Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I have decided to submit a petition to drop CLST 203 after the drop date due to family problems.

At the end of 2022, my brother attempted suicide. Following this, I??ve had nightmares and extreme stress. I??ve had nightmares of him threatening to kill himself with a gun with me in the same room. Due to this, I have struggled to get enough sleep each night. I have received worrying calls about my brother and the multiple times he has been restrained by police due to his mental health issues. He would become aggressive and yell obscenities at the officers and would therefore be restrained and brought to a hospital for a mental health watch. I constantly worry about hearing that he has been arrested, committed suicide, or that he has begun acting erratically again. For example, a few months ago my brother added a few of my friends on social media. He began telling her his suicide plans, and how he has attempted suicide in the past, and I learned that he tried to bribe my friend into not telling me of this. This was an event that caused me great stress, as his behaviour was out-of-character, and I felt distressed that my friend had become aware of these traumatic things unwillingly. Even when I do complete some work, I begin to feel guilty for not reaching out to my family, to check up on how they are doing. Overall, these events have caused me great anxiety and sleep problems, which tend to distract me or make me too fatigued to finish my work.

To continue, I have noticed a large change in my family members, including myself, because of these events. I have seen my father lose a concerning amount of weight due to stress and I have seen my mother gain a lot of weight due to stress and her coping strategies. I have never seen my parents so defeated in my life, and this left me believing my studies were now an afterthought. I find it difficult to prioritize myself and my schoolwork when I can so clearly see my parents struggling and needing support. This is especially true since suicide is taboo in my family, which has prevented my parents from discussing or seeking support regarding this situation. This is also something that burdened me. I was told not to tell anyone what happened. Due to this, for a few months, I just isolated myself in my room alone. This made me feel lonely and often left me feeling too depressed and unmotivated to do work. When I begin to try to do schoolwork, I continue to instinctively look at my phone in case I receive yet another text message from one of my family members, detailing another incident. I have spent a lot of time over the past few months on the phone with my sister. Throughout this, my sister was the one who found the empty Adderall pill bottles and alcohol bottles. I could tell she was very shaken up by the incident but did not want to speak to my parents about it because she felt as though they were already dealing with a lot, and that this would burden them. So, I spent a lot of time trying to support her, and she spent a lot of time updating me on what was going on at home since the distance left me feeling isolated from them.

When I realized I was struggling in school due to the nightmares, and anxiety regarding my brother??s and parents' well-being, I reached out to SWS for a counselling appointment. I attended the appointment and told them about the situation. However, since there were no long-term care options readily available, and I already felt overwhelmed by missing classes, I did not pursue long-term counselling.

I have now learned that my current course load is too heavy for me, as it??s causing me extreme stress. I hope to drop this course so the maintenance of a good academic standing and stable mental health is more achievable for me. Thank you for your consideration.