Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean (Studies):

I am appealing the Faculty's decision that I must withdraw from Queen's for a year. I am appealing this because at around early November 2017, my mother informed me that she and my brother had been hiding my brother's struggle with mental health from me, specifically his battle with depression and anxiety. They did not want to tell me as they knew I was trying to focus all of my attention on school that year. But unfortunately, by the time they did inform me, my brother was suffering significantly and required support from myself and my mother, including checking up on him by visiting, calling for hours to make sure he was doing well, and seeking out friends to find where he was certain night. This greatly distracted me from school work, specifically during this time at the end of the first semester I was unable to give my full attention to end of the semester exams and assignments.
My brother's battle continued and worsened over the Christmas break and eventually, on the second of January 2018 when I found him after an attempt to try to take his own life, my mother and I took my brother to the hospital where he was admitted for serious help and monitoring. My brother was then kept at the hospital in order to make sure he was safe and prescribed the accurate medication for about two weeks. This created a terrible start to second semester as I was almost completely focused on updates concerning my brother and making sure he was stable rather than getting a good start on my work in all of my courses.
This traumatic event and the following few months were especially hard for my family and myself as we were all trying to cope with what had happened while also trying to be extremely supportive and there for my brother whenever he needed. The stress of all of this and the time it took away from my focus at school really affected how well I was able to do throughout the rest of the school year. Immediately after the event that occurred in January, my family and I found it difficult to talk about. We also did not want to my brother to feel guilty for any trauma he may have caused. Once some time had passed and everyone in my family and myself started becoming more educated on the topics of mental health we all felt much more comfortable in talking to each other about issues we faced and with my brother which greatly helped the healing process. This also allowed me to feel comfortable talking to peer support, also making the situation much easier to cope with.
Going forward with my academic career will be significantly different for a few reasons. To begin, my brother's mental health is significantly better now that he is under the correct medications, is back home, and has all the resources he needs available to him. With that being said, after having gone through this experience, I am much more educated in how to speak with my brother and how to speak with others concerning my own emotions. Secondly, unlike last year I now understand that it is much better for myself to drop courses when I am struggling rather than keeping them because I am behind on credits, I will also keep very aware of deadlines to drop courses as I was previously too overwhelmed with family issues to do so. Finally, I also recognize after speaking with an academic advisor that seeking help from a professional counsellor to go over events that have occurred would be extremely beneficially and certainly necessary if similar events were to ever occur again, so I will be seeking that out.
In terms of academics specifically, the next year I will be gearing my degree towards an environmental studies route, this is definitely what I have found to be my major interest and going forward in my academic career I will be focusing in on that. This will require me to retake courses such as geology, but I am willing, and excited to do so. Another major component of my academic plan going forward is to meet with professors, peers, and campus resources that can help me in areas that I feel as though I struggle in such writing concise papers. I was also made aware of academic consideration from an academic advisor and will be sure to take advantage of that if needed again. I believe that ultimately keeping on top of my work and seeking help and advice from professionals that the school has to offer will allow me to have a successful year and overall future at Queen's.

Thank you,
Donavan