WHY DOES CAMP MAKE PEOPLE ANXIOUS And How Can We Help?

SPECTRUM OF ANXIETY Generalized Anxiety Disorder Specific Phobias Panic attacks Feeling anxious Stress

GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER cause people to feel excessively frightened, distressed, or uneasy during situations in which most people would not feel that way, and they worry about many topics

SPECIFIC PHOBIAS Unrealistic and excessive fears relating to one issue Phobias usually cause people to avoid the things they fear Social anxiety is most common

PANIC ATTACKS Can occur for no apparent reason Sudden and intense physical symptoms that can include a pounding heart, shortness of breath, or dizziness caused by the body's normal fear response Pseudo panic attacks can happen

FEELING ANXIOUS “Normal anxiety” Feeling of uneasiness about danger or misfortune Caused by discomfort Often protective A way of checking bonding

STRESS Strain or tension Physical Mental Emotional

WHAT’S HAPPENING AT CAMP? For the eighth consecutive year, the top category of calls to the ACA Crisis Line was related to health and medical issues. This category grew from 31 percent of calls in 2015, to 38 percent in 2016.  However, most notable is the increase in calls related to mental health issues in campers and staff, a category which fell into the “other” category of health-related calls in previous years. Forty-two percent of all the health and medical calls were related to mental health issues. Of these, 57 percent were related to campers and 43 percent were related to staff. 

ACUTE RESPONSE Perceived threat Cortisol dump Inability to reason Less than a second to start Minutes to stop

STRESSORS New stimuli Unknown patterns Change Perceived lack of support system LACK OF CONTROL

PLAN FOR ANXIETY MANAGEMENT Preparation Talking matters Focus on solvable problems Reframe negativity Physical changes TAKING CONTROL

PREPARATION Before camp During camp Forms Communication Expectations Staff training During camp Reaction

TALKING MATTERS Build trust Accept emotions Express empathy Move towards action

REFOCUS/REFRAME Refocus Reframe Who defines the problem? What can’t be done? What CAN be done? Reframe Look for the good What would you tell a friend?

PHYSICAL STRATEGIES Sleep Healthy food Exercise Mindfulness Helping others FUN!

SUPPORT YOUR STAFF Train To help themselves To help kids Self-care (model it) Provide back-up During camp After camp

CAMP IS THE BEST PLACE TO BE!