Jayda’s Story

Jayda lives at home with her mother, sister, 2 brothers, her brother’s girlfriend and 2 cousins. She has always struggled to find anywhere quiet to do her school work and when she started falling behind over a year ago she found it increasingly difficult to go into school.

Just like Adam,  every morning she wakes up constantly thinking about the struggle ahead and feeling different to everyone else. This triggers anxiety and before she has even left the house Jayda frequently feels a pressure in her chest and has horrible headaches. Sometimes she even gets stomach cramps as well. This feels very frightening so she finds excuses to stay at home. She feels constantly tired but often doesn’t sleep well. She would like to discuss how she feels with her mum but doesn’t want to bother her as she has so many other people to look after.

This cycle escalates into finding it difficult to go out of the house at all which she now does very infrequently. She has not being going to school for over 6 months. She keeps in contact with some of her friends through social media.

One of her friends contacts her on Instagram to tell her that there are all sorts of rumours flying around at school about her. This includes some of their group saying things about her. She won’t say exactly what is being said but thinks Jayda should retaliate. Jayda is hurt, upset and confused. She doesn’t know whether to post something on their group chat  (fight) or just avoid seeing anyone, including her supposed friends (flight). She feels more isolated than ever.