Petition Letter
Dear Dr. Stephenson, Associate Dean of Academics at Queens University Faculty of Arts and Sciences,
My name is Aaron Tan (student ID 20240906), and I am a third year student writing to appeal the Faculty??s decision to require me to withdraw from Queen??s University for one year until Sept 2023 for academic probation.
I would like to write to explain the circumstances affecting my academic performance during the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 academic terms. For context, I was diagnosed with depressive disorder in 2021 by my family physician, and in summer 2021 I had been seeing a talk therapist and trialing a new antidepressant as part of my return to school plan for the fall 2021 term. When I was initially taking the medication daily, I would notice a slight improvement to my energy and mood on some days, but other days I would be at my same baseline of low energy and motivation. My mother also had some hesitations about the thought of me ??relying on medications?, so I started taking the medication sporadically, and eventually stopped altogether in November 2021. Without the medication and no longer seeing my talk therapist as I didn??t really ??connect? with her, I continued to struggle on a downward spiral with more low energy and motivation. I had no interest in doing anything and would spend my days in bed sleeping or just lying there, and I eventually grew distant from my friends and family. I barely cooked, usually ordering delivery once a day, and most days I did not have the energy or motivation to leave my apartment and walk 20 minutes to campus. I subsequently fell behind in my classes and even on the days that I tried to attend from home, I found that my memory and concentration were non-existent. At that point, I basically just gave up on my academics because my mindset was that there was no reason to study anymore since I was so behind anyway. I did not reach out to anybody for support because I did not have the energy to make the call and explain my situation, and I also felt that I had let myself down. Although I knew I should drop my course load at that point, I didn??t know how to cope with the situation and convinced myself that it didn??t matter anyway, my year was over and I??ve given up on myself.
When I moved back home to Toronto after finishing spring semester, my sister who is a doctor noticed that I was not doing well and not taking my medication. She explained to me that antidepressants need to be taken regularly and consistently to have an effect. I was also told that structured Cognitive Behavioral Therapy sessions, instead of the talk therapy I was receiving in the past year, is how I can treat my depression symptoms more effectively. Since May, I have been undergoing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with a psychotherapist to help me address my issues. The focus of these sessions is to develop habits and thinking strategies in order to get out of unhelpful, negative thinking patterns and other symptoms relating to my depression. My therapist taught me that I was misinterpreting my negative thoughts and concerns as objective reality. For example, just because I had thought it was too late to catch up on my lectures, doesn??t mean it's necessarily true. I now recognize and appreciate that I need to objectively look at my thoughts and consider whether or not they are true. I have also been practicing a technique called behavioral activation, and my family has already commented on my improved motivation and mindset. Now that I understand more about my condition, I will also be booking an appointment with my family physician to ask to switch to another antidepressant that may be more effective for me, and I know that I will have to stay on this medication for a long period of time before effects show.
With my family??s support and help, I have identified that one of the barriers to my academic success last year was initiating reaching out for help as soon as I recognized I was struggling. Prior to the 2021-2022 academic year, I had proactively researched all the supports available and planned to activate these supports if I needed them, such as utilizing the academic advising resources available at Queens, but I had underestimated how low energy and lacking in motivation I had to even initiate accessing this help. To address this issue, my family and I have developed a check-in system where we will alternate visits and video calling every week so they could also be an extra set of eyes to check in on my mental wellbeing and get me back on track if needed. They are on board with my plan and fully support my decision to try to and return to school.
With respect to my depression, I plan on resuming being on regular medication and consistent CBT sessions to really optimize my mental health. With my now better understanding of depression and its full treatment plan (e.g. need to persist through taking medications for months), along with the continued help of my therapist who I connect very well with and am committed to continuing to see weekly in the future, and the continued supports of my family, I am confident that I will be able to overcome my extenuating circumstances in the upcoming school year.
Beyond treating my depression, I have plans to ensure my academic success by continuing to proactively strengthen my academic habits. I am currently using and have had success with different study methods such as Pomodoro, spaced repetition on Anki, active learning by trying to teach the same concepts to others, and am working on really nailing down these habits. Besides continuing my CBT sessions with my therapist, I have been reading the award winning book Atomic Habits by James Clear to build effective habits to apply to school. For example, one chapter of the book describes that developing good habits takes time. I need to constantly mark my ongoing process so I have a constant reminder that I??m actually improving, for example keeping a daily journal on how I improved.
