Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,

I am appealing my grades that I received in both psyc 231 and 235, due to extenuating circumstances. This past year was my third year, and it was the first year that I had sought out help at La Salle and Hotel Dieu for my mental health. I was diagnosed with seasonal depression and bulimia nervosa, and prescribed medication in November in which I continued to use throughout the winter, till April. It was difficult balancing school work and seeking help, and I feel that I did not do well in these courses due to the nature of my mental health. For psyc 231 (personality psyc) it was Monday and Wednesday mornings, which made it extremely difficult for me to get to class, because I did not want to get out of bed and was exhausted all the time for what I now see as results of having seasonal depression. The course only had two evaluations (2 exams), and I did poorly on the midterm but had hope I could pick up and do better for my April Exam, but on February 25th, my best friend from childhood and still today, told me she found her brother in the basement hung up. Holden Adams was the same age my brother, and we all grew up together, and even though I had been at Queen's and was not in Toronto, hearing this news, took a huge toll on me, especially because this was the second time I had to hear someone close to me past. Earlier, in gr. 11, Natasha Kuc, who was on the same street as me, and Holden, took her life. Suicide has always been a sensitive subject. Immediately after hearing this news, I went to Toronto for a week or so, to go to the viewings and be there for my friend Taylor Adams. When I got back it was hard for me to focus on school but still I tried. Hearing this news, did not help my mental health as well, as I stopped eating, and I also stopped seeing the people at Hotel Dieu, everything was sort of a blur and I just wanted to finish school as soon as possible and not have to think about these things. It became harder for me in Psyc 235 (Abnormal Psyc) because some of the classes I did not attend or left half way through because they were triggering. Especially one class where they showed a girl who strangled herself to death on camera. I feel I did poorly in both classes because the nature of them (talking about mental disorders etc was triggering) but also the timeline about hearing about my friend's suicide was hard to process and made me feel mentally unstable as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,
I will try to provide documentation from La Salle as well as Hotel Dieu and provide the two obituaries of my friends.

Here are links to Holden Adams obituary: http://turnerporter.permavita.com/site/AdamsHolden.html - evidence of me being his friend could be seen through my facebook and his mutual friends. Or he lived on my street which is Bonnyview dr. Etobicoke, Toronto, as well as Natasha Kuc who lived on my street as well, but I cannot find the obituary, so here is her facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/natasha.kuc.7.

Best,
Nikita Atkinson