Petition Letter
I am appealing to take 9.0 credits from the University of Victoria as a Level 4 student. The three courses I was planning to take at the University of Victoria during the 2022/2023 academic year are the final courses of my degree. I had planned to take the course equivalents through Queen's University during this academic year (2021/2022) but found I had to drop them due to an acute flare-up of serious mental illness (through a late drop appeal in late November 2021).
I was struggling throughout September and October (2021) and getting by with the help of a crisis counsellor at student wellness and my external therapists. In late October, these supports proved to be inadequate and I spent several days in inpatient psychiatry at Kingston General Hospital. In early November, I had to return home to my family for additional support and entered a residential eating disorder program in late November.
While I understand that this is an appeal for my classes in the 2022/2023 academic year, I thought it important to acknowledge the context of the Fall 2021 semester. Given this context, I consider it most beneficial to spend the 2022/2023 academic year in Victoria, living with my family. This is due to two major factors. Firstly, although I am in a place of enough stability to ride out the last month and a half of the Winter 2022 semester in person, I know that it will be much more effective to have my family in continuing to support my mental health and prevent such a relapse in the future. Secondly, the costs of eating disorder treatment in the fall semester have already created an unexpected financial burden on myself and my family. The cost of living in Kingston for a year longer than expected would present another unforeseen financial burden.
I understand that these policies are likely in place to ensure that Queen's students are receiving adequate education and have the credentials they need moving forward, but I believe that applying the 6-credit maximum to my situation would present undue psychological and financial burdens going forward.
Take care,
Alexandra Krug-Mushey
I was struggling throughout September and October (2021) and getting by with the help of a crisis counsellor at student wellness and my external therapists. In late October, these supports proved to be inadequate and I spent several days in inpatient psychiatry at Kingston General Hospital. In early November, I had to return home to my family for additional support and entered a residential eating disorder program in late November.
While I understand that this is an appeal for my classes in the 2022/2023 academic year, I thought it important to acknowledge the context of the Fall 2021 semester. Given this context, I consider it most beneficial to spend the 2022/2023 academic year in Victoria, living with my family. This is due to two major factors. Firstly, although I am in a place of enough stability to ride out the last month and a half of the Winter 2022 semester in person, I know that it will be much more effective to have my family in continuing to support my mental health and prevent such a relapse in the future. Secondly, the costs of eating disorder treatment in the fall semester have already created an unexpected financial burden on myself and my family. The cost of living in Kingston for a year longer than expected would present another unforeseen financial burden.
I understand that these policies are likely in place to ensure that Queen's students are receiving adequate education and have the credentials they need moving forward, but I believe that applying the 6-credit maximum to my situation would present undue psychological and financial burdens going forward.
Take care,
Alexandra Krug-Mushey