The Visibility Lab

TO MAKE THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE

Virtual creative healing programs using art, somatics, and self-expression for people navigating unseen experiences.

Program Overview

What is the Visibility Lab?

The Visibility Lab is virtual group workshop series that blends therapeutic art-making, somatic mindfulness, and communication coaching to support adults living with a variety of unseen experiences, including chronic illness and pain and neurodivergence.

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 navigating experiences that are often unseen or misunderstood, such as chronic pain, chronic illness, neurodivergence, and other conditions that affect energy, mobility, the nervous system, or communication. It is especially welcoming to those who feel unheard, misdiagnosed, isolated, or invisible in medical, social, or cultural spaces.

We are committed to creating an affirming environment for participants from underserved and marginalized communities, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Spanish-speaking, low-income, and neurodivergent adults.

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.

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.

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.

Many people with chronic conditions and other invisible experiences struggle with being believed, being heard, or finding spaces that truly understand their experience. We created this program to help shift that reality.

Rooted in our core values, the Visibility Lab exists to:

Make the invisible visible through art, story, and expression
Center lived experience as a source of wisdom and power
Break down barriers to care by offering a low-cost, accessible space for connection and growth
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
Build community where isolation is replaced by shared reflection, validation, and creative resilience

What to expect

All Visibility Lab programs share the same core experience, even though each group may differ in theme, schedule, and length. Each workshop includes:

Live virtual sessions on Zoom
Small cohort size (typically up to 10 participants)
Guided therapeutic art-making and creative expression
Somatic practices for grounding, awareness, and connection
Communication support through reflection, storytelling, and shared discussion
A safe, supportive, non-judgmental community space

Each group’s exact timing, duration, and structure vary by offering. Current and upcoming program details can be found on our website or interest form.