Danyelle Durocher, OTD
Hi Friend!
My name is Dr. Danyelle Durocher. I am a trauma-informed therapist that serves Central Arkansas! But most importantly the Lord has blessed me with 3 children, two of whom my husband and I adopted.
My journey to adulthood, motherhood, and owner of DTSConway has not been instantly gratifying.
My husband and I began fostering our oldest daughters, when they were 5 and 6 and we were 20 and 21. We were just babies ourselves trying to do our best to raise babies from hard places.
Through our journey we have learned so much, but we learned the intricacies of trauma not only for our children, but for family members as well. It has taught us that trauma is pervasive. It is like a weed. Sometimes the weed can disguise itself like a flower. It might look beautiful on the outside but at its roots it is full of destruction and self-preservation. We saw this one of our daughters who always seemed like a little angel to everyone around her. She drained the trauma response of being a “Fawn”. This response made her look so kind and her wishes so malleable, but they were born out of a need to be simple. A response when her true needs for care and basic needs were inconsistently met.
Sometimes the weed, doesn’t disguise itself so you know it needs to be treated, but it is resilient. No matter the amount of “recommended treatment” is able to instantly “fix” the problem. It is one that takes years of focus and curated care in order to address the problem. Still the weed’s destruction is still there. The root system that it created is still under the surface and occasionally can rear it’s ugly head if it is not being properly cared for.
Throughout all of these experiences, I realized that trauma isn’t just the extremely traumatic events that get all of the media coverage. It isn’t solely the child that was abducted, placed in a kennel all summer, raped by their family member, or tortured. It is all humanity. It is the “picky eater” who is terrified of ice cream. It is the anxious child who works themselves into a frenzy over one wrong problem on a test. It is the parent who can’t regulate their emotions after listening to a tyrant of a three-year-old. The individual who only eats peanut butter and strawberries due to stomach-issues following a bought of COVID. Trauma is so woven under the surface of our existence that it is almost impossible to separate it from our ailments or struggles.
This is where my passion for Trauma-Informed care arose. I am now extremely blessed to get to work with these children and families to help them understand their past and how it is affecting their present and future.
-Cornflower, a type of weed.
