Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: I am submitting an appeal requesting to drop CHEM 285 past the course drop deadline and to receive an Aegrotat grade in BIOL 321. I have lived with anxiety and depression for as long as I can remember. My mental condition reached its most dire state in 2014. I had been experiencing suicidal ideations for over a year prior to this point and became committed to taking my own life sometime in the near future. After being requested to withdraw from studies for one-year, I reached a breaking point. I managed to admit my academic problems to my parents and the severe psychological problems I was experiencing. With their encouragement and support, I entered intensive cognitive behavioural therapy with psychologist Dr. Mary Ross. With her help I began to make sense of the emotional and mental difficulties that I had experienced throughout high school and university. With the help of Dr. Ross and my parents I was able to initiate a successful academic appeal to Queen¿¿s.

With the techniques and strategies I had learned from Dr. Ross, my academic performance rose dramatically upon my return to studies. Despite the marked improvements I experienced as a direct result of therapy, I still had difficulty accepting that I indeed suffered from a mental illness and continued to blame my previous academic shortcomings entirely on my own inadequacies. I considered my previous anxiety and depression a result, rather than a cause, of my academic difficulties.

My lack of insight and belief that my failings were entirely a product of my personal shortcomings led me to stop treatment prematurely with Dr. Ross prior to the fall 2016 semester. Without the advocacy and support of Dr. Ross, I failed to reinitiate contact with an academic advisor or Queen¿¿s Accessibility Services advisor. I once again began to experience anxiety when attempting to access courses online or complete coursework. The level of anxiety I experienced varied depending on the course. If I missed an assignment or forum post, or was unsure of whether I had missed a deadline assignment or not, even attempting to access the course on onQ would cause such severe anxiety that I would often experience a panic attack. I once again developed a crippling sense of worthlessness and felt incapable of reaching out for help. My academic performance declined as my depression and anxiety deepened.

By midsummer of 2017 my anxiety and depression were completely out of control. It was during this time that I was enrolled in BIOL 321 and CHEM 285. In BIOL 321 I performed well on assignments throughout the majority of the summer term. I submitted all of my coursework on time and scored well on tests. It was only during the completion of the final assignment, a lab report, that I allowed my anxiety to overcome me. I had almost finished the assignment but had yet to finalize the figures for the report. I realized that I would be unable to submit the lab report on time. I convinced myself that I would be able to finish the assignment a day late and that I would be able to email the professor explaining the delay. The next day however, the thought of opening the assignment anxiety and emailing the professor filled me with such anxiety and shame that I found completely frozen and unable to act. I felt worthless and not deserving of help.

I was enrolled in CHEM 285 in the second half of the summer semester following BIOL 321. I was so ashamed of my performance in BIOL 321 that I found I was unable to even open the onQ website until partway into the semester, as well as due to the severe anxiety that seeing the BIOL 321 course listing would cause. When I finally managed to open the course website, I had already missed over half of the assignments as well as the single lab report. I could barely bring myself to navigate to the course notes in order to study for the final exam. Even the thought of attempting coursework or studying would leave me feeling physically sick and severely anxious.

My family eventually noticed the decline in my mental health and urged me to seek treatment in July of 2017. In August of 2017 I reinitiated treatment with Dr. Ross. It has only been during my current treatment that I have truly begun to approach my condition with self-understanding and self-compassion. I have reregistered with Queen¿¿s Accessibility Services and have been receiving counselling and advocacy for coursework and communications with professors during the fall 2017 semester. My marks have improved significantly and I feel stronger mentally than ever. I am now fully committed to continuing my treatment with Dr. Ross in the long term.