Faith & Vocation: Raquel Bolender
As part of a year long project focused on faith and vocation we are highlighting various parishioners by having them answer seven questions. Meet Raquel Bolender!
How long have you been in Seattle and what do you most enjoy and struggle with about living here?
I technically don’t live in Seattle, but for anyone living outside the state of Washington, I would tell them I live in Seattle. I have lived in the area for about 20 years. What I love most about the Seattle area are the mountains and the restaurant scene. There is a lot of great food here. I struggle most with seeing how the city has degraded in many ways since I moved here.
How long have you been at your current place of work and do you see this as a place of longevity? Why or why not?
I work in child and adolescent psychiatry as a nurse practitioner, and have been in private practice since 2017. Prior to that, I worked in a neurobehavioral clinic that was connected to a large health care organization in Tacoma. While I do see myself working in healthcare and/or psychiatry in some capacity long term, it will likely not be as a clinician. The work is exhausting and the emotional demands placed on a person can certainly wear after a while.
Do you see your calling and your career as the same or different?
The same. For those who know me well, they know I don’t typically fragment my life into Christian and non-Christian categories. In my imagination, all I do is in some sense related to the Christian life.
What are some of the things that you find most enjoyable about your work?
I really have enjoyed the long-term relationships I have developed with many of my families. It’s very meaningful to see kids grow up and thrive despite early fears that some of these kids would never would have been able to lead successful lives. I also enjoy that my work is intellectually engaging.
What do you find particularly challenging?
Families pushing back on my recommendations and wanting to steer treatment in such a way that is not in the best interest of the child. By this, I don’t mean, “I am the expert and families should listen to me.” In fact, if you know me well at all, you know I find this attitude revolting and the contrarian in me immediately wants to, well, revolt. But truly, there are families who are so bogged down by societal pressures or their own emotional hangups that they’re unable to understand that what they view as the solution to their child’s problems may in fact be short-sighted (at best) or worsen the problem (at worst).
How do you see your faith intersecting with your work?
In so many ways, but I will keep it short. I am in the emotional trenches with my families and I am pretty open with them about my religious faith. Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist, said in a recent interview, “there is no view from nowhere.”(I am sure others have said this and it is not unique to Haidt, but many know his work, so it is easy to quote him.) I often quote him to my families as the preamble into the discussion about my faith and how it informs my understanding of their struggles. I frequently explain to families that I don’t believe their emotional problems are simply the result of neuronal misfiring, but in fact, their struggles represent something much deeper. I emphasize how an excessively neuroscientific or medical understanding of their struggles forces them to place enormous hope in psychiatry and medication -- interventions that will ultimately fail if not understood properly. Believe it or not, most people find my view unusual. Most of the families I work with (maybe 98%) are secular and only understand themselves as the sum of their biological parts.
If there was something the church could do to support you more, what might that look like?
Maybe we could create a group that meets once a month and talks about faith, vocation, career, challenges of working in secular spaces as a Christian, etc. Just an idea.
