Petition Letter
My name is Youma Sako and I am an international student from Mali, West Africa, in the Faculty of Arts and Science appealing the Faculty's decision that I must withdraw from Queen's University for a minimum of three years.
This academic year has been a difficult one for me because I have been dealing with anxiety and depression for a few years now and have been trying hard to overcome it as well as perform well academically. My health issues left me unmotivated throughout the Fall and Winter term to do my academic work or concentrate on it. Also, it has caused me to develop an unhealthy sleeping habit, which will leave fatigued throughout the day, and therefore inefficient at performing to my best ability on my assignments and exams even though the course material was not particularly the problem. Also, as previously stated, I am an international student and I have had a hard time integrating the community and making friends which has made me lonely, and I therefore made me feel like I had no one to turn to in times of difficulty. This contributed to my inability to focus on readings or assignments and heightened my stress level because of the pressure I have to achieve my goal of performing well in my courses and thus increasing my GPA to a satisfactory standing.
My intent was to meet with a counsellor long-term to help me cope with my mental illness but unfortunately this is not a service provided at La Salle and due to financial constraint, I am unable to seek professional help in the community. I met with Whitney Babcock, a counsellor at La Salle, in October 2014 who advised me to join the M2 Peer Mentoring Program, which I did. Although I was assigned a student mentor, I was unable to get the long-term professional counselling that I believe I need to become successful. It was not until December 2014, during the exam period that I starting meeting with Dr. Mike Condra, the Director of Health, Counselling & Disability Services at La Salle, who agreed to give me personal counselling and has been doing so ever since on a weekly basis, which I believe has been helpful to me. Moreover, Dr. Condra was the one to diagnose me with depression and suggested taking antidepressants to help me manage better with my mental illness. As of mid-March 2015, I have been prescribed and been taking antidepressants but I believe it was too late in the Winter term for me to fully benefit from them and perform better in my courses which is clearly reflected in my GPA. I strongly believe that I am taking the appropriate steps to be successful and perform well in my courses, and I therefore implore to come back in Fall 2015 and not withdraw from Queen's for a minimum of three years.
This academic year has been a difficult one for me because I have been dealing with anxiety and depression for a few years now and have been trying hard to overcome it as well as perform well academically. My health issues left me unmotivated throughout the Fall and Winter term to do my academic work or concentrate on it. Also, it has caused me to develop an unhealthy sleeping habit, which will leave fatigued throughout the day, and therefore inefficient at performing to my best ability on my assignments and exams even though the course material was not particularly the problem. Also, as previously stated, I am an international student and I have had a hard time integrating the community and making friends which has made me lonely, and I therefore made me feel like I had no one to turn to in times of difficulty. This contributed to my inability to focus on readings or assignments and heightened my stress level because of the pressure I have to achieve my goal of performing well in my courses and thus increasing my GPA to a satisfactory standing.
My intent was to meet with a counsellor long-term to help me cope with my mental illness but unfortunately this is not a service provided at La Salle and due to financial constraint, I am unable to seek professional help in the community. I met with Whitney Babcock, a counsellor at La Salle, in October 2014 who advised me to join the M2 Peer Mentoring Program, which I did. Although I was assigned a student mentor, I was unable to get the long-term professional counselling that I believe I need to become successful. It was not until December 2014, during the exam period that I starting meeting with Dr. Mike Condra, the Director of Health, Counselling & Disability Services at La Salle, who agreed to give me personal counselling and has been doing so ever since on a weekly basis, which I believe has been helpful to me. Moreover, Dr. Condra was the one to diagnose me with depression and suggested taking antidepressants to help me manage better with my mental illness. As of mid-March 2015, I have been prescribed and been taking antidepressants but I believe it was too late in the Winter term for me to fully benefit from them and perform better in my courses which is clearly reflected in my GPA. I strongly believe that I am taking the appropriate steps to be successful and perform well in my courses, and I therefore implore to come back in Fall 2015 and not withdraw from Queen's for a minimum of three years.