Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Associate Dean (Studies).

My name is Brittney Whalen and I am currently enrolled as a History Major hoping to return to complete my BA(H). I am unable to complete my degree currently as I have attempted nearly the maximum number of units. Therefore, I am appealing to drop the following classes: HIST461 (Winter 2017), HIST449 (Winter 2017), HIST400 (2017 Winter), HIST463 (2016 Fall), LIBS100 (2016 Fall), LLCU319 (2016 Fall), FILM300 (2016 Summer), HIST393 (2016 Winter), HIST459 (2016 Winter), FREN250 (2015 Fall) and HIST 241 (2014 Winter, 2015 Fall).

As you can see, my academics took a downward turn around mid-2015 and while I had been pushing to continue with my education, after two semesters of struggling on my own to improve my grades, I realized that I was suffering from something more serious than procrastination and decided to go see a doctor at HCDS. After talking with the doctor about my symptoms and struggles, she easily diagnosed me with depression and anxiety. Ever since then I have been working with different therapists and have been on medication to help me control my moods. Unfortunately, I was unable to break through the anxiety, even with medical support, and I ended up circling back to an unhealthy mental state throughout my next two semesters. It wasn¿¿t until halfway through Winter 2017 that I was able to think rationally about my classes and I was able to improve enough to complete one of my classes.

My mental health began to deteriorate slowly throughout my second year but it wasn¿¿t until my third year (2015/2016) that I started to really see the effect it had on my schoolwork and class attendance. My anxiety tended to build over the course of the semester making it nearly impossible for me to even leave my house most days. Regarding my classes, I would tend to miss a lecture in the beginning of the year, in some cases, even the very first class of the semester and then as the next lecture came around I would feel that I was unprepared and that I not only needed to fully understand the current week¿¿s materials but that of the missed lectures as well. I made myself think that If I was even the least bit unprepared for lecture than I would have to talk with my professor and would make a fool of myself in class. I felt that if I couldn¿¿t return to the class being almost as knowledgeable as my professor that I was doomed to fail and this stress usually resulted in me skipping more classes in an attempt to catch up. This ended up being a losing battle as each week I failed to attend class, I would put more and more pressure on myself to learn all the past weeks' lessons as well as be absolutely prepared for the lecture I was planning on attending. In many cases, I never attended a single lecture throughout the entire semester and while I did manage in some cases to email my professors, my anxiety about returning to lecture or attending lecture for the first time two months into the semester became overwhelming and pushed me further into my depression. Looking back now I realize that I was giving myself reasons to avoid attending lectures, but at the time I would start the semester very hopeful and even though I would skip one of two lectures, in the beginning, I kept reassuring myself that I would be able to fix the situation and still pass my classes. Eventually, the build-up of pressure crippled me and I was unable to live up to my previous positivity.

Once I had finished my fifth year with two incredibly unsuccessful years under my belt, I realized that I needed to take a break from my education in order to work on my mental health and put myself into a position where I would be able to complete my undergraduate degree and move on with my education. I have since spent the last 7 months working towards understanding my mental illness and learning ways to cope with my building anxiety. I have been seeing a registered therapist for many months now after taking a break from counselling during my fifth year. I plan to continue with my therapist in Brampton while I can and I am also planning on working with another therapist in Kingston to help support me on a week by week basis when I attempt my final few classes. I have also been working with my family doctor and the doctors at HCDS to find a medication that would help me cope. While I was taking medication after I was initially diagnosed after about a year I came to the realization that I was not gaining any benefits from the medication I was on and I was able to switch to the medication I am currently on, of which I have found much more relief. I finally feel like I have regained some of the drive and motivation that characterized my education previously and I feel that I have made enough progress on my mental health that it will no longer prevent me from attending classes and completing my assignments. Thank you for taking the time to read my appeal letters and I hope to hear back from you soon regarding your decision.


Sincerely,
Brittney Whalen