Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: To Dr. Jenn Stephenson Associate Dean of Studies

I am appealing to drop CISC 121 (Winter 2019), MATH 121 (Winter 2019), STAT 263 (Winter 2019) and HIST 122 (Winter 2019). I am writing this appeal due to mental health issues which have affected my academic performance. Over the school year and especially in the last month, my mental health has deteriorated causing me to have a hard time having the motivation and energy to do my work. Due to this I have been finding it harder and harder to keep up with my work and succeed in my academics.

At the end of the fall term I became overwhelmed and sank into a depression, my mom had to come and make me see a crisis counselor in student wellness. After also began to see an occupational therapist and a doctor for regular mental health checkups and to develop strategies to deal with my anxieties. After these consultations I dropped a class, MATH 111 Linear Algebra, to lighten the course and stress load and make school and the stress more manageable since I was failing the course and that was causing even more stress and issues. Later I met with a councillor in residence, but was too anxious to continue until about over a month ago when my don helped me get in contact and set up an appointment with another embedded councillor in my residence so I could continue getting more help with my anxieties. On the 25th of February I had an appointment with a psychiatrist in student wellness and was officially diagnosed with depression and anxiety. About a week later my illness had gotten much worse, due to the academic stress of midterms and other major assignments. I had an appointment with the occupational therapist where she helped me set up an appointment with counselling the next day after my doctors appointment. During my doctor¿¿s appointment the doctor recommended that I needed to be removed from school and go home to get professional help. After my appointment I went to my counseling appointment and met with the head of counselling who agreed with the doctor that I needed to get help and that going home would be the best option. Unfortunately none of the appointments I had with student wellness provided any significant help. The continual stress of my studies has only made my mental illness worse over the school year. As a result of these issues and the recommendations of my doctor and counsellor I have left the University and will be gone for the rest of the winter term to seek professional help in order to manage my depression so that I can succeed in future studies.

I plan to seek professional help outside of the university in a non-stressful environment. Hopefully therapy will help manage my anxiety and depression so that I can be successful in my future endeavours. As for my studies at Queen¿¿s, I have decided the environment is far too stressful for me to continue my studies during this and any other year, and I will most likely not be returning to Queen¿¿s next year or in the foreseeable future.

Sincerely, Devlyn Andersen