Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean:

My name is Emily Pepper and I have just completed my first year in General Sciences at Queens. I am a conscientious student and, up until February, I was achieving good results in my courses. However, due to extenuating circumstances outlined below, I am appealing to receive Aegrotat standing in Physics 117 and Math 121. In addition, I am appealing to receive Credit Standing in Biology 103.

In early February, I began to experience increasingly severe and debilitating panic attacks on a daily basis. Usually occurring in the morning, these attacks made it extremely difficult to focus during lectures and even more challenging to complete my weekly readings and labs.

On February 24, I reached a crisis point and after telephoning my mother, I went first to Hotel Dieu Hospital and then was referred to Kingston General, where I saw a social worker and was given information on mental health supports and programs. My parents came to Kingston the next day and because my condition had not improved, I felt that I needed to go home to Toronto. A psychiatrist there diagnosed me with anxiety and depression. He prescribed an anti-depressant and recommended I take a few weeks off from school to rest and recover. On his recommendation, I attended the CAMH Crisis Clinic, where I saw an Occupational Therapist who helped me work on strategies for managing my moods and feelings and a plan for returning to my studies, which was very important to me.

The week of March 16, I returned to Kingston and met with Spring Forsberg at Academic Counselling, as well as each of my professors, to discuss how to deal with missed work and determine what I needed to do to complete each course. I also registered with Disability Services in case I needed accommodations during exams, and met with Freeman, a counselor at Victoria Hall. I resumed my studies the following week.

Perhaps the biggest step I took toward my recovery was attending the Intensive Transitional Treatment Program (ITTP) at KGH, which I began on my return to Kingston. This is a four-week group therapy program that runs Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 12:00. I found the program really helpful, however it did take time away from my studies. I also began to see a psychiatrist at Queen¿¿s, who increased my dosage of anti-depressants. Nevertheless, since it takes 4 to 6 weeks for anti-depressants to take effect, the first few weeks back at school were difficult.

In spite of these challenges, I worked very hard to complete outstanding course work and study for my three exams. And, by exam time, I was feeling significantly better and did not require accommodations to write my exams.

I am extremely lucky that Queen¿¿s has been so accommodating regarding my illness. I have learned a great deal about managing my mental health. In future, I plan to continue seeing the psychiatrist at Queen¿¿s. My plan is to maintain a full course load and hopefully major in either Biochemistry or Psychology in second year , however I will not hesitate to lighten my course load or take whatever other measures are necessary in order to remain healthy.


Thank you for considering my appeal.


Sincerely,



Emily Pepper