After 16 years as a registered nurse (including 13 at the VA) I saw how emotional burnout quietly erodes the very people holding the system together. Nurses give everything to their patients, often at the cost of their own well-being.
But I also discovered something else:
Creativity can be a way through it.
I launched The Nursing Lens to create a space where nurses could process their experiences through storytelling and to amplify voices too often left out of the healthcare conversation.
There’s healing in telling your story. There’s healing in producing it. And there’s healing in being seen, heard, and understood by others. Writing. Filming. Editing. These aren’t just technical skills- they’re forms of emotional release and healing.
At The Nursing Lens, the creative production of a single story can restore many nurses involved in the process. The benefits don’t stop there. These stories help educate the public, not just about emotional health of our nursing community, but about a wide range of health topics from our nurse contributors. And some stories have nothing to do with medicine- just raw, artistic expression from within the nursing community. And that’s healing too.
Every nurse who volunteers with us is introduced to a powerful, peer-based stress management tool: Stress First Aid. This color-coded system normalizes conversations like “I’m not okay” and makes it easier for nurses to recognize, respond to, and support each other’s mental and emotional states in real time.
I believe that if this system had been in place in my unit, it might’ve changed my nursing journey's trajectory. But then again, without that experience, The Nursing Lens might never have been born.
Eventually, the question shifted.
It wasn’t: “Can I afford to build this?”
It became: “Can I afford not to?”
Learning about Stress First Aid gave me language for wounds I didn't know how to name. And it gives us a roadmap for peer support that I wish every nurse had access to. So I built the platform I wish existed when I needed it most.
I’m a dad, a husband, a nurse, a health content creator, a documentary-style storyteller, and the founder of this movement.
This project is powered by purpose. Built by nurses and is for anyone seeking authentic nursing perspectives.
Join us as we heal the healers, inform the public, and advance the culture of nursing... one story at a time.
Peace and blessings,
Eric Aguila BSN, RN GERO-BC
