Petition Letter
To: The Associate Dean (Studies)
I am appealing to be added into the MATH 121 (Fall 2016, Winter 2017).
The past 4 months have been very mentally and emotionally challenging as I have struggled to find a healthy way to cope with the loss of my great aunt who raised me, the separation of my parents, and my sense of failure for coming back to Queen's for a fifth undergraduate year. I didn¿¿t realise how the stress was building up until was unable to get out of bed, go to work and often felt physically sick. Coming from a very traditional Chinese family, seeking professional help was not an option and not something that I thought I was allowed to reach out to help for.
I returned to Kingston in late August to make sure that I would have enough time to get settled and feel a little better. My parents and I thought that if I was around friends and had schoolwork to keep me busy I would feel better. Ultimately it only made me feel worse to the point where the thought of leaving my room would make my chest tighten. My parents came to pick me up after being unable to reach me for a few days and insisted that I return to Toronto with them. Back in Toronto, every time I though about school or classes I would be unable to breathe. Coming from traditional Chinese values, we refused to believe that I could be suffering from a mental health issue, I tried a few weeks of herbal medication as my parents were told it was just an imbalance within me and the herbal soups would help.
In five weeks I was in Toronto, I only saw my parents, as it would be too hard to explain to family and friends why I was not in school. It wasn¿¿t until I saw my Aunt over thanksgiving, where she found out what was going on, and said I needed to return to Queen¿¿s and reach out to resources to help with my mental health. With her personal experience in that area she was able to have a more informed discussion with my parents and tried to take away some of the stigma associated with seeing a professional. We decided that it would be best to return to Queen¿¿s as the environment is more accepting and there are better resources available.
I returned to Kingston a few days after Thanksgiving weekend and have spent the past 2 weeks meeting with Professors in the other courses that I am in. I have been able to work with the professors of all those courses to create a plan to catch up. I have dropped a course in order to have a lighter course load and have stepped away from a few extracurricular activities in order to have more time to focus on graduating. I have met with Professor Day in MATH 121 and I have been catching up on the content until I am officially enrolled in the course. He has been supportive through the process in outlining where the class is and what problems to do; additionally he has expressed his support in creating a plan for catching up with assignments once should I be allowed to enrol in the course. In the mean time to help my mental health, my aunt and I have been researching and reaching out to different services on and off campus that we think would help me. With her personal experience, she has been a strong source of support and has taken over to be the liaison between my parents and I. That has relieved a lot of the stress that I was feeling and they have agreed to support me in any way needed. I am pleading that I can still be enrolled in MATH 121 as I need it to graduate and through the support of a professional and my family I am confident that I can graduate and complete my undergraduate degree.
Regards,
Cecilia Hui
I am appealing to be added into the MATH 121 (Fall 2016, Winter 2017).
The past 4 months have been very mentally and emotionally challenging as I have struggled to find a healthy way to cope with the loss of my great aunt who raised me, the separation of my parents, and my sense of failure for coming back to Queen's for a fifth undergraduate year. I didn¿¿t realise how the stress was building up until was unable to get out of bed, go to work and often felt physically sick. Coming from a very traditional Chinese family, seeking professional help was not an option and not something that I thought I was allowed to reach out to help for.
I returned to Kingston in late August to make sure that I would have enough time to get settled and feel a little better. My parents and I thought that if I was around friends and had schoolwork to keep me busy I would feel better. Ultimately it only made me feel worse to the point where the thought of leaving my room would make my chest tighten. My parents came to pick me up after being unable to reach me for a few days and insisted that I return to Toronto with them. Back in Toronto, every time I though about school or classes I would be unable to breathe. Coming from traditional Chinese values, we refused to believe that I could be suffering from a mental health issue, I tried a few weeks of herbal medication as my parents were told it was just an imbalance within me and the herbal soups would help.
In five weeks I was in Toronto, I only saw my parents, as it would be too hard to explain to family and friends why I was not in school. It wasn¿¿t until I saw my Aunt over thanksgiving, where she found out what was going on, and said I needed to return to Queen¿¿s and reach out to resources to help with my mental health. With her personal experience in that area she was able to have a more informed discussion with my parents and tried to take away some of the stigma associated with seeing a professional. We decided that it would be best to return to Queen¿¿s as the environment is more accepting and there are better resources available.
I returned to Kingston a few days after Thanksgiving weekend and have spent the past 2 weeks meeting with Professors in the other courses that I am in. I have been able to work with the professors of all those courses to create a plan to catch up. I have dropped a course in order to have a lighter course load and have stepped away from a few extracurricular activities in order to have more time to focus on graduating. I have met with Professor Day in MATH 121 and I have been catching up on the content until I am officially enrolled in the course. He has been supportive through the process in outlining where the class is and what problems to do; additionally he has expressed his support in creating a plan for catching up with assignments once should I be allowed to enrol in the course. In the mean time to help my mental health, my aunt and I have been researching and reaching out to different services on and off campus that we think would help me. With her personal experience, she has been a strong source of support and has taken over to be the liaison between my parents and I. That has relieved a lot of the stress that I was feeling and they have agreed to support me in any way needed. I am pleading that I can still be enrolled in MATH 121 as I need it to graduate and through the support of a professional and my family I am confident that I can graduate and complete my undergraduate degree.
Regards,
Cecilia Hui