The Visibility Lab
An 8-week virtual creative healing program designed to make the invisible visible
for individuals living with chronic illness and pain.
Program Overview
What is the Visibility Lab?
The Visibility Lab is an 8-week virtual group workshop series that blends therapeutic art-making, somatic mindfulness, and communication coaching to support adults living with chronic illness, pain, and invisible disabilities. Grounded in creativity, connection, and care, the program offers a safe space to express what often goes unseen through art, storytelling, and shared reflection. No artistic experience is needed. We are here to explore and heal together in community, guided by our inner wisdom and creative selves.
Who is it for?
The Visibility Lab is designed for adults living with chronic pain and illness causing invisible disabilities, including conditions that impact the nervous system, energy levels, mobility, or communication. It is especially welcoming to those who feel unseen, misdiagnosed, isolated, or misunderstood in medical or social spaces.
We center participants from underserved communities, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Spanish-speaking, low-income, and neurodivergent individuals.
Why it was created
The Visibility Lab was created as a deeply personal project by Catherine Walters and Kristin Sheehan, two guides who live with chronic illness and understand how isolating and misunderstood that journey can be.
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As a visual artist and communication coach & speech-language pathologist, Catherine experienced firsthand how art-making could bring clarity, healing, and connection in the face of invisible chronic pain. Wanting to create a space where others could access that same power, she reached out to Kristin, a talented somatic psychotherapist who shares her passion for inclusive, creative healing.
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Together, they built the Visibility Lab out of a shared commitment to equity, creativity, and care. The program invites participants to express what’s hard to put into words, reclaim their stories, and build a community rooted in compassion and self-advocacy.
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Many people with chronic conditions struggle with being believed, being heard, or finding spaces that truly understand their experience. We created this program to help shift that reality.
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Rooted in our core values, the Visibility Lab exists to:
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Make the invisible visible through art, story, and expression
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Center lived experience as a source of wisdom and power
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Break down barriers to care by offering a low-cost, accessible space for connection and growth
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Foster healing not by fixing what’s “wrong,” but by honoring the full truth of what it means to live in a body with pain and/or illness
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Build community where isolation is replaced by shared reflection, validation, and creative resilience
What to expect
​Weekly 90-minute sessions on Zoom
Small cohort: up to 10 participants
Includes guided art projects, somatic practices, communication coaching, and storytelling
Safe, supportive, non-judgmental space
Transformative Outcomes
Emotional expression & self-advocacy
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Creative confidence
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Nervous system support
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Collective healing
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Visibility through story and image
When + How to Join
Workshop begins: Fall 2025 (Exact dates TBD)
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Sign up to be notified when registration opens by contacting ​creativeconnectionsCK@gmail.com
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Scholarships will be available
