Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Dr. Johanne Bénard,

I hope this note finds you well. I am submitting an appeal asking for CR (Credit standing) without penalty in BIOL102 from the 2016 fall term as well as appealing to drop BIOL103 (Winter, 2017), CHEM112, MATH121, and PSYC100 (All fall 2016 and winter 2017).

Circumstances:

My mother, diagnosed with Bipolar 1 disorder early in her life, has a very bad history with drugs, namely marijuana. In the past it has induced episodes of mania and eventual psychosis. For years, she stayed away from marijuana while taking her Olanzapine mood stabilizers. It is important to note that I have always has what could be considered a normal, open, and extremely loving family. A few years ago my mom was feeling particularly good and decided to lower her mood stabilizer dose. All was well until, in January 2016, she was misdiagnosed with ADHD. She was placed on the highest possible dose of the stimulant Vyvanse which is contraindicated to patients with Bipolar 1 disorder. Slowly things started to spiral out of control. One of the principle symptoms of mania is financial irresponsibility. My dad had postponed his medical residency to come and get my mother's office set up, so she was the sole financial contributor at this time. Yet, though she made thousands a month, we never saw this money. Bills were not getting paid. The mortgage was not getting paid and the bank had lean on the house. There was barely any food in the fridge. But every few days, my mother would have a new set of nails or go on shopping sprees (i.e. doors imported from Tibet). It was also discovered that my mother had been smoking marijuana again. My dad went to every one of her friends he knew to be a provider of the drug and asked them not to sell it to her. Though the other children were too young to notice, it was around this time I began to worry.

In March of 2016 we had no electricity for a month. My mother chose to spend this time at the luxurious attachment to her office, while my dad and the kids were forced to endure this at home. I felt angry and miserable- normal families didn¿¿t have their power cut off. Having witnessed a multitude of her past psychotic episodes, my dad drove up with me to the office to offer her some mood stabilizers (as recommended by her doctor). The first time we saw her in a month, she was in such a manic state that she viciously assaulted my dad. I had never seen my mother like that before. It was as if she wasn¿¿t even human anymore as she screamed and punched my helpless father. I remember crying and screaming for her to stop as I stood there helpless and afraid. Hurt and sorrowful, my dad decided to give her some space and move in temporarily with my grandmother. Everyone cried that day. I tried to protect the children by telling them that he just needed a quiet place to study for his return to Ottawa, but I think they suspected. The next few weeks spelled a series of violent outbursts culminating in the beating of my small brother with a golf club. What had happened to my perfect family

The next day I came home to my little siblings sobbing in the living room- 'there¿¿s a man upstairs with mommy', they whispered. My mother had brought her newest drug dealer into our home. I was absolutely outraged that she would do this to us, to my father. Soon after this, my traumatized siblings and father moved in permanently with my grandmother in light of news that the drug dealer would be moving in with us. My father has always been the primary caretaker of the children- reading them bedtime stories, helping them with school work, taking them to the park... However, the past year has found all of his funds drained by my mother. All of our accounts are well in the negative. As he prepares to go back to his residency program in May of this year, my father is desperately trying to keep the family alive on the 1000 that my grandmother earns every month in pension. This has always weighed heavily on my mind. I love my father. I love my siblings. I would do anything for them to find reprieve from this chaos. I offered to return to my job at the golf course and help earn for the family. My father told me to instead focus on school.

All throughout high school, I was at the top of my class. I graduated from the International Baccalaureate Programme with honours and a plethora of scholarships. When I started this, my first year at Queens, I was confident that the distance from my hometown would allow me to put the mess of my home life to the side and focus on school. I have always loved academia and Queen¿¿s seemed to create an environment conducive to successful learning. While doing my best to remove myself from the chaos back at home and to help my siblings regain a sense of normalcy, I started to feel the effects of depression and social anxiety. Over the past year, I had difficulty getting out of bed to go to my lectures and labs. Yet I still, for the first semester, managed to go through the text books and take notes on my own. When Christmas break came around, I though the break from academia would allow me to come back refreshed and energized. A couple of incidents involving my mother over those weeks changed this. I came back feeling drained and with even less motivation to complete my work. Yet I persevered and tried my best to continue, telling myself that I just needed to get back in the swing of things. Reading week came and went and I had fallen terrifyingly behind in all of my courses. Diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, I am currently being treated by a physician at the Wellness Clinic (Dr. Farnworth). Upon her and my father¿¿s recommendation I have also attended counseling for the past few months. It was upon their recommendation that I am submitting this appeal.

Future Plan:

I am planning to take the next year off to heal mentally and help my family regain a sense of stability. My father has said that time is needed to heal from wounds such as these. I also want to be there to support and look after the smaller children as they go through a similar process of healing. I want to be there to protect them from my mother. During my year off I will continue to undergo medical treatment as well as regularly attend counselling to ease the burden of this traumatic event. I will get a job to help pay for the next year¿¿s tuition as well as helping to establish a routine and give structure to my life. I would like to return after a year and start university fresh and will an unsullied GPA. I will retake the courses that I dropped and continue forward with my undergraduate degree.

Thank you for your consideration and time reviewing my appeal. Thank you for another chance.

Kind regards,

Ariel Takach (20023130)