Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 7608
Submitted: April 27, 2021 at 11:51:17 AM
First Name: Samantha
Last Name: Gillen
Student Number: 20048683
Email: sgillen29@gmail.com
Degree Program: BSH
Plan: BIOL
Level of Study: 4
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Code: BIOL 403
Term: Winter
Year: 2021
Petition Category: Drop a course after the academic deadline
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,
I am writing to you in hopes you will grant permission to drop my BIOL 403, Experimental Techniques in Biology, class. Since September, I have been taking a new medication to treat symptoms that my doctor believes are bipolar II, previously thought to be a borderline personality disorder. I have been doing well on the medication but was having difficulty concentrating in the past few months. On March 10th, I had a doctor's appointment where I explained that I was experiencing increased trouble focus to the point where it was affecting my academics in that it was hard for me to sit down and do work for extended periods. He suggested that I may have ADHD, which is common in people with bipolar, but did not think it was a good idea to prescribe any medication because stimulants can sometimes induce mania. Instead, he doubled my medication dose to try to improve my concentration issues. He also told me to book a follow-up appointment, which I did and was on April 12th. Before March 10th, I felt very overwhelmed, which I attributed to the stress of school and the beginning of the exam period. However, the weeks that followed March 10th until around April 18th have been some of the worst weeks, I've felt in the past eight months. During this time, I believed that I may have been in a depressive state and booked an appointment with a Queens Student Wellness councillor on April 5th, an appointment with my family physician on April 12th, and an appointment with a Queens' doctor on April 21st to see about getting a referral to a Queens psychiatrist. My Queens Student Wellness councillor referred me to an Empower Me program throughout Queens and suggested I try and start regular cognitive behavioural therapy.
I followed up with Empower Me and hope to start this therapy after the winter semester. During my appointment with my family physician on April 12th, I described what I was going through. He suggested I probably was undergoing a depressive state and should try and do what is suitable for my mental health. He told me if I thought my mental health would be compromised because of my schooling, I should take a break. He also said if I needed any documentation, he would provide it. I am currently in the process of obtaining that documentation. On the appointment on April 21st with the Queens doctor, I was referred to a psychiatrist and am waiting for a call for student wellness to set up an appointment. Currently, I am in a better state than before but am still suffering from depression and anxiety and am not feeling mentally stable. I have another doctor's appointment with my family physician on May 6th to reassess and find a plan to better treat my mental health issues better. Everything considered, I believe, because of my struggles with mental health, I have not achieved my full academic capability in my BIOL 403 class. I also had a tremendous amount of anxiety about coming to the BIOL 403 class because it was in person. I told my family physician how bad my anxiety was when coming to this class and how I would sometimes have anxiety attacks before coming. I have pushed myself this semester because I knew BIOL 403 is a challenging course, and I wanted to do well in it. However, the added pressure of constantly pushing myself in this course is causing me a great deal of stress on top of the already depressive state. I have completed five labs and will be completing the final exam today. Coming to the BIOL 403 class has been challenging because of how much anxiety I felt coming in and how unstable my mental health was. I have worked tremendously hard in all my other courses this semester, and I do not want my mark in BIOL 403 to take away from that. It would be greatly appreciated if I could drop this course late, given the circumstance.
Thank you,
Samantha Gillen
I am writing to you in hopes you will grant permission to drop my BIOL 403, Experimental Techniques in Biology, class. Since September, I have been taking a new medication to treat symptoms that my doctor believes are bipolar II, previously thought to be a borderline personality disorder. I have been doing well on the medication but was having difficulty concentrating in the past few months. On March 10th, I had a doctor's appointment where I explained that I was experiencing increased trouble focus to the point where it was affecting my academics in that it was hard for me to sit down and do work for extended periods. He suggested that I may have ADHD, which is common in people with bipolar, but did not think it was a good idea to prescribe any medication because stimulants can sometimes induce mania. Instead, he doubled my medication dose to try to improve my concentration issues. He also told me to book a follow-up appointment, which I did and was on April 12th. Before March 10th, I felt very overwhelmed, which I attributed to the stress of school and the beginning of the exam period. However, the weeks that followed March 10th until around April 18th have been some of the worst weeks, I've felt in the past eight months. During this time, I believed that I may have been in a depressive state and booked an appointment with a Queens Student Wellness councillor on April 5th, an appointment with my family physician on April 12th, and an appointment with a Queens' doctor on April 21st to see about getting a referral to a Queens psychiatrist. My Queens Student Wellness councillor referred me to an Empower Me program throughout Queens and suggested I try and start regular cognitive behavioural therapy.
