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Petition Type: New
ID: 8785
Submitted: February 18, 2022 at 4:59:16 PM
First Name: Nicola
Last Name: Eriksen
Student Number: 20098859
Degree Program: BA
Plan: Drama, Psychology
Level of Study: 4

Petition Categories

Petition Categories: Request to take more than 6.0 units of courses on a letter of permission through another institution

Petition Letter

Petition Letter: To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Nicola Eriksen (Nikki), and I am a student at Queen??s doing a Medial degree in Drama and Psychology. I am applying for a letter of permission to take my last few remaining courses from home due to mental health reasons. Over the last four years I have had difficulties dealing with mental health issues mainly depression and anxiety and started seeing a psychologist in first year. My grades started to decrease but as time went on, I managed to find a balance between course work and my mental health. However, when covid started my anxiety increased and I started to feel more depressed, and my course grades started to get impacted. However, by being home (British Columbia) in 2020/21 I had family support and they helped mitigate some of my symptoms and helped me get my grades back on track. Over the year I managed to decrease some of my medication because of this support system and get better grades.

In May 2021 my grandmother passed away and my mental health started to decline, and I had to go to a psychiatrist to be put on more medication and continue with a psychologist as I started to develop more severe anxiety and compensatory disorders. I had a very hard time trying to get back to my normal routine and felt incapacitated when it came to anything related to work. This has affected the start of my last semester as I did not want to continue with university. However, as the semester continued, I have worked hard on my mental health, my disorders and with help from my psychiatrist and family support system to bring down my medication. This has been reflected in my course grades by my increased work ethic and dedication to complete my degree. I am still struggling with mental health and disorders, but I am finally able to start working on it more.

The reason I am applying for this appeal is that I physically and mentally do not want to go back to Queen??s next year as I am very scared to go back onto higher doses of medication and reverse all the positive work I have done so far. I have felt increased anxiety and sadness already from having to go back to finish this semester and won??t be able to complete another full semester like this. I have finally been able to increase my academic performance by having my family support. Furthermore, it has increased my will to study and helped me with my disorders. I do not want to go back to having no support system and having to increase my medication and face depression again. Therefore, this is the reason I am applying for this appeal.

Kind regards,
Nicola Eriksen
20098859

Academic Plan

Academic Plan: To Whom It May Concern,

My academic plan is to take my last semester at the University of British Columbia (UBC). After talking to the academic advisors at both UBC and Queen??s, they informed me that this would be a viable option once I received a Letter of Permission. The reason I chose this option was that by staying home I have my support system in place as I discussed in my appeal letter. By staying home my parents would be able to take care of the stress associated with food and money and allow me to focus my attention on my coursework and dealing with my mental health issues and coping disorders. My academic goals are to improve my academic performance and graduate next semester. I believe I will not bale able to complete these goals if I must finish my last semester at Queen??s as I have explained thoroughly in my appeal letter. I require 5 courses (15 credits) left to graduate and I have been in contact with the undergraduate chair of both psychology and drama to ensure I have their support in being able to complete these courses at another university. They have confirmed that I would be able to take courses at another university to meet my course requirements to graduate.

If anything else is required from me, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Kind regards,
Nicola Eriksen
20098859

Documentation

Professional Letter: Letter from Proffesional.pdf