NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — As a mother of 12 children, biological, adopted and through marriage, and a grandmother of 25, S. Chris Troutt somehow has room to care for other families in need.
“Just really a heart for people, and a heart for children,” Troutt said. “Our last child that came home, came home with fetal alcohol syndrome. I really was looking for professionals who understood what fetal alcohol syndrome was, and I wasn’t able to find very many. So, as a therapist, I really felt strongly about providing services for families who were impacted by that.”
Troutt co-founded a non-profit called The Papillion Center in Gallatin in 2010 to treat situations including trauma, abuse, and prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol.
“Bringing hope and healing to children and families and hard places,” Troutt explained the mission of the center. “What we try to do is provide more of a holistic approach to therapy.”
The Papillion Center has expanded to Paducah, Kentucky and has a provider in Montana with plans to grow more there.
“By her being recognized, it just brings this to the forefront even more, to the issues that you’re not alone. Chris was not alone when she was going through this, and out of that, this is growing and growing and growing,” said Tim Diffenderfer, Director of Development for The Papillion Center.
Diffenderfer nominated Troutt for News 2’s Remarkable Women contest.
“She just is one of those special individuals that was confronted with an issue and problem in her life, and it became a lifelong journey and purpose,” he said. “The things that she does, you don’t pick up in academia, you pick up in life.”
Troutt is the chair of the National Affiliates of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. She also created a program called Broken Princess that helped Sumner County Jail inmates rebuild their lives. Troutt is especially proud of a support group she formed called Trauma Mamas.
“They’re kind of my tribe,” Troutt said. “Because I get them, I understand, to be one of them. Most of them suffer from some level of PTSD from the children they love tremendously and would lay their life down for, but have also been beaten up by, and yelled at and cussed out, and whatever else can possibly happen because their children have experienced some really hard things.”
Troutt said her faith gets her through the heaviest moments, including the loss of her husband last year.
“I’m also a very strong believer in the Lord, and that absolutely is so much a part of who I am and how I draw strength,” Troutt said.
Travel is also her refuge, and this spring, Troutt gets to combine that with her work as she heads to Malaga, Spain to present at the World Family Therapy Congress.
But her heart will always be with the families she works with here at home.
“I hope that we’re known in the community as a place that’s willing to tackle the hard, the really hard,” Troutt said. “Just instilling hope. I hope that people will borrow my hope until they can get their own.”
Troutt has a full plate and a full house but hope springs eternal.
To learn more about The Papillion Center, click here: https://papillioncenter.org/
