by SaraKay Smullens, MSW, LCSW, DCSW, CGP, CFLE, BCD
Canadian filmmaker Steven Grayhm’s 14-year determination to create a deeply personal statement about the costs of combat—his grandfather, a Polish farmer, survived captivity during WWII—resulted in the evocative, pull-no-punches film Sheepdog, a work Grayhm wrote, directed, and co-produced, also playing the leading role.
In Sheepdog, Grayhm covers turf other films have examined—the trauma of military service, where you must learn to kill, as well as the trauma of returning home, where you are expected to live, love, and work as if brutality and murder, initiated and endured, never happened.
But Grayhm also journeys where other films have not, showing how essential it is to treat chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI), but one, due to repeated brain trauma, that is progressive. He also stresses the possibility, over time, despite trauma, despite brain injury, of recovery, highlighting post-traumatic growth.
Critical of Veteran Affairs bureaucracy, Grayhm highlights a largely dehumanizing system, offering limiting compassion for suffering veterans, where, as an example, a supervisor describes group therapy patients as animals. Scripting the link between mental health and economic security, such as getting and keeping a job, and the ability to buy a family home, the film’s insistent message is the essential roles loved ones, first responders, hospitals, and others—a returning vet’s entire community—must play in trauma recovery.
Grayhm interviewed first responders, Gold Star families, mental health professionals and—most importantly—veterans, learning of grief, loss, and suicides of those served with, where homecomings, devoid of celebration and parades, were marked by withdrawal from loved ones, accompanied by uncontrollable savage rage, which according to Grayhm, produced “every word” of film dialogue.
Plot Framing: No Spoilers
Shot in a grey, somber working-class western Massachusetts town, Sheepdog opens as retired Vietnam veteran, Whitney St. Germain (Vondie Curtis-Hall), is released from military prison, seeking reunion with his daughter, Alice St. Germain (Lilli Cooper). Rejected by his daughter, he goes to the home of U.S. Army vet Calvin Cole (Grayhm), married to Alice before combat. The relationship between Whitney and Calvin is front and center in Sheepdog, paralleling Calvin’s mandatory treatment with Dr. Alicia Knox, a VA trauma therapist in training (Virginia Madsen).
The film’s title, Sheepdog, introduced as a reference by former Army Lt. Col. Dave Grossman in his book, On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace, describes someone who lives “to protect the flock and confront the wolf.” Sheepdogs abound in this film: a caring, no-nonsense police officer and former high school hockey coach, who refuses to abandon his former students (Dominic Fumusa); a therapist; a loving vet, doing all possible to mask his deep depression, headed for catastrophe (Matt Dallas); and Calvin, himself, as prototype—returning with his killer wolf within, vital for protection of self and colleagues at war, but ruinous once home.
I was drawn to review Sheepdog, not only because of its topic, but because I was told that the character of Dr. Alicia Knox, whose role is essential to this film, was inspired by a social worker. However, Dr. Knox is identified as one in post-doctorate training as a trauma therapist. Despite consultation by a social worker on this character’s development, she is not identified as a social worker. It is obvious that Grayhm developed her role as contrast to the shocking, pervasive lack of empathy and patient investment in his film depiction of the VA.
Dr. Knox is portrayed not only as caring, but also deeply motivated, competent, and hard working, as evidenced by achieving her doctorate, the type never specified. We watch ardently as she trains the brain to preprocess fear, such as experiencing a loud sound as imploding warfare, through Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) sessions, and introduces a tapping exercise on the head or arm to further assist this process. In her role, she offers quintepssential social work: her relationship with her client is the prime “change agent.” Woven with the function of her setting, this relationship offers the vital support, inspiration, validation, and motivation necessary for change and growth.
In this way, Sheepdog reveals ardent belief in second chances: “If you can find the boy, you can heal the man,” and “Sometimes we have to fall apart to find ourselves all over again.” Upon viewing Sheepdog, the winner of more than a dozen film festival “best movie” and “audience choice” awards since its release, homecoming vets have wept, feeling understood, less isolated and alone, expressing the wish that the film had been available to ease their homecomings.
