June 7th is the birthday of this guy, "The Traveler", as the painting is titled. He'd have been 60 years young. A sun doesn't rise where I don't give him gentle hell for bowing out of the life experience before aging became a noticeable annoyance. "If I have to go through it, you sonofabit@%#, then so should you," is the telepathic jab. Then again, he was never one to sit around and complain about any aches or pains... anything, really.

It’s the right thing to do. Today, that’s my answer when anyone asks, “Why should I fund, distribute, broadcast, watch, even care about this documentary?” My name is Beth Dolan. I am a filmmaker, cinematic journalist, writer and storyteller of the human condition. January 2019 marked the five year anniversary of me and my filmmaking team committing to making “Stranger At Home”, a documentary intended to illuminate the wholly unnecessary American Military Mental Health crisis.

Eighteen months ago, when my film team and I began making our feature-length documentary STRANGER AT HOME, we had a sense that our worlds would be forever shifted by the veterans, their family members and the mental health experts we’d meet to learn about the impact and devastating ripple effect of the invisible wounds of war – post traumatic stress, TBI and the even deeper moral injuries of the combat experience. Our sense has become a reality and then some. None has rocked our consciousness and creativity as much as Dr. Mark Russell, Former Commander and 24-year Naval psychologist who revealed that there’s a perfectly relevant, evidence-based blueprint for a successful mental health reentry program for veterans.

As Forrest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” That couldn’t be more true about the documentary filmmaking process.  A completely non-linear journey, it has three distinct aspects from my experience.  It’s one part the gathering of “clay” -- the raw material to eventually sculpt a piece.  It’s one part detective work – the process of discovery to find the clay.  It’s one part total and complete surrender – the willingness to be open and flexible on the path of discovery.

"Every 65 minutes a member of the military -- be they active duty or veteran -- takes his or her own life". As I read this the other day, while going over interview transcripts for the documentary, I was really struck, as if I'd heard it for the first time since being on the journey of making "Stranger At Home." Had I?

I consistently hear from veterans, who feel comfortable opening up to me and my filmmaking team, that one of the biggest contributing factors to their emotional and psychological injuries, upon leaving their service life behind, is a loss of purpose. A concise, simply stated concept, right? A loss of purpose.

One year ago my soul path brought me to know that I had to make the documentary “Stranger At Home.” Something re-awakened within me. It was a callback, actually, to a feeling I had in a movie theatre, at age 19, after sitting through a Pittsburgh premiere screening of “The Deer Hunter.”

Happy Halloween, All! Nearly a year ago we set our intention to make a documentary film about shedding light on the impact of post traumatic stress and the moral injuries of combat on our veterans, their families and society. In shedding light, we knew we needed to focus on solution as well, ‘cause really, isn’t beating the drum of hope so much more satisfying than shaking the rattle of blame?

Wow, it's hard to believe it's the middle of September already. Temperatures, unfortunately, still feel like the height of summer out here in Southern California, yet there's that distinct shift of energy that says Autumn is fully enroute. Yes, the light, to me, is noticeably different, leaves have begun to fall from trees. Signposts. Hints of where we are and where we're headed. Faith makers that we're in progress to cooler, calming days. I see 'em all and I'm grateful.

We're spinning lots of plates right now -- filming on STRANGER AT HOME, beginning to pre-assemble our story (early editing stages) in post production and continuing to fundraise -- not just for the movie, but also for those organizations dedicated to making a positive difference in our veterans' and their families lives.