Abstract

A comment piece authored by Churchill for Nursing Standard, the UK's leading professional nursing journal, published in December 2020. Writing in her dual capacity as a photographer and community diabetic nurse lead, Churchill argues for the value of creative activities -- including art, design and photography -- as a means of managing stress and trauma in nursing practice. The piece opens with a challenge to the idealised image of nurses as angels, asserting instead their humanity and vulnerability. Published during the height of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the piece drew on Churchill's direct experience as both a frontline nurse and a practising photographer.