Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 1939
Submitted: March 16, 2016 at 4:30:56 PM
First Name: Akasha
Last Name: Naraine
Student Number: 10135826
Email: 13an52@queensu.ca
Degree Program: BAH
Plan: GNDS/INDG
Level of Study: 2
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Code: DEVS 221
Term: Winter
Year: 2016
Petition Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies),
I am appealing to drop DEVS 221 (Winter 2016 Online) as a result of unforeseen extenuating circumstances. I am currently in second year at Queen's University, majoring in Gender Studies and minoring in Indigenous Studies. Unfortunately, due to mental health issues, it was suggested by Queen's counsellor, Whitney Babcock, that I leave campus to return to Mississauga for a semester and continue my academic year from home while taking 2 online courses.
Due to a great number of medication changes in December, as well as dealing with a new diagnosis of depression and anxiety, I began suffering severely from suicidal thoughts and self harm, and eventually left Queen's for a semester in January to focus on improving my mental stability, to ensure that I would be able to return in September 2016. While my counsellor and I were hopeful that being at home would improve my ability to concentrate on school work, while improving my mental state, the situation became worse before it got better. I was admitted into the Credit Valley Hospital (Mississauga) Mental Health Unit in February, and once I checked out, my ability to complete these online courses decreased significantly. I am now at the point where I am no longer confident that completing this course is of my best interest right now, as it has been hindering my progress along the road to recovery. My new medications and slow recovery have influenced how I read, write, perform, and generally react to the course and its assignments. My time at the hospital originally set me back in the course and these added implications have set me even further back. I am not in a stable place to adequately work on the assignments for this course as they are constantly triggering highly negative outcomes. My reason for not dropping the class earlier lies in the fact that I truly believed that by this point, I would be coping with my depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and self harm in a healthy manner, but as life often goes, that was not the case.
While I am continuing to work on my mental health, I believe that in order to ensure that I will be able to return to Queen's in September, I must reduce any stress factors that may trigger my depression and anxiety until I am certain that I have coping mechanisms in place for these stressful times. My plan for the future begins with counselling, I am currently in the process of starting counselling here in Mississauga to improve my mental state and continue my studies in September. This will include DEVS 221 (Winter 2017) as it is crucial to my degree, as well as a course that I highly enjoy studying, and find incredibly rewarding and necessary for my development as an individual pursuing a job in the field of Gender/Indigenous Studies. If this appeal is successful I will take DEVS 221 on campus rather than online, with other courses such as DEVS 230, RELS 227, GNDS 375 and GPHY 351.
My counsellor from Queen's has agreed to send a supporting letter as well.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Akasha Naraine
I am appealing to drop DEVS 221 (Winter 2016 Online) as a result of unforeseen extenuating circumstances. I am currently in second year at Queen's University, majoring in Gender Studies and minoring in Indigenous Studies. Unfortunately, due to mental health issues, it was suggested by Queen's counsellor, Whitney Babcock, that I leave campus to return to Mississauga for a semester and continue my academic year from home while taking 2 online courses.
Due to a great number of medication changes in December, as well as dealing with a new diagnosis of depression and anxiety, I began suffering severely from suicidal thoughts and self harm, and eventually left Queen's for a semester in January to focus on improving my mental stability, to ensure that I would be able to return in September 2016. While my counsellor and I were hopeful that being at home would improve my ability to concentrate on school work, while improving my mental state, the situation became worse before it got better. I was admitted into the Credit Valley Hospital (Mississauga) Mental Health Unit in February, and once I checked out, my ability to complete these online courses decreased significantly. I am now at the point where I am no longer confident that completing this course is of my best interest right now, as it has been hindering my progress along the road to recovery. My new medications and slow recovery have influenced how I read, write, perform, and generally react to the course and its assignments. My time at the hospital originally set me back in the course and these added implications have set me even further back. I am not in a stable place to adequately work on the assignments for this course as they are constantly triggering highly negative outcomes. My reason for not dropping the class earlier lies in the fact that I truly believed that by this point, I would be coping with my depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and self harm in a healthy manner, but as life often goes, that was not the case.
While I am continuing to work on my mental health, I believe that in order to ensure that I will be able to return to Queen's in September, I must reduce any stress factors that may trigger my depression and anxiety until I am certain that I have coping mechanisms in place for these stressful times. My plan for the future begins with counselling, I am currently in the process of starting counselling here in Mississauga to improve my mental state and continue my studies in September. This will include DEVS 221 (Winter 2017) as it is crucial to my degree, as well as a course that I highly enjoy studying, and find incredibly rewarding and necessary for my development as an individual pursuing a job in the field of Gender/Indigenous Studies. If this appeal is successful I will take DEVS 221 on campus rather than online, with other courses such as DEVS 230, RELS 227, GNDS 375 and GPHY 351.
My counsellor from Queen's has agreed to send a supporting letter as well.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Akasha Naraine
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: Supporting Letter from Queen's Counsellor Whitney Babcock