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.