Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: My name is Laureta Mrizi (20298397). I am writing this letter based on my circumstances in fall of 2022 that negativity contributed to my mental health and state, affecting my academics. I am requesting a late drop in LAW 201 and POLS 261, Credit standing in POLS 250; and Aegrotat standing in COMM 231.
In the fall term of my second year here at Queens I experienced a landslide of events, stressful situations and overwhelming amounts of work that all together that led me to be hospitalized. While some of the circumstances I can take accountability for, there were others that were out of my control and at the time I did not have the resources to properly overcome them. I was overworking myself with both school and my part-time position at walk-home; working several nights a week, which resulted in an inadequate sleep schedule (less than 5 hours a night for weeks in a row). In addition to this, I was so sleep deprived that I wasn??t prioritizing eating, almost to the point of malnourishment, because my body was just on autopilot. On top of this I was struggling with a heavy addiction to marjuana.
One of the main events that happened in the beginning of November was ultimately the driving factor to my hospitalization. During one of the weekends my housemates and I decided to host a houseparty with a few of our close friends. At one point in the night, an intense, abusive argument occurred in the room next to me; between two people I consider myself in close relationships with?? one of them being my housemate and another close friend. After the argument happened, the housemate came out of the room, bumped into me and screamed at me in a similar way.
This scenario, in general, would not affect the ?average person?? to the extent that it did for me, while it may be relatable to some; this was a trauma trigger for me. The way this housemate was screaming at both myself and how the argument was constructed between the guy was exactly how my mother and father used to act throughout my childhood, memories I have been suppressing for as long as I can remember. After experiencing this, it felt like I relived almost every bad memory I could think of, and that does not stop at childhood neglect, but also assults, rape, and substance abuses I witnessned last year. The week following I did not eat or sleep for a week, and stopped taking my ADHD Concerta medication (while feeling like I was reliving my experiences). I became unaware of time, my surroundings and due to complete sleep deprivation started hallucinating, daydreaming, things that were not actually happening; I was in a substance-induced psychosis.
In the middle of my episode, my father refused to speak with me and blocked me from all forms of contact. Not only was I delusional, hitting rock bottom, but I felt completely isolated and alone without my family talking to me.
During this time, both before, during and after the hospital, I lost sense of reality and fell into complete dissociation. By the end of the week my five housemates were worried and almost frightened with my lost-sense of self, so they called my mother from Toronto to take me to the hospital. I was then hospitalized from November 7th-14th, receiving medical treatment from Kingston General Hospital.
Returning from the hospital ended up being much harder than I anticipated. For a while after I wasn't accepting what happened, embarrassed about the reality of my state and condition I was unable to get back into my ?normal?? routine. For weeks after, and even now, I struggled to complete everyday tasks such as basic hygiene, eating and physically getting to class; even if I managed that, I wasn??t able to concentrate and pay attention.
Over the past few months I have been making efforts including but not limited to going to therapy through Student Wellness, joining mental health groups at Queens as well as meeting up with academic advisors. My plan going forward was to take a reduced course workload in winter (trying to make time for myself), and also moving out of the house where I experienced this traumatic endeavor.
This being said, I would appreciate it if my case could be reviewed so I can continue to reroute myself in a positive direction both academically and my wellbeing.