Kathryn Wessling, PhD

Founder, Instructor, & Facilitator

Dr. Kathryn Wessling is a behavioral scientist who works with individuals, married couples, educators, and organizational leaders to create a culture of healing, faithfulness, and relational joy through the integration of the Catholic faith with the science of human thriving. She facilitates story groups as well as groups desiring to improve in relational security. 

Kathryn and her husband, Frank, serve in Worldwide Marriage Encounter and are certified marriage mentors with Prepare/Enrich. They also lead married couple story groups and attachment-style workshops dedicated to repairing conflict and healing underlying attachment wounds.

As a researcher, she studies well-being, resilience, positive relationships, attachment styles, and virtue. She has a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate from Duke University. She has taught at the University of Virginia and the Wharton School of Business where she has coached hundreds of teams to thrive personally and within their businesses.

Why story work?

“We can’t heal in isolation. Believe me, I’ve tried! I founded Catholic Story Groups so others could experience the transforming love that occurs when we come out of darkness and allow God to heal our brokenness. It literally rewires our brains when we are able to put words to our story and make sense of our history in light of God’s salvific plan.”                                                Kathryn Wessling, PhD

 You may reach her at kathryn@wesslingphd.com.

 We need heralds of the Gospel who are experts in humanity, who know in depth the hearts of the men of today, who participate in their joys and hopes, concerns and sorrows, and at the same time, are persons in love with God.                                                     — St John Paul II