Manage Appeals
Petition Type: New
ID: 5910
Submitted: June 11, 2019 at 4:10:54 PM
First Name: Lingjia
Last Name: Cao
Student Number: 20070990
Email: 17lc2@queens.ca
Degree Program: BA
Plan: GEOL
Level of Study: 2
Petition Categories
Petition Categories: Waive the requirement to withdraw for one year
Petition Letter
Petition Letter: To whom it may concern,
I am appealing my requirement to withdraw for a year due to poor academic performance as my GPA was a direct reflection of my ongoing mental health issues which I am currently seeking help for. My mental health first started declining in October of my first year when I started isolating myself from my friends, family and eventually my academics. These issues only got worse the longer I isolated myself, I became less and less motivated, I slept for more and more hours and eventually, I only left my room to get food. My grades in the winter term really reflected this placing me on Academic Probation.
I did not think much of this and credited it to my own failure as I got better over the summer after going back home. I even completed an online course with a significantly better grade than my winter GPA.
In my 2nd year, my motivation started dipping once again around October as I became overwhelmed with course work. I first started getting suicidal thoughts around late November - early December infrequent at first but they got worse and more frequent as time went on. Around the same time, I also realized that I was starting to become irritable and small things would set me down a mental spiral. However, at this time, I was too focused on attempting to not fail my exams to seek professional help.
What came as a wake-up call was over Reading week of winter term when I had a mental breakdown lasting over 4 hours that came which came with suicidal thoughts that threatened to push me over the edge. My mood only seemed to get worse and worse from here so I finally realized then that it was time I got professional help. I booked my first appointment around mid-March for April 23rd (this was the only slot available when I booked my appointment) as it took a lot out of me to go to La Salle because this would have made my mental health issues more real.
I have now been to see a counsellor 4 times and an Occupational therapist twice since getting evaluated at La Salle and I have found the service to be immensely helpful. My depressed moods don't last very long, I am feeling generally more motivated and I have not had suicidal thoughts as frequently as I did before seeing a counsellor.
I am appealing my requirement to withdraw for a year due to poor academic performance as my GPA was a direct reflection of my ongoing mental health issues which I am currently seeking help for. My mental health first started declining in October of my first year when I started isolating myself from my friends, family and eventually my academics. These issues only got worse the longer I isolated myself, I became less and less motivated, I slept for more and more hours and eventually, I only left my room to get food. My grades in the winter term really reflected this placing me on Academic Probation.
I did not think much of this and credited it to my own failure as I got better over the summer after going back home. I even completed an online course with a significantly better grade than my winter GPA.
In my 2nd year, my motivation started dipping once again around October as I became overwhelmed with course work. I first started getting suicidal thoughts around late November - early December infrequent at first but they got worse and more frequent as time went on. Around the same time, I also realized that I was starting to become irritable and small things would set me down a mental spiral. However, at this time, I was too focused on attempting to not fail my exams to seek professional help.
What came as a wake-up call was over Reading week of winter term when I had a mental breakdown lasting over 4 hours that came which came with suicidal thoughts that threatened to push me over the edge. My mood only seemed to get worse and worse from here so I finally realized then that it was time I got professional help. I booked my first appointment around mid-March for April 23rd (this was the only slot available when I booked my appointment) as it took a lot out of me to go to La Salle because this would have made my mental health issues more real.
I have now been to see a counsellor 4 times and an Occupational therapist twice since getting evaluated at La Salle and I have found the service to be immensely helpful. My depressed moods don't last very long, I am feeling generally more motivated and I have not had suicidal thoughts as frequently as I did before seeing a counsellor.
Academic Plan
Academic Plan: A large part of my mental health issues stemmed from my lack of knowing what degree plan I wanted to complete here at Queens but after speaking to an academic advisor once more I am certain in my choice of staying in the Geological sciences major. I plan on taking GEOL 104, 107, and 200 along with CHIN 300 in the fall in order to complete my minor. In the winter term, I plan on taking GEOL 235, 238, 249, and CHIN 300B. Only taking 4 courses per term as opposed to 5 should allow me to feel less overwhelmed when one of my depressed mood episodes hit and allow me to take account of my mental health. Throughout the duration of these courses, I plan on taking full advantage of TAs and Profs in order to help me succeed.
If I am allowed to continue my studies at Queens in the following year, which grants me continued access to la Salle hall mental health services I will continue to use them as I have found them to be tremendously helpful, in particular, the counselling services and occupational therapy. These services have proven to be vital in improving my mental health. I will visit occupational therapy once more before school starts (if my appeal is granted) in order to come up with a realistic plan of how my day in school should look which will help me streamline my life and manage my time to better take care of my mental health but still succeed in school. Using this service will not only allow me to become more motivated in my day to day but also a realistic plan of where to use this motivation. I plan to also continue a physically active lifestyle as that was suggested by my counsellor as a way of elevating my mood along with other techniques she has suggested.
I have also researched Queen's resources available to help students achieve academic success and have full plans to take advantage of those in order to help me succeed. A large part of my academic failure was due to in part my ignorance of the services around campus.
If I am allowed to continue my studies at Queens in the following year, which grants me continued access to la Salle hall mental health services I will continue to use them as I have found them to be tremendously helpful, in particular, the counselling services and occupational therapy. These services have proven to be vital in improving my mental health. I will visit occupational therapy once more before school starts (if my appeal is granted) in order to come up with a realistic plan of how my day in school should look which will help me streamline my life and manage my time to better take care of my mental health but still succeed in school. Using this service will not only allow me to become more motivated in my day to day but also a realistic plan of where to use this motivation. I plan to also continue a physically active lifestyle as that was suggested by my counsellor as a way of elevating my mood along with other techniques she has suggested.
I have also researched Queen's resources available to help students achieve academic success and have full plans to take advantage of those in order to help me succeed. A large part of my academic failure was due to in part my ignorance of the services around campus.
Documentation
Professional Letter Detail: Letter of appeal from my counsellor
Decision Letters
History
Originally submitted June 11, 2019 at 4:10:54 PM.
| Field | Reference | Old Value | New Value | Note | User | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| status | N/A | Received | Prepared for Review | Carrie Roosenmaalen | 2019-06-12 11:52:31 AM | |
| status | N/A | Prepared for Review | In Review | Spring Forsberg | 2019-06-19 11:15:47 AM | |
| status | N/A | In Review | Granted | Spring Forsberg | 2019-06-24 12:31:33 PM | |
| associate_dean | N/A | Jenn Stephenson, Ph.D. | Spring Forsberg | 2019-06-24 12:31:33 PM | ||
| decision_letter | N/A | N/A | Decision letter sent | Spring Forsberg | 2019-06-24 12:32:26 PM |