everything but the same 5 foods. You're making separate meals, avoiding restaurants, and watching their world get smaller. You're exhausted, anxious, and worried about their health. What if the way you're trying to help is actually making it harder for them to move forward?
The Dinner Table Battle Every meal is a negotiation. You're making separate dinners, bribing, pleading, or just giving up and serving the same safe foods over and over. You're terrified they're not getting proper nutrition.
Life is Getting Smaller You can't go to restaurants. Birthday parties are stressful. Sleepovers are impossible. Their refusal to eat is limiting their life — and yours.
Walking on Eggshells You're managing their anxiety around food, carefully avoiding triggers, doing everything you can to keep mealtimes peaceful. But nothing is changing, and you're running out of ideas.
Does This Sound Familiar?
What if you could break the cycle?
SPACE for Super Picky Eaters is an evidence-based parent group designed specifically for families dealing with ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) and extreme picky eating.
Unlike traditional feeding therapy that focuses on getting your child to eat, SPACE works with you, the parent. Because here's what most families don't realize: the accommodations you're making to reduce your child's anxiety around food are actually reinforcing their avoidance.
This isn't about forcing your child to eat. It's not about making mealtimes more stressful. It's about reducing your anxiety, lowering family reactivity around food, and giving your child the space they need to make progress — at their own pace.
When you stop accommodating the anxiety, your child has the opportunity to learn they can tolerate discomfort around food. When you step back, they have room to step forward.
What You’ll Learn
Understand the Anxiety-Avoidance Cycle Learn how anxiety drives food refusal, and how your well-meaning responses are keeping the pattern stuck.
Identify Your Accommodations What are you doing at mealtimes that reduces your child's anxiety in the short term but reinforces avoidance long-term? We'll map it out.
Reduce Accommodation Strategically Learn to step back — not all at once, not punitively, but intentionally. One change at a time, with warmth and support.
Lower Your Own Anxiety Your anxiety about their eating is palpable to your child. We'll give you tools to stay calm, even when they refuse to eat.
Create Space for Progress When you stop managing every bite, your child has the chance to explore food on their own terms. Real change happens in the space you create.
Connect With Other Parents You're not alone. This group gives you a place to share struggles, celebrate wins, and learn from parents who truly understand.
Group Details
Start Date: Thursday, March 12, 2025
Time: 9:00 – 10:15 AM PST
Format: Online (Zoom)
Duration: 9 Weeks
What's Included:
8 group sessions with SPACE for ARFID curriculum 1 individual session with Mindy
Practical strategies you can use immediately
Support from parents who get it
Evidence-based framework proven to reduce anxiety and accommodation
Who This Is For
This group is a strong fit if:
Your child's eating is rigid and limited (often 6-20 foods total)
New foods cause significant anxiety, avoidance, or meltdowns
Mealtimes have become a source of conflict and stress
You're accommodating heavily — separate meals, safe food stockpiling, avoiding restaurants
You're worried about nutrition, growth, or social impact
Traditional feeding therapy hasn't worked or your child refuses to participate
This group is designed for parents. Your child does not attend sessions.
Flusterclux Podcast: "ARFID is More Than Picky Eating"
Mindy was recently featured on the Flusterclux podcast discussing ARFID and picky eating, giving parents practical advice for changes they can make right away.
This is a great resource to share with families — a helpful first step even before starting a group.
Your Facilitator
Mindy Szelap, LCSW Founder, Bay Area SPACE Treatment
Mindy specializes in SPACE — Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions — giving parents evidence-based tools to support anxious children and break cycles of avoidance.
She runs SPACE groups for parents of anxious kids and teens, young adults struggling to launch, picky eaters, and a skill-building group for moms with anxiety. Her approach is warm, practical, and deeply rooted in helping parents find a new way forward when old strategies stop working.
