Petition Letter
Dear Associate Dean,
I am appealing to be granted a credit standing (CR) for the course POLS 250 F/W.
I believe extenuating circumstances beyond my control greatly impacted my ability to adequately focus and prioritize my second year of education at Queen¿¿s University. I went into my second year after one of the hardest and intense summers of my life. I ran away from home twice (was in contact with student wellness services at the time) and was going through the repercussions of a messy split while having my mother abandon and wreak havoc on my entire family and everything we own. This was after having a stable household for the majority of my life. My summer was filled with legal proceedings, confusion, stress, and growing up way too quickly while most of my peers were advancing in their extracurriculars or travelling the world. There was no time to ¿¿fix¿ me during our never-ending war and this was the state I was thrown into second year in. I had to be strong for my family and I had help support them. Despite this all, I worked so hard to just focus on my academics for once, and yes, this did work for a bit in first semester, but all of my unaddressed trauma and depreciating mental health were never dealt with. In second semester, I could feel myself getting worse and tried reaching out to SWS many times. My ability to focus had plummeted and I kept putting more and more pressure on myself since the stakes were so high. In the time between scheduling appointments, waiting to see someone, trying to find a diagnosis, and calling many helplines, I had two mental breakdowns. I almost committed suicide shortly afterwards. I took the steps to continue fighting to get help through all of this. I was in contact with Tess, Alissa, Katie, numerous crisis counsellors. I even tried getting an appointment at The Centre for Abuse and Trauma Therapy in Kingston (with months of wait time). All while this was occurring, I had to balance helping my father out with our legal cases. During exam season, my study breaks would be taken up by being on the phone with our lawyers or helping prep materials. After all of this, when my mental health was already at an all time low, I lost one of my family members. I was taken out of school for a bit and tried to work through accommodations with my professors, but no accommodation could help me in what I was going through. I ended the year on a rough note but this summer things have slowly begun to settle down. Despite it all, I got myself off of academic probation and continuously fought to stay on top of everything when no one had my back or knew the extent of what I was going through. I was writing essays on the long drives and was trying to read political theory when I felt like I was actually falling apart both mentally and physically, and this was layered on top of my previous inability to focus. I went undiagnosed for ADHD my entire life, bouncing from doctor to doctor and this was evident for my other mental health issues. My trauma was so sunken, that the episodes I thought were due to fainting from a lack of proper care physically, were actually psycho-active seizures (something I¿¿ve recently learned this summer) as a result of a traumatic incident with my mother that was left unaddressed from the previous summer. I don¿¿t think my grades are representative of the potential I hold and I think that if I didn¿¿t go through all that I did, I probably would have excelled as a student. Because I do love learning and I do love Queen¿¿s, but when your world is falling apart, it¿¿s hard to hold onto that. Since coming home for the summer, I have taken the luxury to truly work on myself now that I have the time to do so. I am in a treatment program until August for my mental health, and I am working with Dr. Hoffer to finally address my ADHD. He and I both have high standards for myself next year, and we know I will be capable of it once I¿¿m able to sort through all of the things I never got to. I¿¿m taking the steps I need to and I will continue to do so because I deserve it after all I¿¿ve been through. I even managed to land myself a really good job with my barely there GPA. I am and have been truly trying to my best to move forward in the best way possible. My circumstances are not the same as when I was in first year. They were worse and they got worse. I had to get through it by myself. This summer, I have professionals on my side that my father had to seek out privately, and as a team we are doing everything we can to get me in a better place. I am learning to eat again, to have functionality, and I am tackling my trauma head on. I hope I never have to write another one of these letters again and I hope you can understand that this is not another ¿¿excuse¿ coming your way. This is a genuine reflection and glimpse of what I have been through and I don't believe I should be further thrown back academically because of it.
Thank you,
Ashley Persaud
I am appealing to be granted a credit standing (CR) for the course POLS 250 F/W.
I believe extenuating circumstances beyond my control greatly impacted my ability to adequately focus and prioritize my second year of education at Queen¿¿s University. I went into my second year after one of the hardest and intense summers of my life. I ran away from home twice (was in contact with student wellness services at the time) and was going through the repercussions of a messy split while having my mother abandon and wreak havoc on my entire family and everything we own. This was after having a stable household for the majority of my life. My summer was filled with legal proceedings, confusion, stress, and growing up way too quickly while most of my peers were advancing in their extracurriculars or travelling the world. There was no time to ¿¿fix¿ me during our never-ending war and this was the state I was thrown into second year in. I had to be strong for my family and I had help support them. Despite this all, I worked so hard to just focus on my academics for once, and yes, this did work for a bit in first semester, but all of my unaddressed trauma and depreciating mental health were never dealt with. In second semester, I could feel myself getting worse and tried reaching out to SWS many times. My ability to focus had plummeted and I kept putting more and more pressure on myself since the stakes were so high. In the time between scheduling appointments, waiting to see someone, trying to find a diagnosis, and calling many helplines, I had two mental breakdowns. I almost committed suicide shortly afterwards. I took the steps to continue fighting to get help through all of this. I was in contact with Tess, Alissa, Katie, numerous crisis counsellors. I even tried getting an appointment at The Centre for Abuse and Trauma Therapy in Kingston (with months of wait time). All while this was occurring, I had to balance helping my father out with our legal cases. During exam season, my study breaks would be taken up by being on the phone with our lawyers or helping prep materials. After all of this, when my mental health was already at an all time low, I lost one of my family members. I was taken out of school for a bit and tried to work through accommodations with my professors, but no accommodation could help me in what I was going through. I ended the year on a rough note but this summer things have slowly begun to settle down. Despite it all, I got myself off of academic probation and continuously fought to stay on top of everything when no one had my back or knew the extent of what I was going through. I was writing essays on the long drives and was trying to read political theory when I felt like I was actually falling apart both mentally and physically, and this was layered on top of my previous inability to focus. I went undiagnosed for ADHD my entire life, bouncing from doctor to doctor and this was evident for my other mental health issues. My trauma was so sunken, that the episodes I thought were due to fainting from a lack of proper care physically, were actually psycho-active seizures (something I¿¿ve recently learned this summer) as a result of a traumatic incident with my mother that was left unaddressed from the previous summer. I don¿¿t think my grades are representative of the potential I hold and I think that if I didn¿¿t go through all that I did, I probably would have excelled as a student. Because I do love learning and I do love Queen¿¿s, but when your world is falling apart, it¿¿s hard to hold onto that. Since coming home for the summer, I have taken the luxury to truly work on myself now that I have the time to do so. I am in a treatment program until August for my mental health, and I am working with Dr. Hoffer to finally address my ADHD. He and I both have high standards for myself next year, and we know I will be capable of it once I¿¿m able to sort through all of the things I never got to. I¿¿m taking the steps I need to and I will continue to do so because I deserve it after all I¿¿ve been through. I even managed to land myself a really good job with my barely there GPA. I am and have been truly trying to my best to move forward in the best way possible. My circumstances are not the same as when I was in first year. They were worse and they got worse. I had to get through it by myself. This summer, I have professionals on my side that my father had to seek out privately, and as a team we are doing everything we can to get me in a better place. I am learning to eat again, to have functionality, and I am tackling my trauma head on. I hope I never have to write another one of these letters again and I hope you can understand that this is not another ¿¿excuse¿ coming your way. This is a genuine reflection and glimpse of what I have been through and I don't believe I should be further thrown back academically because of it.
Thank you,
Ashley Persaud