Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean Studies,

I am appealing to drop BCHM 218 after the drop deadline. This past semester, I have been struggling with depression and borderline personality disorder, which have greatly affected my work abilities in my courses. During this semester, I have had multiple panic attacks and depressive episodes that have to my admission to the CAMH psychiatric emergency room. There I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and told to begin Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT). The wait times for DBT are quite long, nearly two years unless you go to private practice. I started DBT therapy with the psychology clinic of Toronto on November 21. In addition to this, on November 25, I was asked to leave my family home because my father did not believe in mental illnesses and said he could no longer handle my depressive episodes. On November 28, my father refused to pay for my DBT resulting in the cancelling of two of my scheduled appointments. From November 25 to December 2, I lived at a close family friend's house. On December 2, I moved in with my mother in the Kawartha Lakes, nearly two hours away from Toronto. The combination of always moving around for the past few weeks and my preexisting mental illnesses have made it extremely difficult to focus on school. My grades have suffered not only in BCHM 218, however all my other courses. I missed all my midterm exams and even dropped a class. I am currently working with my family physician and phycologist to find the right medicine and therapy plan to work for me. I have had various extensions and academic accommodations made, however, I have still fallen too far behind. I want to drop this course and complete it at a later time when I can adequately complete the work associated with the class. At this time, I believe I will not be able to pass the course, and this will cause my GPA to suffer greatly. I hope at this time you can grant me this appeal.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Samantha Gillen