H O LY C R O S S A LU M N A Francesca McCarthy, M.S., PsyM, pictured in the middle of the children, traveled to Nairobi for a poster presentation at the International Conference on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children in 2017. She also visited schools to donate books she and her colleagues collected.
Holy Cross helps alumna discover gifts and map a future that makes a difference 38
HOLY CROSS COLLEGE Connections | FALL 2020 / WINTER 2021
by Lisa Kochanowski, Assistant Director of Communications A love of sports took class of 2014 alumna Francesca McCarthy on a journey of pursuing a master’s degree in sports psychology in clinical mental health counseling at Indiana State University, but an impactful internship at a maximum-security men’s prison changed her path to pursue correctional psychology. After earning her Master of Science and discovering a passion for correctional psychology, she decided to continue her academic career, joining Wright State University’s School of Professional Psychology to earn a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD). She is currently a fourth year student and is involved in many different projects, including co-developing the “Building Better Parents” parenting class for inmates in the Montgomery County Jail, working with mothers in the “Achieving Baby Care Success” nursery program at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, and completing her dissertation titled “Pregnant Inmates’ Knowledge of the Teratogenic Effects of Tobacco and Alcohol.”