Script Concerns: Spoilers Are Present
Along with these glowing positives, it is important to call attention to a story line that draws in viewers with splendid acting. (I will be very surprised if myriad nominations do not go to Virginia Madsen and others who grace this film.) Yet, at the same time, the script of Sheepdog models potentially dangerous clinical interactions between client and clinician, which, especially in a time of growing homicide rates threatening health care providers, I would be remiss in not addressing.
Dr. Knox shares her own highly traumatic past during a session with Calvin Cole, apparently to further trust between them and introduce the importance of forgiveness and gratitude. In the real world, a clinician’s decision to disclose personal information in the intimate setting of an office with the door closed can be motivated by many factors, including loneliness, and can be experienced by a client in several problematic ways, leading to a lack of control. These potential dangers could well have been intensified by the close hug (warm embrace?) that follows in the hall. Yes, this sensitive intimacy works movingly in storyline, but, at the same time, does not demonstrate the professionalism and boundaries vital in safe, productive clinical work.
Wiser therapeutic modeling would have occurred had Dr. Knox’s own past trauma and profound feeling for her client been explored with her supervisor—in this film portrayed as cold, critical, judgmental, caring only about matters of funding. The VA is the largest employer of social workers in the U.S., and I found it disappointing that Dr. Knox’s supervisor did not reflect the committed, devoted, well-trained VA supervisors who do work determinedly, giving their all, within a troubled system.
Yes, there are times when sharing parts of one’s life or a hug may be clinically appropriate, but this choice must be carefully decided. What unfolds in Sheepdog, when Calvin Cole is dealing with deeply seated rage and emotional-sexual longing and isolation, is not indicative of safe therapeutic progression. His surprise arrival to Dr. Knox’s evening waitressing job—intended to parallel her own precarious economic reality—is scripted as client desire to connect and apologize for an earlier outburst. However, in his action, Calvin exhibits a form of stalking, a huge danger in our work, where we hear or personally know of social workers being assaulted.
Further Reflection for Consideration and Discussion
- Have you known combat veterans through your work and your life? If so, do you see Sheepdog as a film providing truth about the toll of war and their homecomings?
- Do you think that physical contact, such as hugging in clinical situations, is ever a positive direction? If so, when? In non-clinical work with clients, is hugging ever a positive? If so, what examples come to mind?
- Calvin’s unexpected arrival at Dr. Knox’s waitressing job merits discussion. How do you view the risk taken by Dr. Knox? What alternatives did she have? How would you have handled this arrival? If you have experienced this kind of stalking, how did you deal with it?
- Given that social work reportedly inspired the script development of the essential central character of Dr. Knox, why do you think she was not identified as such? In general, why do you think characters described as clinicians or therapists are rarely identified as social workers in film and TV? How do you feel about this reality?
- Do you see Sheepdog as a film that can be used effectively with vets you work with? Or with social workers you supervise? Or for training purposes in social work agencies or with social work staff in larger settings?
SaraKay Smullens (MSW, LCSW, BCD,CGP, CFLE) is a Philadelphia-based clinician, writer, and advocate devoted to promoting the contributions of social work to the public. Her best-selling book, Burnout and Self-Care in Social Work, Edition 2 (NASW Press, 2021), grew from her award winning article in The New Social Worker, “What I Wish I Had Known: Burnout and Self-Care in Social Work.” SaraKay's research centers on invisible patterns of emotional abuse that impede mature development; the arenas where burnout is found, its causation and differences from depression, and strategies to prevent it; and the importance of an “emotional sense of direction” to navigate the slippery slopes of life. This concentration led to identifying “societal burnout.” During the 19-year term of Philadelphia DA Lynne Abraham, carefully selected cases involving first offenders in domestic violence were referred to SaraKay for intensive psychotherapy, rather than jail. Read more about her work at SaraKaySmullens.com.