Message from Head Girl Team

Hi everyone,

We hope everyone is staying well and safe.

Head Girl Team Elections
Although we will sadly have to say goodbye we are extremely excited that the Head Girl Team Elections are soon approaching and we would like you to know how we will help! As some of you may know we regularly use our Instagram account to communicate with everyone especially recently due to this crisis. We would like to draw attention to all our candidates who are running for the Head Girl Team this year. Here are the instructions on how you can campaign via our Instagram account:

• Send us in a photo of yourself (if you are comfortable with this)
• A short description of yourself as to why you’re running and what would make you the best person for the role
• Your policies and what you wish to do in order to make a positive change at Camden
• Finally, why you want to be on the team

(Send this in to us via Instagram @camdenheadgirls and we will post it as soon as possible)

• Here are some ideas from when we ran last year:
• You are a great leader who is approachable and easy to talk to
• You wish to communicate with more charities and work with them to raise awareness of important issues at Camden
• You want to create more clubs for students to get involved in
• You really love CSG and have already done some work in the past, i.e. helped with an event that the Head Girl Team ran this year, you have attended parents evenings and have always reached out to help, you attend school council regularly and are always getting involved!

Year 7,8, 9 and students who aren’t running please keep checking our Instagram posts and stories to familiarise yourself with some of the candidates and continue to show them support as you have been doing already!

Good luck to all the candidates and let us know if you need any help! We hope everyone stays safe and well.

 

Panic Disorders

What are panic disorders?
Panic disorders can usually affect someone from childhood or early adolescence. It is a term referring to the regular feeling of sudden panic or fear. Panic Disorders can often be caused by traumatic life experiences or having a close family member with the disorder. Of course we all have feelings of fear and panic all the time for example when we are scared or nervous and it is a completely normal natural response to stressful or scary situations. However, for some people this feeling of panic can occur very randomly at any time often without any reason and this can be quite scary.

What are panic attacks/Recognising Symptoms?
Panic can be referred to a more extreme form of anxiety. For many people who do suffer from panic disorder sometimes it can be extremely scary to be in certain situations hence they are avoided as they can result in panic attacks. A panic attack is when your body experiences a rush of intense mental and physical symptoms. It can come on very quickly and for no apparent reason and this can cause people to live in fear of receiving one at any given time.

Symptoms include:

• a racing heartbeat
• feeling faint
• sweating
• nausea

Most panic attacks last for between 5 and 20 minutes. Some panic attacks have been reported to last up to an hour.

Here is Paula’s Story:
Paula had her first panic attack six months ago. She was in her office preparing for an important work presentation when, suddenly, she felt an intense wave of fear. Then the room started spinning and she felt like she was going to throw up. Her whole body was shaking, she couldn’t catch her breath, and her heart was pounding out of her chest. She gripped her desk until the episode passed, but it left her deeply shaken.

Paula had her next panic attack three weeks later, and since then, they’ve been occurring with increasing frequency. She never knows when or where she’ll suffer an attack, but she’s afraid of having one in public. Consequently, she’s been staying home after work, rather than going out with friends. She also refuses to ride the elevator up to her 12th floor office out of fear of being trapped if she has a panic attack.

Getting help:
Of course in the moment of a panic attack it can be hard to concentrate on anything else however, it is important to try and catch hold of your breath. Perhaps you can come up with certain steps so that if you ever experience such panic you know what steps to follow to start to catch your breath. It’s important to try and stay where you are if possible and breathe slowly and deeply perhaps try and focus on positive thoughts although this can be very hard.

For guidance and help:

• You can go and talk to your GP if you recognise any symptoms. They can talk through it with you and try to identify what it is you are going through. Although it can sometimes be difficult to talk to someone else about your feelings, emotions and personal life, try not to feel anxious or embarrassed.
• You can also refer yourself to a therapist who can also help and guide you.
• There are also medicines that can be provided after seeing your doctor. Some include: Antidepressants, anti-epilepsy etc
• There are also many support groups that you can go to for example: Mind, Anxiety UK, No panic, TOP UK

I hope this article has taught you a bit more about Panic Disorders. For anyone who is interested I have really been enjoying a book called The Teenage Guide to Stress by Nicola Morgan during this lockdown. It has been very interesting and teaches you a lot about different anxieties in teenagers and I would highly recommend reading it if you get a chance.

Please feel free to email me to discuss anything further I am also welcome to talk to you about any of the problems you are facing yourself - alim329@csg.school

Best wishes,

Mahfuza, 11C
Head Girl Team