The Invisible Threads Lab  

Where nervous system literacy meets media literacy,
social intelligence, and collective care.

In an era of distrust and division, journalist and facilitator Kate Woodsome is building media, education, and resources to disrupt cycles of harm, build resilience, and support dialogue across divides.

To understand the roots of our most complex challenges and support collective repair, Kate’s multi-media stories, workshops, and consulting empower people with compassionate curiosity, critical thinking, and science-based strategies.

What readers are saying & doing

  • "Few journalists are covering mental health issues with the kind of deep insight and sourcing as Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Kate Woodsome. I had the good fortune to work with her for years at Post Opinions covering stories of real human trauma, including my own."

    Jason Rezaian, Director, Washington Post Press Freedom Initiatives

  • "Kate, I applaud your principled and values-based approach to going upstream to uncover and describe the systemic and structural issues that we must address to achieve greater health and wellbeing for the greatest number of people. Thank you for your grit and courage. When I read your work, I am taken back to Margaret Mead who said, 'Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed citizens to change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.' Thank you."

    Dr. Kathleen M. Pike, CEO, One Mind

  • “Recently I heard you on 1A with Jenn White. Thank you. Your compassion, generosity of spirit, and courage gives me hope which is so hard to find these days...Your work to nurture democracy by attending to our collective mental health speaks so powerfully to me. With so many of our current students struggling with anxiety and depression, you speak a quiet but undeniable truth, and you suggest a positive path of transformation.”

    Beth Ingle, Rock Valley College, Illinois

  • "As is always the case, Kate Woodsome’s writing on how we do (or do not) take care of one another’s mental health should come with a trigger warning along the lines of: ‘Complacent reading not available here.’ Engagement is ok; action is better; raising all our expectations is best. Ask not whether you’re already doing a darn good job. Ask what you need to double-down on and what you ought to stop doing. Get accountable. Thanks, Kate Woodsome for your relentlessness.”

    Joe Feldman, Founder, CoverMyMentalHealth.Org, Illinois

  • “I certainly will try to do my part in a more constructive way by reaching out to my Congressmen in hopes for the truth. I’m carrying a lot of anger , because I love my country and I want to see it working more towards Democracy by following the Constitution. After hearing this conversation I will take back my power, and try to be more open minded to others views. I will also be more gentle with myself in the process. Thank you for this very meaningful conversation.”

    Jane Good, Maine

  • “I am encouraged, inspired, and weirdly, reassured by this reporting. You put your body and your mind on the line to demonstrate healing from trauma, as you note. And this ends up being exposure therapy in action, too, for your viewers … especially those of us safely tucked away in blue corners of the northeastern part of the United States. Thank you for this valiant use of privilege.”

    Elle, “Northeastern United States”

  • “How can an individual working on their own healing influence communal healing and well-being through the library, a community garden and public mosaic art in a small southern Maine town? Never realized such a clear way of framing what I’ve been working on for years until listening to you here, Kate. Thank you.”

    Brigit McCallum, Maine

  • "Kate... it is only the Master Weaver that is able to weave with invisible thread. This invisible thread is the light and spark each of us were born with and as we grow and create more walls around ourselves and our lives, we loose the connections that should carry us through life.Through "your words and your voice", you permit us to shine "

    Bahareh Amidi Shargi, Washington, DC

The threads

  • The Invisible Threads Newsletter

    A weekly multi-media newsletter about the ties between mental health and democracy — what shapes our relationships with ourselves and others.

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  • Support The Invisible Threads Lab

    Help build media, workshops and resources to fuel an economy of wellbeing.

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  • Media & Public Speaking

    Connecting the dots between our personal health and the health of our country.

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  • Consulting

    Insights and tools to reframe limiting narratives, build trust, and navigate complex challenges.

    Collaborate

  • Films & MultiMedia Storytelling

    Stories about what makes us human, what tests us and how we keep going.

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The founder

Kate Woodsome

Kate Woodsome, a writer, filmmaker and systems reformer, has spent 20 years navigating complex information environments in post-war, authoritarian and declining democracies. She began her career as a journalist reporting in Cuba, post-genocide Cambodia and Hong Kong before managing radio and television programs for Voice of America and Al Jazeera English, amplifying under-reported stories.

At The Washington Post, she founded a film production unit, pioneered a mental health column and reported on the Jan. 6 Capitol attack as part of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. Kate also has been recognized with the Ben Bradlee Award for Courage in Journalism, an Edward R. Murrow Award and honors from the White House News Photographers Association.

Now a visiting affiliate scholar at Georgetown University, Kate is collaborating with global trauma experts to empower people to move from struggle to strength. She’s building a space to share stories, teach and bring people together — free from media industry pressures.