With my family and therapist??s support, I have been working to address all the circumstances that have hindered my academic performance in the past year, and I will try my best to improve my academic performance in school and resolve the factors contributing to my extenuating circumstances,
I sincerely thank you for considering my request to return to school,
Thank you,
Aaron Tan
My name is Aaron Tan (student ID 20240906), and I am a third year student writing to appeal the Faculty??s decision to require me to withdraw from Queen??s University for one year until Sept 2023 for academic probation.
I would like to write to explain the circumstances affecting my academic performance during the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 academic terms. For context, I was diagnosed with depressive disorder in 2021 by my family physician, and in summer 2021 I had been seeing a talk therapist and trialing a new antidepressant as part of my return to school plan for the fall 2021 term. When I was initially taking the medication daily, I would notice a slight improvement to my energy and mood on some days, but other days I would be at my same baseline of low energy and motivation. My mother also had some hesitations about the thought of me ??relying on medications?, so I started taking the medication sporadically, and eventually stopped altogether in November 2021. Without the medication and no longer seeing my talk therapist as I didn??t really ??connect? with her, I continued to struggle on a downward spiral with more low energy and motivation. I had no interest in doing anything and would spend my days in bed sleeping or just lying there, and I eventually grew distant from my friends and family. I barely cooked, usually ordering delivery once a day, and most days I did not have the energy or motivation to leave my apartment and walk 20 minutes to campus. I subsequently fell behind in my classes and even on the days that I tried to attend from home, I found that my memory and concentration were non-existent. At that point, I basically just gave up on my academics because my mindset was that there was no reason to study anymore since I was so behind anyway. I did not reach out to anybody for support because I did not have the energy to make the call and explain my situation, and I also felt that I had let myself down. Although I knew I should drop my course load at that point, I didn??t know how to cope with the situation and convinced myself that it didn??t matter anyway, my year was over and I??ve given up on myself.
When I moved back home to Toronto after finishing spring semester, my sister who is a doctor noticed that I was not doing well and not taking my medication. She explained to me that antidepressants need to be taken regularly and consistently to have an effect. I was also told that structured Cognitive Behavioral Therapy sessions, instead of the talk therapy I was receiving in the past year, is how I can treat my depression symptoms more effectively. Since May, I have been undergoing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with a psychotherapist to help me address my issues. The focus of these sessions is to develop habits and thinking strategies in order to get out of unhelpful, negative thinking patterns and other symptoms relating to my depression. My therapist taught me that I was misinterpreting my negative thoughts and concerns as objective reality. For example, just because I had thought it was too late to catch up on my lectures, doesn??t mean it's necessarily true. I now recognize and appreciate that I need to objectively look at my thoughts and consider whether or not they are true. I have also been practicing a technique called behavioral activation, and my family has already commented on my improved motivation and mindset. Now that I understand more about my condition, I will also be booking an appointment with my family physician to ask to switch to another antidepressant that may be more effective for me, and I know that I will have to stay on this medication for a long period of time before effects show.
With my family??s support and help, I have identified that one of the barriers to my academic success last year was initiating reaching out for help as soon as I recognized I was struggling. Prior to the 2021-2022 academic year, I had proactively researched all the supports available and planned to activate these supports if I needed them, such as utilizing the academic advising resources available at Queens, but I had underestimated how low energy and lacking in motivation I had to even initiate accessing this help. To address this issue, my family and I have developed a check-in system where we will alternate visits and video calling every week so they could also be an extra set of eyes to check in on my mental wellbeing and get me back on track if needed. They are on board with my plan and fully support my decision to try to and return to school.
With respect to my depression, I plan on resuming being on regular medication and consistent CBT sessions to really optimize my mental health. With my now better understanding of depression and its full treatment plan (e.g. need to persist through taking medications for months), along with the continued help of my therapist who I connect very well with and am committed to continuing to see weekly in the future, and the continued supports of my family, I am confident that I will be able to overcome my extenuating circumstances in the upcoming school year.
Beyond treating my depression, I have plans to ensure my academic success by continuing to proactively strengthen my academic habits. I am currently using and have had success with different study methods such as Pomodoro, spaced repetition on Anki, active learning by trying to teach the same concepts to others, and am working on really nailing down these habits. Besides continuing my CBT sessions with my therapist, I have been reading the award winning book Atomic Habits by James Clear to build effective habits to apply to school. For example, one chapter of the book describes that developing good habits takes time. I need to constantly mark my ongoing process so I have a constant reminder that I??m actually improving, for example keeping a daily journal on how I improved.
With my family and therapist??s support, I have been working to address all the circumstances that have hindered my academic performance in the past year, and I will try my best to improve my academic performance in school and resolve the factors contributing to my extenuating circumstances,
I sincerely thank you for considering my request to return to school,
Thank you,
Aaron Tan