Inspired | Meet Sheep Dog Impact Assistance

Patrick is a retired law enforcement officer from 20 years of service in Los Angeles. He retired in 2021 and has been selling real estate in Northwest Arkansas for a year and a half now. He is married with two daughters. He enjoys helping people buy and sell real estate investment properties. The family loves to mountain bike and be outdoors.

But his journey here was not so simple. He graduated with his business degree and worked in business for ten years. Sales, management, marketing, and at the 10 year mark, said, “This is not my calling.” He knew there was more. He had a friend of a friend that was a police officer and in the back of his mind it had always interested him. And he went for it. He was accepted into the police academy and began his training at the age of 32.

He loved everything about it, “Minute to minute, call to call, you never know what's going to happen. I loved that my office was outdoors and the freedom I felt. I loved having the comradery with the guys and gals I worked with and, above all else, loved helping people.”

When he retired, he didn’t know what to do. He relocated to Northwest Arkansas and his family didn’t know anyone. They had gone from 120 miles per hour in L.A. to 2 miles per hour in Arkansas overnight. Patrick began to have anxiety and depression as so many in the warrior professions do when they retire. He had trouble relating to people that weren’t military or police officers.

The woman that cuts his wife’s hair told her about Sheep Dog. After a men’s bible study, he went to the Sheep Dog office and talked to the front desk clerk, “I liked what she said and I went home to sign up.”

Patrick began volunteering and meeting different people early in 2022 but didn’t go through Sheep Dog’s Warrior PATHH program for several months. After, he became even more involved, “Sheep Dog has been life changing.”

Meet Sheep Dog Impact Assistance

Sheep Dog Impact Assistance is a non-profit organization that provides benefits to veterans and first responders through their programs involving physical activity, mental wellness, and volunteer opportunities. Sheep Dog is all about holistic wellness.

Get Off the Couch (TM) programming uses a holistic approach and three programs Outdoor Adventures, Warrior PATHH training, and Continued Service/Disaster Response. The program recommends a multitude of books, but “Struggle Well” by Ken Falke and Josh Goldberg talks about embracing your struggle. They embrace the idea of thriving instead of just surviving. Each of the programs offered by Sheep Dog highlight the aspects that help veterans and first responders on their healing journey.

Men walking in a line on the football field dressed in their uniforms.

What is a Sheep Dog?

There are the wolves, the sheep, and the sheep dogs. This analogy comes from Lieutenant Colonel David Grossman's book On Combat. 80% of the worlds’ population are sheep. These are normal everyday people just living life. 10% of the population are wolves. These are the bad guys or the people that prey on the sheep – the thieves, murderers, crooks. The other 10% are the sheep dogs. These are the military and the first responders and the warriors. They run into the fire and run towards the fight. They are in charge of protecting the sheep from the wolves.

Sheep Dog Bike Ride - many veterans gather wearing bike helmets with their bikes. There is green grass and trees in the background.

Outdoor Adventures

Outdoor Adventures encourages their Sheep Dogs to get out and engage in the wilderness. They gather these men and women together who have suffered trauma and help them find renewed sense of belonging and purpose. Getting outdoors helps everyone find common ground and find support among their peers.

Outdoor Adventures include hunting & fishing, obstacle course races, skydiving, RZR riding, hiking, snowmobiling, and many more activities.

This is an excellent opportunity to foster healing and drastically improve camaraderie.

Warrior PATHH

Warrior PATHH training is a major part of healing for the Sheep Dog members. It is “the nation’s first non-clinical, peer-to-peer program designed to cultivate and facilitate Posttraumatic Growth (PTG)."

Posttraumatic Stress can be turned into Posttraumatic Growth. The peer-to-peer element allows the Sheep Dogs to feel connected and able to open up. The program builds relationships and new teams to support each other.

The Warrior PATHH program is available at no cost to both male and female Combat Veterans and First Responders. Courses are either all male or all female. There are a few other requirements, but candidates must be determined and willing to participate.

After going through the Warrior PATHH program, Patrick was able to see how Sheep Dog can help so many men and women. He is now a PATHH Guide, “You have to walk through the doors that are opened to you. I signed up for Sheep Dog but didn’t begin on the Warrior PATHH until I was at a chapter meeting and one of the speakers said it was for vets and first responders. My wife kicked me under the table and I felt like he was talking right to me.”

Continued Service/Disaster Response

Sheep Dog has deployed over 339 Disaster Response Missions. They’ve cleared trees, tarped homes, distributed food and water and supplies. They give back to communities and have those opportunities to serve.

Warrior signs a wall with his wife. The man is an amputee and wears a striped shirt.

The Impact

As a first responder, Patrick believed he could fix his situation on his own, and finally walked through it, “the first step is to ‘get off the couch’. I had to get rid of the victim mentality. I thought I owned the market on pain and suffering. Everyone has their own struggles and you have to take ownership of your own mental wellbeing. No one is coming to save you. It's on you to take that first step.”

The daily choice to be positive still weighs on him, but not as heavy as it used to be, “Some days I go to bed knowing it took everything in my power to be positive and change that mindset. It’s worth it. It’s saved my marriage and my relationship with my kids. I am forever grateful for Sheep Dog and Warrior PATHH. The people helped open doors for me and helped me walk through them. I encourage any first responder or vet struggling to look into Sheep Dog.”

Learn more about Sheep Dog on their website or by following them on social, stay tuned here for more on our partnership with Sheep Dog.