Experiences of a Black Ivy League Student

Transparent. Free from pretense or deceit, readily understood, characterized by visibility or accessibility of information. The art of transparency is sometimes necessary in the helping profession in order to facilitate healing within others. Often times we may find that being transparent also allows us to heal ourselves in the process. As a Social Worker, being able to be honest about my experiences is something that has helped me reach others who may have experienced similar circumstances to those of my own. Recently, I began to publicly open up about my experiences in Iraq, my battles with mental illness and substance abuse, and my road to recovery. By making myself vulnerable, I've been able to touch the lives of other veterans across my home state of Illinois and beyond. I've learned that my struggles have led to my success. In doing so, I have discovered an inner strength that is now playing out in another part of my life: fatherhood. In a recent blog, I briefly spoke...

Yesterday (July 9tth) was a sad anniversary for me. Why? It would be the first time I would intentionally try to take my own life. Many people do not understand what could lead someone down the path the attempted or completed suicide, so I will use my life as a way to try and bridge that gap between survivors and the public. For days, I fought for my life in the intensive care unit after suffering a long and troubling span of months. Between 2008 and 2009, I was deployed to Western Iraq, al Anbar Province to be exact. Although I was an Airman, I volunteered to deploy with a Marine Corps combat unit. There were a lot of things that happened during my time deployed. For 204 days, I experienced several life-changing events, some good, some bad. When I returned home in April 2009, I thought I was leaving Iraq alone. I was sorely mistaken. Almost immediately, I knew something was not right. I began having vivid nightmares about things that had occurred while overseas. Initially, I thoug...

Many people are aware of the rigors of attending a graduate school program. The increased classwork and higher-level papers to be written, in addition to a 30-hour per week internship in my case. For me, things are complicated further as I am a single father to my 10-year old son Darian Jr.  I gained full custody of him June 30th, 2017 and have been blessed to have him by my side everyday since. During the first year of being a full-time father, DJ saw me complete undergrad classes and my internship. He was the effort I had to put in in order to complete my studies and reach the required number of hours for my internship position as I traveled across the state completing my duties. Now that I am in grad school, he will once again watch me walk the fine line of completing my studies and being a single dad. This time around, courses are more rigorous and the internship will be more demanding as it prepares me for my future career as a Policy Social Worker. It will be my responsibil...

In 2010, I was officially diagnosed by the military with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, insomnia, and schizo affect. It has been a struggle getting to the point in my life where I am today, but with the help of a caring staff at the Department of Veterans' Affairs, and through the unwavering support of my family, it has come to be that I have stabilized. But getting to this point has not come without it's challenges and sacrifices. During my undergraduate career, I continually struggled with my PTSD. During the initial days of enrolling with Lewis University, I missed a lot of class early on for several reasons: unfamiliar environment, unfamiliar people, and my back usually being towards the only exit in the room. This was very hard for me to overcome, but through patience and will-power, I was able to get this under control to resume my studies. I also struggled with being in large crowds. Luckily Lewis was a very small private university ...

Greetings all. My name is Darian G. Blanks, Sr. I am a graduate student attending Columbia University in the City of New York, studying for my Master's in Social Work degree. I currently hold a Bacherlor's of Social Work, obtained from Lewis University in Romeoville, IL, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. Born and raised in Chicago and the Chicagoland area, I have had a great educational experience growing up. I was skipped over my freshman year of high school after attending a gifted program for middle school. Upon graduation, barely 17 years old, I enrolled at North Central College in Naperville, studying Computer Science. But only after a semester, I decided to leave college and enroll in the United States Air Force as an Intelligence Analyst. After five years of service, a seven-month trip to Iraq, and a medical retirement, I moved back home to the Chicagoland area. Diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress disorder and battling a severe spinal injury, I took time to heal,...