Sister Patricia Francis, OP
Originally from Chicago, my family moved to Springfield where we became members of Christ the King parish. I graduated from Christ the King in its first graduating class and from Sacred Heart Academy where I enjoyed Glee Club and the musicals. I joined the Dominican Sisters of Springfield.
On my first mission, teaching 45 first graders at Our Savior School in Jacksonville, Ill., I was asked by a convert to Catholicism to learn to learn sign language to provide catechesis to some students at the Illinois School for the Deaf. That led to my desire to become trained in spiritual direction and retreat ministry as well as counseling during the 1980s. I continue to minister with the Deaf Community as possible.
In 1990, after serving as the director for the Springfield Diocesan Office for the Deaf, which expanded to include making our Church accessible to people with a disability, I served as a campus minister at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School and initiated the KAIROS retreat program. In 1992, I returned to school and since 1996, have served as a licensed clinical psychologist at Central DuPage Pastoral Counseling Center in Carol Stream, Ill. I see clients in person and virtually for psychotherapy, spiritual direction and accompaniment, or supervision of spiritual direction.
My goal for spiritual companioning is to provide a welcoming environment in which to explore relationship with the Divine in daily life. It is an opportunity for seekers to notice and deepen their awareness of God presence in life, experience God’s unconditional love, and grow in self-knowledge, authenticity, and freedom as they gradually notice their own transformation.
The purpose of supervision of spiritual direction is for the director/guide/companion to grow in their capacity to journey authentically and freely with their seekers as they invite seekers to respond to the inner movement of Spirit and engage in a process that supports wholeness and transformation.
My interests include reading and keeping up with new treatment modalities, for trauma and spiritual growth. I love being in nature, taking walks along the river, at the botanical garden or arboretum and especially sitting near water and gazing at sunrises and sunsets, the moon and stars!
My education includes: BA in elementary education from Quincy College (1976), a MA from Creighton University in Christian Spirituality with practicums in retreat work and individual spiritual direction/companioning (1987), a MA in Human Development Counseling from Sangamon State University (now University of Illinois in Springfield) with an emphasis in marriage and family (1988), and a PsyD in clinical psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at the Chicago Campus with an internship at the University of Rochester, NY, Strong Hospital (1998). I trained with Jo Giarrante and Father Terry Johnson at the Siena Center in Racine, Wisc., in their spiritual guidance program for supervision of spiritual direction in 2019 and recently took their advance intensive course.
Please visit our Counseling Center’s website for more information.
