Petition Letter
I would greatly appreciate receiving credit standing for the courses BIOL 212, 339, 350, and 440 for the Fall 2022 semester. I went through a variety of compounding material and mental health struggles in that time period that severely impacted my ability to perform at my normal academic level. I did not anticipate dealing with these issues and the cumulative effect more than any one alone resulted in a singularly difficult experience.
Over the course of the fall semester, I experienced several material challenges to academic wellbeing. I moved 2 times from the start of the semester and experienced some economic instability. At the start of September, I moved into a house with a new roommate. Beginning in late September to early October, I started experiencing an unstable housing situation. Due to a hostile roommate situation, it was safer for me to be couch surfing for several weeks with friends I could stay with, as well as occasionally staying all night at campus. At the beginning of November, I had moved into a new house. However, this was not financially sustainable over a long period, and I have since moved into a new house in February 2023. I did not have a steady source of income over this period, and with the additional stress of moving into a more expensive house, I experienced some difficulty budgeting for essentials.
During this time period, I experienced significant mental health strain. This was likely initiated by my housing instability, but was reinforced when I ran out of my medication at the end of October. This resulted in a tenuous mental state, and contributed to a large depressive episode that characterized my mood for the rest of the Fall Semester. For portions of November I did not leave my room for weeks at a time, and was unable to maintain personal or academic well-being. This had significant impact on my ability to go about day to day life. I recognize that during this time seeking mental health assistance is vital. I did seek aid through the therapy service Betterhelp, but changed therapists two times over the course of the semester before finding one I regularly met with. I attempted to reach out to student wellness services at Queen??s, but I experienced prohibitively long wait times when attempting to book an appointment. I reached out to QSAS as well, but was directed back to Student Wellness Services. I realize that there was more I could have done to secure mental health services, but the issues I ran into combined with the material factors I was dealing with led to me not being able to reach out sufficiently.
Over the course of the fall semester, I experienced several material challenges to academic wellbeing. I moved 2 times from the start of the semester and experienced some economic instability. At the start of September, I moved into a house with a new roommate. Beginning in late September to early October, I started experiencing an unstable housing situation. Due to a hostile roommate situation, it was safer for me to be couch surfing for several weeks with friends I could stay with, as well as occasionally staying all night at campus. At the beginning of November, I had moved into a new house. However, this was not financially sustainable over a long period, and I have since moved into a new house in February 2023. I did not have a steady source of income over this period, and with the additional stress of moving into a more expensive house, I experienced some difficulty budgeting for essentials.
During this time period, I experienced significant mental health strain. This was likely initiated by my housing instability, but was reinforced when I ran out of my medication at the end of October. This resulted in a tenuous mental state, and contributed to a large depressive episode that characterized my mood for the rest of the Fall Semester. For portions of November I did not leave my room for weeks at a time, and was unable to maintain personal or academic well-being. This had significant impact on my ability to go about day to day life. I recognize that during this time seeking mental health assistance is vital. I did seek aid through the therapy service Betterhelp, but changed therapists two times over the course of the semester before finding one I regularly met with. I attempted to reach out to student wellness services at Queen??s, but I experienced prohibitively long wait times when attempting to book an appointment. I reached out to QSAS as well, but was directed back to Student Wellness Services. I realize that there was more I could have done to secure mental health services, but the issues I ran into combined with the material factors I was dealing with led to me not being able to reach out sufficiently.