Leadership & Advocacy
In addition to her clinical practice, Patricia serves in a leadership capacity for several ground-breaking initiatives in Wisconsin and the United States with international influence.
She currently serves on a Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) committee for the Clergy and Faith-Leader Abuse Initiative where she advises and supports participating leaders as well as Wisconsin’s Attorney General, Josh Kaul. She also provided training to the DOJ as they launched their state-wide investigation of clergy abuse.
At Notre Dame, she participated in the highly regarded, " Gender, Sex, and Power: Towards a History of Clergy Sex Abuse in the U.S. Catholic Church" project. She trained key researchers about the complexity of clergy sexual abuse as they embarked on researching the impact of clergy sexual abuse throughout the world.
https://cushwa.nd.edu/about/gendersexpower/
She was also invited to participate in Notre Dame University’s Truth and Reconciliation Project which included scholars and researchers, from throughout the United States.
She presently serves as the clinical supervisor at Walker’s Point Youth and Family Center located in Milwaukee.
She is a consultant to agencies, business teams, community groups, churches and schools.
Throughout her career Patricia served on numerous committees and influenced practitioners. Previous areas of involvement include:
Patricia was a leader in Milwaukee’s response to an area wide clergy abuse crisis. She served on a committee that created listening sessions for survivors of clergy sexual abuse, their families, concerned community members, and members of the clergy.
She served on Wisconsin Governor Doyle's statewide Steering Committee to create a Sexual Abuse Prevention initiative for the State of Wisconsin.
She served on the Grant Review Committee with the Child Abuse Prevention Fund with Children's Hospital in Milwaukee.
She was a Board Member of Meta House and Transitional Living Services in Milwaukee.
She served as a Clinical Supervisor for nearly twenty years at The Healing Center in Milwaukee, an organization providing healing support, advocacy and education to sexual abuse and assault survivors. She was also a Clinical Consultant for Pathfinders Hand in Hand program in Milwaukee.
She has provided educational programs at Alverno College, Mount Mary College, Cardinal Stritch, UW-La Crosse, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Milwaukee.
Public Speaking
Patricia is a frequent public speaker and serves as a go-to resource for the local and national media on the impact of clergy sexual abuse. She has presented at numerous state and national conferences including presenting at the Midwest Sexual Abuse Conference in Madison, and American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists Conference in Los Angeles, CA.
She has been published in The New York Times, Commonweal, The Sun, and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She appears in the BBC documentary "Sins of the Fathers."