Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: March 19, 2016

Associate Dean (Studies)
Queens University
Kingston, ON


Dear Associate Dean,

My name is Helena Kita and I am in my second year of Life Sciences at Queen¿¿s. I am a studious student who up until recently has been capable of achieving good results and a lot of learning from my courses. However due to extenuating circumstances discussed below I am feeling overwhelmed such that I am appealing to receive Aegrotat standing in Physiology 214, and defer my exam deadlines in Chemistry 282, and Microbiology 221.
Since the beginning of April 2015 I have been struggling with increasing levels anxiety and depression. My mental illness was manageable first semester such that I felt that I was performing up to my own academic standards with only small compromises to my wellbeing.
This semester has served as a turning point because of personal circumstances such that I feel I have been sacrificing my mental health in order to perform academically worse than I usually do. On January 11th I decided not to re-sign a lease at the residence I was staying at, and for the next 8 weeks my other housemates bullied me. I asked them to stop, and when they did not I began sleeping at friends¿¿ houses until I found a new residence (I recently moved in on March 5th).
The stressors of unstable and unsafe housing arrangements on top of my struggles with anxiety and depression lead me to go see Dr. Edward McNally at CDK Family Medicine on January 20th, 2016¿¿who diagnosed me with both anxiety and depression, and recommended I go on an antidepressant, as well as start cognitive behavioural therapy through an online program called Mood Gym. I also began seeing a counsellor (Rachel Sturgeon) at Student Wellness Services on February 4th. With the antidepressants, cognitive behavioural therapy and self-care techniques I was finding it okay to manage. However as the bullying in my household got more and more aggressive I found it harder and harder to manage the symptoms of my anxiety and depression and keep up with school work. I finally approached my housemates to address the issue which only worsened the behaviour. I did not feel comfortable in my home and so I started to stay at friends¿¿ homes, becoming increasingly teary. I found that it became harder to focus in classes, and ever started to cry in a few because of the stress and the physical manifestations of my growing levels of anxiety. I found it more difficult to balance school work, my self-care, sleep and trying to deal with the personal conflicts while trying to find a place to live day to day, and for the next two months (the week of February 29th to March 4th). In this week I wrote my Physiology 214 midterm, and I do not need to appeal this midterm as I felt well prepared; however to feel prepared I sacrificed time to prepare good meals, to have proper sleeps, balance my other courses. This manifested in my crying in classes, losing focus easily, and a feeling of fatigue that made it difficult to understand and integrate the material being presented.
I had an appointment with my psychiatrist Dr. Zlatko Banic on Wednesday March 10th. He suggested that I continue my work through Mood Gym as well as increased the dose on my antidepressant, however he saw it as necessary that I also find some way to take off the pressure academically, we discussed deferring my exams by a few weeks, as well as the Aegrotat standing in any courses where I had completed 60 of my course work.
I discussed the possibility of Aegrotat standing with my counsellor on March 10th. I also discussed my possibilities with Dr. Van Vugt the course coordinator for physiology including applying for Aegrotat standing. This is the only course I have completed 60 to date and this is why I am only applying for Aegrotat standing for this course. Extending exam deadlines for the other courses would allow me sufficient time to use the extra time I would have from not studying Physiology to use the self-care strategies I have developed with my counsellor as well as continue treatment with the Psychiatrist. I believe that with these accommodations in addition to the treatment plan and strategies I have discussed with my psychiatrist and counsellor that I successfully can complete my coursework. Starting this process now will ensure that I can best used the summer months to better my mental health such that I am able to complete a full course load next year.
My experiences with Student Wellness Services and my professor at Queen¿¿s has indicated that it is a university is very understanding of mental health issues. I thank you for your time in considering my appeal.

Sincerely,

Helena Kita


P.S. Attached I have a letter from my psychiatrist as documentation. Further documentation has been provided through internal mail by my counsellor Rachel Sturgeon.