I followed up with Empower Me and hope to start this therapy after the winter semester. During my appointment with my family physician on April 12th, I described what I was going through. He suggested I probably was undergoing a depressive state and should try and do what is suitable for my mental health. He told me if I thought my mental health would be compromised because of my schooling, I should take a break. He also said if I needed any documentation, he would provide it. I am currently in the process of obtaining that documentation. On the appointment on April 21st with the Queens doctor, I was referred to a psychiatrist and am waiting for a call for student wellness to set up an appointment. Currently, I am in a better state than before but am still suffering from depression and anxiety and am not feeling mentally stable. I have another doctor's appointment with my family physician on May 6th to reassess and find a plan to better treat my mental health issues better. Everything considered, I believe, because of my struggles with mental health, I have not achieved my full academic capability in my BIOL 403 class. I also had a tremendous amount of anxiety about coming to the BIOL 403 class because it was in person. I told my family physician how bad my anxiety was when coming to this class and how I would sometimes have anxiety attacks before coming. I have pushed myself this semester because I knew BIOL 403 is a challenging course, and I wanted to do well in it. However, the added pressure of constantly pushing myself in this course is causing me a great deal of stress on top of the already depressive state. I have completed five labs and will be completing the final exam today. Coming to the BIOL 403 class has been challenging because of how much anxiety I felt coming in and how unstable my mental health was. I have worked tremendously hard in all my other courses this semester, and I do not want my mark in BIOL 403 to take away from that. It would be greatly appreciated if I could drop this course late, given the circumstance.
Thank you,
Samantha Gillen
Documentation
Professional Letter: AccommodationLetter_BIOL_509_sectionl.pdf
Professional Letter Detail: Doctors Note and Letter of Accommodations
Documentation Detail: May 6th
Decision Letters
Amendment to Appeal 7608
Relevant Petition: 7608
New Information: Dear Associate Dean,
I am writing to you to ask for permission to late drop my BIOL 403 (Experimental Techniques in Biology) class. Currently, I am being treated for a mental health condition believed to be bipolar II. I have a history of mental illness and have struggled with controlling my mental and emotional challenges in the past. I frequently become fixated by my erratic and irrational thoughts, making it exceedingly difficult to focus on anything else. Going into the winter term, I was anxious to attend my BIOL 403 class because it was in person and meant I would have to return to Kingston. I have more control over my mental stability when I am home, which is why I have spent most of my time at Queen¿¿s completing online courses from home. Before each of my BIOL 403 labs, I would feel very anxious and dread having to go into class during Covid-19. When lockdowns began in Ontario, I thought I would finish the rest of the course online, but I still had to come in. I would repeatedly make mistakes during my labs because my irrational thoughts would overwhelm me, and I'd become depersonalized. I have not taken a lab course since my first year and wanted to challenge myself and learn new skills by taking BIOL 403. I thought about dropping the course before the deadline, but I kept thinking I would be a failure if I could not complete it.
From March 20th to April 30th, I believe I went through a depressive phase of bipolar II. The medication I am on has helped manage my fluctuating mood, and I still feel mood shifts, but not to this extent. I had an appointment with my family physician booked for April 12th but thought I needed support before that, so I booked an appointment with a Queen¿¿s counsellor on April 5th. My counsellor, Shannon Gendron, was very supportive and suggested I registered with Empower Me. The following day I did so and am hoping to start cognitive behavioural therapy in the next few weeks. Following this, I booked a doctor¿¿s appointment with a Queen¿¿s physician, Ryan Lee, and he has referred me to a Queen's psychiatrist whom I will see on June 8th. During my doctor¿¿s appointment with my family physician on April 12th, I explained that I had been going through a depressive episode and struggling with school. I explained that I upset because I had been working tremendously hard this semester and felt like that may be taken away from me because I was having difficulty coping with my mental health. He told me that I needed to do what was best for my mental health and not push myself too much. After this appointment, I decided it was best to defer my BIOL 403 Final Exam until I felt mentally stable enough to take it. I got in touch with academic considerations. They told me to email my Queen's Accessibility Service (QSAS) letter to my professor, Laurent Seroude, and forward my QSAS advisor, Angel Varrette. On April 13th, I did, and my professor defined my request for a deferral. When I went to pick up my lab book on April 13th, he told me I could not defer my exam, even if I had a QSAS letter, because the course was not offered in the summer. The manager of QSAS reached out to me on April 19th, after speaking to my professor, and said I had until August 12th to write my exam.
