Rock Solid Families -  Ep 238 -  Identity in Christ Alone - Welcoming Meredith Scudder to the RSF Team

Meredith Scudder - Assistant Director and Coach at Rock 

“What I'm seeing a lot of the youth struggle with is identity. And they're not going to know their identity until they know Christ,” explains Meredith Scudder, the new Assistant Director and faith-based coach at Rock Solid Families. Meredith chose to get a Masters in Social Work after seeing firsthand the challenges facing elementary school students in special education. When God led her to take a position in the wilderness of Wisconsin, she expected to arrive to find her dream job. What she found instead was a new path and a transformed heart. Today, co-hosts Merrill and Linda Hutchinson welcome Meredith to the Rock Solid Families family and talk about her career journey, her experiences working with healing trauma in adolescents, and the importance of centering healing on the foundation of a strong relationship with God.

It is difficult for teachers and counselors in non-faith based programs because they are restricted from incorporating their faith into their work. For Meredith, even when all other aspects of her job in Wisconsin made it seem like a ‘dream job’, it always felt like a major piece was missing from the puzzle. She saw many children struggling with issues of identity that were translating into problems behaviorally, emotionally, and academically. Without being able to help these students find their identity in Christ, Meredith was at a loss for how to truly get to the root of their trauma. Instead, she was seeing the traditional method for healing trauma be to offer symptom management rather than actually seeking and addressing the root cause. 

Faith-based counseling offers a level of healing that non-faith based modalities are unable to achieve because they are leaving a major piece of the puzzle out of the equation. Trauma is subjective and looks different for everyone, so it is critical to seek out the root cause rather than only focusing on treating the symptoms. Forming a strong relationship with God and seeking your identity in Christ will help you to heal the root of trauma.

Quotes

• “It felt like we were just kind of managing the symptoms. And there seemed to be a deeper rooted problem that wasn't being addressed.” (8:34-8:44 | Meredith)
• “Trauma looks a lot of different ways, and it's subjective.” (10:42-10:47 | Meredith)
• “I thought He was taking me there for my dream job, and to advance my career. And turns out, He was taking me there for my own wilderness experience, to renew my mind, and transform my heart.” (12:15-12:31 | Meredith)
• “What I'm seeing a lot of the youth struggle with is identity. And they're not going to know their identity until they know Christ.” (19:16-19:28 | Meredith) 
• “We see teachers and counselors all the time that talk about how restricted they feel by not being able to bring the way of God or Christ into their daily work.” (21:26-21:40 | Merrill)
• “There's licensed therapy out there that is, I believe, doing more harm than good with some of our girls and really reaffirming some of these lies that the enemy has planted in their mind.” (29:52-30:04 | Linda) 

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