Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: My name is Matthew Thomas Shannon. I am a student at Queen's university who wants to petition for the late drop of my 5 courses from the winter of 2024. I am suffering from multiple long term mental health issues including depression, anxiety, sleeping issues (like insomnia), and body image problems (body dysmorphia). These problems have gotten worse in the last couple years due to a weed addiction I have developed during the time since covid first isolated me.

Over the last semester of school I saw my problems hit their worst point ever as I relapsed on weed after nearly 8-9 months sober. I got to a point where i was suicidal for the first time in my life so i stepped back and didnt worry about my classes. I should have immediately dealt with my classes around two months ago when I stepped away from school, however I was not mentally prepared to worry about school again until my life was back on track.

I have been to the hospital twice for multiple night stays due to suicidal thoughts and needs to change and modify my medications as they where not working well in the last month or two. I am finally doing well again after my last hospital stay as they took me off all my sleeping meds which were only contributing negatively to my emotional problems and they also started me on a new mood enhancing medication that is helping me be more positive and get my hope back.

I want to go back to school maybe even in the fall and want this to be the last time i ever screw up or don't complete classes due to mental health issues but i truly believe with the help of the hospital, my doctors, my psychiatrist and my family that i am on the right path to long term happiness and being mentally healthy. I am regularly meeting with my doctor every 1 to 2 weeks to make sure the medication is working and if i'm in need of anything else, i am also meeting with my psychiatrist almost every week for the rest of the summer

I am over 2 months sober from weed and everything currently and am back to focusing on working hard at my job, trying to be academically active as well as physically active and athletic. I am someone who needs to focus on all three of these things to be happy as when i'm in bad shape my body image problems arise, when i am not productive I am hard on myself and when i am academically active i believe i'm not moving forward academically in life the way I strive to.

I will not go back to school unless I can achieve all my goals relating to being sober, being academically active, being athletic and being social as I need to thrive my best in all these ways in order to be happy with being back at school away from weed. I want to be able to drop my courses without them going on my record as I have extenuating circumstances of mental health problems that have truly derailed my life for 3 plus years now. My goal is to graduate in 2027 at the age of 24, as I want to return and make new friends and live my life properly for the next multiple years until I'm a fully educated adult who can tackle life properly.

I have taken all the proper steps to get better and now I simply need to be consistently organised and driven going forward so my mental health problems can go away and/or be managed. I believe I am currently overcoming insomnia which has brought me great joy and confidence and I am working hard to fully overcome body dysmorphia. I also am working to manage and live with my anxiety and depression as I know they are most likely permanent parts of who I am. I am paying for housing for next year so I would prefer to be able to go back to school in the fall of 2024.

I will include documentation from my doctor Robert Yelle, from my stays at the hospitals if possible and I can also get documentation from my Psychiatrist dr Justin Massey. Hopefully this documentation along with my account of my problems and progression of these problems worsening following a relapse on weed will allow you to drop my courses without penalty and let me come back to school when I am healthy and ready to come back.