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 in November second. 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. On November 25, my dad asked me to leave our family home because my depressive episodes were too much to handle. I went and moved into a family friend¿¿s house that day. On November 27, he refused to pay for my DBT therapy. On December 2, I moved in with my mom, who lives in the Kawartha Lakes. I have had to come back to Toronto many times to attend various other doctors¿¿ appointments regarding alternative treatment plans. The stress of moving around and my already preexisting mental illness has made it extremely hard to focus on my school work. 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 much. At this time, I hope you can grant me this appeal.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Samantha Gillen