Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To the Associate Dean (Studies),

I am writing to you today to appeal to drop STAT 263 (Winter 2018), PHAR 100 (Summer 2018), PSYC 241 (Fall, 2018), PSYC 231(Fall 2018), PSYC 204 (Winter, 2019), past the drop deadline.

Throughout the past three year, I have had a major struggle with managing my anxiety and depressive episodes. Over this time, I have also been dealing with a significant amount of family issues. My parents in that time had suddenly separated, and in June of 2017 year my mother went forward to the police to report crimes that my father had allegedly committed. These offences include, but are not limited to, multiple counts of: assault, sexual assault, threatening death/bodily harm, criminal harassment and intimidation by following. Since then, both of my parents have been in and out of court, as well as have been legally separated by a court-ordered peace bond. Essentially, my parents have been in the middle of a criminal case and as a result I have been brought into the middle of it as well. More recently, my father has pursued personal litigation for unfair division of assets, to which has added an additional large amount of stress onto my family life. Throughout first year, leading into my second year I have received a great deal of stress induced anxiety. Constantly, I receive called from both of my parents explaining to greater detail than I wished the details of the events being charged, as well as updated every time they either go to court, something changes or something proceeds. I have constantly dealt with the stress of hearing ¿¿If your father did not do this¿¿ or ¿¿You need to tell your mother to just drop this¿¿. I have constantly been in the middle of all of these things happening between my parents, and it inevitably has taken a major toll on my mental health.

I recognize that I am not required to go into this much detail in the appeal, however I feel as if it is imperative to understanding the level of stress, and further the negative development it has had on my mental health. This is within my first year of dealing with such high levels of anxiety, and it often is subdued but then very intense all at once. I have had previous exams deferred for this reason, but I feel as if the stress put on me this year has been especially difficult. My sleeping patterns have also been extremely irregular over the past few years due to my poor mental health, and it was not until the end of fall term in my second year that I had recognized the issue and sought counselling from the Wellness Centre. During first year I had blamed my poor marks on the adjustment to university, but this year I have come to realize that that is no longer the case.

Going into my second and third year, I had hoped that these circumstances would be resolved, as per my first appeal. Unfortunately, they not only continued but became worse. During my third year, I was served with a subpoena to testify in court, as well as received countless phone calls, to which at one point I had to block my parents phone numbers. While this was all occurring, I was also forced to work three jobs in order to financially remain at Queen¿¿s. Although OSAP has covered a majority of my tuition as well as living through loans, I still had to work to be able to afford the cost of living, as my parents are unable to support me due to their own circumstances. During the end of my third year, I had recognized that I once again was not in a good place mentally, and attempted to seek help. However, I was unable to make it to my appointments as they always occurred during times I would be at work. Financially, I could not afford to take time off. In addition, I also became sick extremely often during my second and third year, as well as suffered two concussions. Finally, as of earlier this month, my uncle, who I was extremely close to, suddenly passed away from a stroke. During this time, my family was unable to cope with planning the funeral, so I was heavily involved in this process. Inevitably, this also took a major toll on my mental wellbeing. As one could imagine, dealing with such intense family issues, mental health issues, working to stay finically safe, as well as attempting to keep with my studies, which having very little help has been an extreme challenge.

This specifically effected my academic performance in these classes as I would stay up unable to sleep all night, and then finally sleep all day, leading me to miss classes. I had also, to my dismay, put off or ignored a large amount of the additive factors to my anxiety and depressive episodes for as long as I could. Generally, these would then all be triggered and released when I had a larger more prominent stressful event such as a major assignment due or exam, leading me into panic attacks, or being unable to get out of bed. Over the course of my third year, I found myself constantly exhausted from the series of things I had been dealing with, in addition to having to both work full-time and be a full-time student.

The reason to why I did not appeal sooner is simply because mentally, I was not in a place to come to terms with my failing grades. Considering everything else I am experiencing, it was easier on my mental wellbeing to avoid them. However, now

Should my appeal be granted, I plan to take steps to ensure that I am receiving the help I need from Wellness Services, including booking off days in advance from work to ensure I am able to make appointments regularly. I will also explore options such as meeting with SASS to discuss time management, tutoring and communicating with my professors about my situation earlier on in the course in order to be proactive about my circumstances. In addition, I would like to re-take these courses, as although I thoroughly enjoyed them, I was not in a place to be successful. I am extremely interested in the field of Psychology, and am in hopes of changing my major to such. This itself has also been very stressful for me, as I should be entering my fourth year at Queen¿¿s, however given my circumstances I have come to terms with the fact that this is not a reality. In order to do this, I am in the process of retaking PSYC 100 to meet the required grade of an A-, and hopefully be able to switch into a program that I am passionate about, and will therefore be successful in.

Below, I have also attached a copy of my subpoena. The reason to why I did not appeal these courses sooner is simply because mentally, I was not in a place to come to terms with my failing grades. During the ending of these course dates, they were often during times that I was mostly unable to get out of bed due to how poor my mental health was. Considering everything else I am experiencing, it was easier on my mental wellbeing to avoid them. However, now I want to finally be able to take control and ownership of my academic life, and I believe this is the best way to start. Moving forward, I will work hard to be more accountable of my scheduling, academics, and other responsibilities with the understanding that I am not alone in these circumstances, and will take full advantage of the university¿¿s services to help me succeed along the way.

I hope that you will take my circumstances into consideration, as I feel as if having the weight of these courses lifted would aid in improving my mental health considerably. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

I look forward to hearing from your soon,

Brooklyn Vincent
20004530