Petition Letter
Dear Dr. Stephenson,
I am writing to you today to appeal the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a year.
Progressively over the past three years I have been suffering from worsening Major Depression. For a long time I wasn¿¿t sure exactly what was wrong, and afterwards when I had some inkling of what I may have, I was embarrassed and thought I could handle this illness myself. It took me a long time to get treatment and my academics suffered greatly because of this. I understand that we don¿¿t fully need to disclose the nature of our extenuating circumstances in these letters but my Psychologist thought it would be helpful to me to do, to remove some of the stigma behind mental illness.
Starting in my second year at Queen¿¿s I began to notice some symptoms but played them off as me just having an off couple months. The next few years though, I suffered from extremely severe symptoms in increasingly long bursts, culminating in almost a year of being affected every single day. I missed the majority of my classes in my last year, being unable to get out of bed most days. This only made things worse as now I was embarrassed and ashamed about my failings in school.
In mid March of this year things had finally gotten so bad that I sought help from a doctor. I went to the Queen¿¿s Wellness center, was diagnosed with Major Depression and started immediately on anti-depressants and psychotherapy.
After a few weeks I began to see very drastic results. I began to have energy again in the mornings and even tried to catch up on my courses. But as finals were only a couple weeks away I was unsuccessful in this endeavor.
Today I am doing exponentially better. I am receiving weekly therapy from a registered psychologist while I am back home for the summer. I also have plans to return to weekly therapy sessions with my psychologist that I saw in Kingston, during March and April, if I return in the fall. I am also continuing my medication prescribed to me by my doctor at Queen¿¿s until a time that they are comfortable that I will be ok to try a lower dosage.
I have been working since the second week of May this summer and have been doing so well. It has really been a night and day difference now that I have accepted my illness and have started treatment. I am fully confident that I would be successful in my studies if I returned to Queen¿¿s and would very much love to get back to the school that I so enjoyed during my first two successful years at Queen¿¿s.
I now have an extensive support network of family and medical professionals that I can rely on and along with taking fewer classes my first year back I believe I will be more than set up for success. I know I have made mistakes and I deeply regret not seeking help sooner, but I am trying to focus on the future now and would love the opportunity to finish my studies at Queen¿¿s.
Thank you for your time,
Austin Stadel, 10133341
I am writing to you today to appeal the Faculty¿¿s decision that I must withdraw from Queen¿¿s for a year.
Progressively over the past three years I have been suffering from worsening Major Depression. For a long time I wasn¿¿t sure exactly what was wrong, and afterwards when I had some inkling of what I may have, I was embarrassed and thought I could handle this illness myself. It took me a long time to get treatment and my academics suffered greatly because of this. I understand that we don¿¿t fully need to disclose the nature of our extenuating circumstances in these letters but my Psychologist thought it would be helpful to me to do, to remove some of the stigma behind mental illness.
Starting in my second year at Queen¿¿s I began to notice some symptoms but played them off as me just having an off couple months. The next few years though, I suffered from extremely severe symptoms in increasingly long bursts, culminating in almost a year of being affected every single day. I missed the majority of my classes in my last year, being unable to get out of bed most days. This only made things worse as now I was embarrassed and ashamed about my failings in school.
In mid March of this year things had finally gotten so bad that I sought help from a doctor. I went to the Queen¿¿s Wellness center, was diagnosed with Major Depression and started immediately on anti-depressants and psychotherapy.
After a few weeks I began to see very drastic results. I began to have energy again in the mornings and even tried to catch up on my courses. But as finals were only a couple weeks away I was unsuccessful in this endeavor.
Today I am doing exponentially better. I am receiving weekly therapy from a registered psychologist while I am back home for the summer. I also have plans to return to weekly therapy sessions with my psychologist that I saw in Kingston, during March and April, if I return in the fall. I am also continuing my medication prescribed to me by my doctor at Queen¿¿s until a time that they are comfortable that I will be ok to try a lower dosage.
I have been working since the second week of May this summer and have been doing so well. It has really been a night and day difference now that I have accepted my illness and have started treatment. I am fully confident that I would be successful in my studies if I returned to Queen¿¿s and would very much love to get back to the school that I so enjoyed during my first two successful years at Queen¿¿s.
I now have an extensive support network of family and medical professionals that I can rely on and along with taking fewer classes my first year back I believe I will be more than set up for success. I know I have made mistakes and I deeply regret not seeking help sooner, but I am trying to focus on the future now and would love the opportunity to finish my studies at Queen¿¿s.
Thank you for your time,
Austin Stadel, 10133341