Kate Woodsome is a senior fellow with Georgetown University's Red House innovation unit and a visiting affiliate scholar in the school's Psychology Department, where she researches the intersections between mental health and democracy. A member of the Pulitzer Prize–winning team that covered the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, she recently left daily journalism to found Invisible Threads, a regenerative media and leadership lab that applies the science of trauma and healing to storytelling and civic change.
Woodsome is a certified neuroscience-based resilience coach, working at the convergence of narrative, nervous system regulation, and organizational psychology. Her research and practice focus on helping leaders, journalists, and social impact organizations transform stress into strategic advantage while disrupting cycles of harm and fostering constructive conditions for positive change.
Her journalism career spans more than two decades with The Washington Post, Al Jazeera English, and Voice of America, where she reported on political upheaval and social transformation across continents—from Cuba to Cambodia to Washington, D.C. At The Washington Post, she led a documentary film unit and pioneered coverage examining the relationship between mental health and society. Her reporting on the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack contributed to the newspaper's Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, while also providing her with firsthand insight into how trauma destabilizes both individuals and democratic institutions.
This experience catalyzed her transition from traditional journalism to academia, organizational consulting, and social entrepreneurship. Drawing from both her reporting background and lived experience with complex PTSD, Woodsome now challenges institutional cultures that normalize burnout, trauma, and moral injury as prerequisites for excellence. Her current work focuses on strengthening resilience, cohesion, and critical thinking within organizations and communities as foundations for both democratic health and intergenerational wellbeing.