Petition Letter
Dear Dr. Jenn Stephenson,
I am appealing to drop PSYC365 (Winter 2021).
Toward the end of January, I began to experience a decline in my mental health. I spent a week struggling to get out of bed to do anything ¿¿ both schoolwork-related and not. I missed a series of deadlines during this time. I reached out to the Psychology Undergraduate Chair, Dr. Meghan Norris, and at her advisement, I applied for a 3-day academic consideration to cover the deadlines I had missed. I e-mailed my professors, and most were willing to work with me to provide extensions or create a new plan of action moving forward. During this time, I also reached out to a therapist to address the underlying issues that were causing my shutdown. In February, after consulting with my therapist as well as Dr. Norris, I decided to drop one of my courses in the hopes that a reduced course load would make catching up on what I missed, as well as keeping up with the rest of the semester, more manageable.
Unfortunately, my mental health did not improve, and I continued to struggle to complete my academic work throughout February. In that time, I switched to a different therapist who was and is a much better fit for what I need. I got connected with QSAS to get some accommodations for my four remaining courses. Dr. Norris also got me in contact with Gail Motut-Plata from Support Services, who has been helping me since the beginning of March.
After consulting with Gail, I decided to drop three of my four remaining courses before the academic and financial penalty deadline. My initial plan was to keep PSYC365 as my only course to allow myself the space that I needed to focus and complete my work. Of all my courses, PSYC365 was the one I felt most confident in being able to catch up and continue working in. Despite all these steps I have taken to reduce my course load and maximize my chances of success, I still find myself unable to complete my course work for PSYC365 at this time.
Dropping this course now is the first step in my current plan, which continues as follows:
My current plan is to switch to a 3-year general B.A degree plan. I have been informed that I have 5 or 6 remaining courses to complete to get this degree, which I plan to spread over the course of the next school year. I am hopeful that a reduced course load of 3 courses per semester will help me to achieve academic success. In the meantime, I plan to continue going to therapy to address the underlying causes of my declining mental health and to work on developing healthier coping mechanisms so that I can come back in the upcoming Fall semester ready and able to complete my academic work. I have been informed by the Psychology Undergraduate Assistant, via Gail, that if I so choose, I may apply to return to Queen¿¿s for an additional year of study to get my full 4-year Honours degree. I will decide at a later point if that is something I wish to pursue. Right now, my priority is getting back to my normal, healthy state of mind.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Dina L. Zatzman
I am appealing to drop PSYC365 (Winter 2021).
Toward the end of January, I began to experience a decline in my mental health. I spent a week struggling to get out of bed to do anything ¿¿ both schoolwork-related and not. I missed a series of deadlines during this time. I reached out to the Psychology Undergraduate Chair, Dr. Meghan Norris, and at her advisement, I applied for a 3-day academic consideration to cover the deadlines I had missed. I e-mailed my professors, and most were willing to work with me to provide extensions or create a new plan of action moving forward. During this time, I also reached out to a therapist to address the underlying issues that were causing my shutdown. In February, after consulting with my therapist as well as Dr. Norris, I decided to drop one of my courses in the hopes that a reduced course load would make catching up on what I missed, as well as keeping up with the rest of the semester, more manageable.
Unfortunately, my mental health did not improve, and I continued to struggle to complete my academic work throughout February. In that time, I switched to a different therapist who was and is a much better fit for what I need. I got connected with QSAS to get some accommodations for my four remaining courses. Dr. Norris also got me in contact with Gail Motut-Plata from Support Services, who has been helping me since the beginning of March.
After consulting with Gail, I decided to drop three of my four remaining courses before the academic and financial penalty deadline. My initial plan was to keep PSYC365 as my only course to allow myself the space that I needed to focus and complete my work. Of all my courses, PSYC365 was the one I felt most confident in being able to catch up and continue working in. Despite all these steps I have taken to reduce my course load and maximize my chances of success, I still find myself unable to complete my course work for PSYC365 at this time.
Dropping this course now is the first step in my current plan, which continues as follows:
My current plan is to switch to a 3-year general B.A degree plan. I have been informed that I have 5 or 6 remaining courses to complete to get this degree, which I plan to spread over the course of the next school year. I am hopeful that a reduced course load of 3 courses per semester will help me to achieve academic success. In the meantime, I plan to continue going to therapy to address the underlying causes of my declining mental health and to work on developing healthier coping mechanisms so that I can come back in the upcoming Fall semester ready and able to complete my academic work. I have been informed by the Psychology Undergraduate Assistant, via Gail, that if I so choose, I may apply to return to Queen¿¿s for an additional year of study to get my full 4-year Honours degree. I will decide at a later point if that is something I wish to pursue. Right now, my priority is getting back to my normal, healthy state of mind.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Dina L. Zatzman