I decided to write the BIOL 403 exam on April 27th because I felt I was in a good enough mental state to take it, and I did not want to feel anxious throughout the summer, knowing I would have to come back to Kingston to write it. I was already anxious about writing the exam because I thought my professor may be upset with me for deferring it. During my exam, I had an anxiety attack and left after sitting there for an hour and a half, not writing anything. I immediately called my family physician after. I have another appointment booked with him on May 6th to try and figure out a plan to control my mental health better.
Given the struggles I have faced with mental health this semester, especially with concern to my BIOL 403 class, I would greatly appreciate being granted a late drop.
Sincerely,
Samantha Gillen
I am writing to you to ask for permission to late drop my BIOL 403 (Experimental Techniques in Biology) class. Currently, I am being treated for a mental health condition believed to be bipolar II. I have a history of mental illness and have struggled with controlling my mental and emotional challenges in the past. I frequently become fixated by my erratic and irrational thoughts, making it exceedingly difficult to focus on anything else. Going into the winter term, I was anxious to attend my BIOL 403 class because it was in person and meant I would have to return to Kingston. I have more control over my mental stability when I am home, which is why I have spent most of my time at Queen¿¿s completing online courses from home. Before each of my BIOL 403 labs, I would feel very anxious and dread having to go into class during Covid-19. When lockdowns began in Ontario, I thought I would finish the rest of the course online, but I still had to come in. I would repeatedly make mistakes during my labs because my irrational thoughts would overwhelm me, and I'd become depersonalized. I have not taken a lab course since my first year and wanted to challenge myself and learn new skills by taking BIOL 403. I thought about dropping the course before the deadline, but I kept thinking I would be a failure if I could not complete it.
From March 20th to April 30th, I believe I went through a depressive phase of bipolar II. The medication I am on has helped manage my fluctuating mood, and I still feel mood shifts, but not to this extent. I had an appointment with my family physician booked for April 12th but thought I needed support before that, so I booked an appointment with a Queen¿¿s counsellor on April 5th. My counsellor, Shannon Gendron, was very supportive and suggested I registered with Empower Me. The following day I did so and am hoping to start cognitive behavioural therapy in the next few weeks. Following this, I booked a doctor¿¿s appointment with a Queen¿¿s physician, Ryan Lee, and he has referred me to a Queen's psychiatrist whom I will see on June 8th. During my doctor¿¿s appointment with my family physician on April 12th, I explained that I had been going through a depressive episode and struggling with school. I explained that I upset because I had been working tremendously hard this semester and felt like that may be taken away from me because I was having difficulty coping with my mental health. He told me that I needed to do what was best for my mental health and not push myself too much. After this appointment, I decided it was best to defer my BIOL 403 Final Exam until I felt mentally stable enough to take it. I got in touch with academic considerations. They told me to email my Queen's Accessibility Service (QSAS) letter to my professor, Laurent Seroude, and forward my QSAS advisor, Angel Varrette. On April 13th, I did, and my professor defined my request for a deferral. When I went to pick up my lab book on April 13th, he told me I could not defer my exam, even if I had a QSAS letter, because the course was not offered in the summer. The manager of QSAS reached out to me on April 19th, after speaking to my professor, and said I had until August 12th to write my exam.
I decided to write the BIOL 403 exam on April 27th because I felt I was in a good enough mental state to take it, and I did not want to feel anxious throughout the summer, knowing I would have to come back to Kingston to write it. I was already anxious about writing the exam because I thought my professor may be upset with me for deferring it. During my exam, I had an anxiety attack and left after sitting there for an hour and a half, not writing anything. I immediately called my family physician after. I have another appointment booked with him on May 6th to try and figure out a plan to control my mental health better.
Given the struggles I have faced with mental health this semester, especially with concern to my BIOL 403 class, I would greatly appreciate being granted a late drop.
Sincerely,
Samantha Gillen
Student Number: 20048683
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: Doctor's Note
Documentation Detail: Counsellor documentation
History
Originally submitted April 27, 2021 at 11:51:17 AM.
| Field | Reference | Old Value | New Value | Note | User | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| status | N/A | Received | In Review | Spring Forsberg | 2021-04-27 3:46:36 PM | |
| status | N/A | In Review | Incomplete | Spring Forsberg | 2021-04-28 3:30:59 PM | |
| status | N/A | Incomplete | Granted | Spring Forsberg | 2021-05-03 10:12:10 AM | |
| associate_dean | N/A | Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D. | Spring Forsberg | 2021-05-03 10:12:10 AM | ||
| decision_letter | N/A | N/A | Decision letter sent | Spring Forsberg | 2021-05-03 10:15:23 AM |