Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: 3.2.2.5 Appealing the 21-Day or One-Term Appeal Timeline:

I would like to appeal to waive the appeal deadlines for the Fall Semester 2019, and the Winter Semester 2020.

There are unfortunately many personal factors behind this delay in appeal, one of them being that the mental illnesses I suffer with directly affect executive function. I suffer from ADD, Anxiety, and Depression. This makes it difficult for me in focusing, meeting deadlines, and recognizing the gravity of consequences from my actions or inactions.

Another factor is that the premise of this appeal is a difficult topic for me to divulge in. I fell into addiction from the Summer of 2019 up until this Summer 2020. I never thought that I would find myself struggling with Benzodiazepine and Alcohol addiction since I've seen, first-hand, the dark places drugs can take oneself. I lost my brother to the battle of addiction in 2015, and more recently my mother was admitted to a rehabilitation centre in 2017.

I was hospitalized at KGH for Benzodiazepine and Alcohol abuse early Winter 2020, and then immediately flew home to B.C, where I stayed to try to work through my addictions. The taper from my drugs, beginning March 2020 semester and then throughout the summer, was gruelling and long-winded. Benzodiazepines and Alcohol are the only two drugs in which one can die from the withdrawals. It took me multiple months to taper, with each incremental change in dose having a duration of 15 days and resulting in increasingly worsening withdrawal symptoms. Some of the symptoms I experienced included auditory and visual hallucinations, panic attacks, tremors, derealization, and severe insomnia. This left me incapable of completing my Winter 2020 courses, and I did not write any of the exams.

I am now 3 months sober from Alcohol and Benzodiazepines which is the longest I've been sober since I was 18. At the beginning of my sobriety, I fell into a deep depression at the realization of how my addiction affected my academics. For a long time, I couldn't bear to think of anything school-related and face the failures looming over me.

With all of that being said, my issues with executive function, along with my state of mind that recent addictions left me in, made all previous attempts at formulating an appeal extremely difficult and dejecting.

I am proud to say that I have begun treatment at Edgewood IOP rehabilitation centre this semester. I will be providing further documentation from my counsellor at Edgewood this week.
I am also currently medicated for all disorders and have finally found a mixture that works for me. I now have a support network and the lucidity needed to tackle these past failures and hope that these dark times won't shape my future aspirations.

Thank you for reading. Attached are letters from my Counsellor and Doctor.