Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,

I am appealing to drop HIST 446, and HIST 280A from the Fall 2014 semester. I have been dealing with mental health issues for my four years at Queen¿¿s, and each year when I think I am making an improvement I end up facing new issues that further effect my schoolwork negatively. My depression left me incapable of coping with the ending of my five-year relationship in the summer leading to the deterioration of my mental state. More importantly, my older sister developed a dangerous drug problem and as her primary support system I spent a lot of time at home in Toronto to be with her and my family.

During my first year at Queen¿¿s my godmother Glenda committed suicide. This combined with the separation from my family contributed to the development of my anxiety issues, along with heredity and other factors. I attributed my emotional state to Glenda¿¿s death, so I didn¿¿t try and get help in my first year. In the fall semester of my second year my anxiety got worse and started to affect my schoolwork more and more. I had panic attacks at the most important moments of the semester, including exams, and ended up leaving some blank because of it. At that point I decided that I needed medical help so I went to see a doctor at Queen¿¿s. The doctor treated me for my anxiety with a medication that would end up ruining the next year of my life. I wasn¿¿t referred to a psychiatrist; I was just prescribed Zoloft by the GP. I spent the winter semester of my second year in a ghost state. I didn¿¿t attend any of my classes or go out with friends. I switched back and forth between crying over nothing and staring at the wall. I went back to Toronto to speak to my family doctor and he told me the empty feeling I had was a side effect of the medication, and I needed to switch. I weaned off of Zoloft and the effect was manic depression. Apparently Zoloft was the last thing I needed and it tipped my mental scale even further in the wrong direction. I was suicidal and extremely depressed. After a particularly scary weekend I went to the emergency room in Toronto. I was referred to a psychiatrist at Western General and he prescribed me Prozac. Once again I thought that everything was solved. At the beginning of this past summer, my five-year relationship ended. I thought the best thing was to continue with normal life so I went back to school this fall. Half way through the semester we discovered my older sister had a drug problem so I started going home more often to be with my family. Again I was missing classes. I am my sister¿¿s main line of support and when she lost 20 pounds and wouldn¿¿t talk to anyone else I went to be with her and my family. As you will see by looking at my transcript my grades are not great. I managed to scrape by in my other courses but I missed important deadlines in HIST 446 and HIST 280A because of the timing of important trips home, as well as the timing of the slips in my own mental state.

Every time any changes were made in my life that I thought were going to better my mental state, I would re-evaluate my courses, appeal to drop things that I was currently failing, or things I had already failed due to my illness, all the while claiming in my appeals that I was better now and that it would all be different because I truly believed I was. I thought that I had to prove to the school that I was okay in order to get their help but after making the mistake over and over again I realized that I am still not okay, and that I don¿¿t have to pretend to be. Just because I improve doesn¿¿t mean I am better, and I know that now I have to stick with counselling and be more communicative with my support system in order to stay mentally sound. What I plan to do differently is to keep up with psychiatrist and counselling meetings, continue to take my medication and even if I¿¿m having a good week understand that I still need the support to continue with my studies and everyday life. My sister has also gotten the help that she needed, so her health is no longer in danger.

At this point, I am taking all the steps I can in order to salvage my degree. I think now that I have people around me to help me maintain a healthy mind I will be able to finish my program without any further problems, and now I am hoping to go back and try to patch up what I can from my past. Being able to drop HIST 446 and HIST 280A from my transcript would be a greatly appreciated step in that direction.

With warm regards, I thank you for your time and consideration,

Kayla Arviv