StoryCollab

09/03/2026

How much do we actually know about the people we work beside every day?

In workplaces, we know our colleagues through what we can observe about how they communicate, respond under pressure, make decisions, or show up on a difficult day.

But we're often interpreting those behaviors without understanding the experiences behind them.

During the Nurse Narratives Initiative, Dr. Tabitha Quillen and Dr. Melessia Webb participated in digital storytelling workshops alongside nursing colleagues.

Their experiences are a testament to how sharing stories can deepen relationships between colleagues. And when relationships grow stronger, teams grow stronger with them.

Read more about what storytelling and shared reflection can offer nursing teams in our latest article, “The Story Is Only the Beginning” → https://lnkd.in/gfJmyz-y

ETSU College of Nursing Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement ETSU Research Corporation Ballad Health

08/31/2026

Healthcare workplaces are often focused on what needs to get done: caring for patients, completing charts, improving outcomes, and keeping an increasingly complex system moving.

But nurses and faculty move from one demanding experience to another without time to process how that work is affecting them—or to share its burdens and joys with the people beside them.

Dr. Karen Carver argues that this time for reflection and human connection shouldn't be an afterthought.

Recent research suggests facilitated reflection can strengthen team cohesion and reflective capacity while increasing confidence and the ability to cope with work-related stress.

In our latest article, we explore how digital storytelling and facilitated reflection can create space for nursing teams to step outside the demands of productivity, make meaning from their experiences, and encounter their colleagues beyond their professional roles.

Read “The Story Is Only the Beginning,” at StoryCollab.org/blog



ETSU College of Nursing Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement ETSU Research Corporation Ballad Health

08/18/2026

At the end of a long shift, Grady Cash was exhausted. Then one of his patients started singing.

It became one of those small, unexpected moments that can change how you understand the work you're doing—and why you're doing it.

Mrs. H, a digital story by Grady Cash.

This story was created in collaboration with and the Tennessee Diabetes Coalition as part of the Nurse Narratives Initiative.

Was there a person or moment that helped you know you were on the right path?

08/13/2026

How much work does healthcare ask a patient to do?

Researchers call it "treatment burden": the appointments, medications, monitoring, lifestyle changes, administrative tasks and other demands that come with managing health.

A 2026 review points to an important tension: treatment burden can arise when those demands exceed a person’s capacity to manage them. Money, time, social support, health literacy and other circumstances can all affect that capacity.

In "Pieces", diabetes specialist Christina Dzioba explores what that can look like in a real life — and how her own experiences changed the way she approached her patients.

One question became especially important:

“What are you currently doing that’s working for you?”

Watch Christina’s story below, then read the research that got us thinking about it: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00520-026-10798-5
Ballad Health ETSU Health American Nurses Association Nursing and NCLEX Mastery

08/11/2026

Stephanie Hample’s kids had only ever seen eggs the way most of us see them at the grocery store: clean, white, and neatly arranged in a carton.

Then, at a friend’s chicken coop, they found eggs that were green, blue, and brown—still warm, with bits of straw and mud stuck to them.

“Will it be like in Green Eggs and Ham?” her daughter asked.

The question made her realize how much of the story of our food her kids had never seen.

So they started getting closer to it. They tapped maple trees. They planted a garden. They encountered bugs in the sap, dirt on the vegetables, and all the little surprises that disappear before food reaches a grocery store shelf.

Sometimes kids ask the questions adults have stopped asking: Where does this come from? How did it get here? Why does it look like that?

What’s something a child has made you notice differently?

Eggs Are Green and Food Is Dirty — a digital story by Stephanie Hample, created through the Community Maple Project with The Wild Center.

When her children see green eggs for the first time, Stephanie Hamp...

08/03/2026

Julie Shoemaker's digital story, "Let Your Light Shine," reminds us that the most powerful question a health care professional can ask may simply be, "May I ask your story?"

Through her experiences as a home visiting nurse, Julie learned that lasting change does not begin with judgment or assumptions. It begins with listening. Her story highlights the importance of empathy, trust, and understanding the experiences that shape each patient and family.

Watch her story here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koa8C03qkYk

Julie created her story during a custom digital storytelling workshop facilitated by StoryCollab and sponsored by Ballad Health, the Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement, the ETSU College of Nursing, and the ETSU Research Corporation.

Watch Julie's story, then visit www.StoryCollab.org to learn more about our work and opportunities to collaborate.

Ballad Health East Tennessee State University Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement ETSU Research Corporation

07/29/2026

Julie Shoemaker's "Let Your Light Shine" reflects on how her understanding of nursing changed when she began looking beyond first impressions. Her story explores the difference that curiosity, humility, and listening can make in caring for families.

Content note: This story includes discussion of abuse, sexual violence, substance use, and the death of a child.

Julie created her story in a custom digital storytelling workshop facilitated by StoryCollab, and sponsored by Ballad Health, the Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement, the ETSU College of Nursing, and the ETSU Research Corporation.

Learn more about StoryCollab and opportunities to collaborate at [www.StoryCollab.org](http://www.StoryCollab.org).

Ballad Health ETSU College of Nursing Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement

07/27/2026

Debbie Britt's "44 and Counting" reflects on a lifetime of nursing shaped by faith, compassion, and a commitment to caring for others. Her story explores how decades of experience prepared her for one of the most meaningful moments of her life.

Here's her story.

Debbie created her story in a custom digital storytelling workshop facilitated by StoryCollab, and sponsored by Ballad Health, the Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement, the ETSU College of Nursing, and the ETSU Research Corporation.

Learn more about StoryCollab and opportunities to collaborate at [www.StoryCollab.org](http://www.StoryCollab.org).


Ballad Health ETSU College of Nursing Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement

07/27/2026

Debbie Britt's digital story, "44 and Counting," celebrates a lifetime of nursing and the moments that remind us why compassionate care matters.

Watch her story here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ud_aswb6Hv8

Debbie created her story during a custom digital storytelling workshop facilitated by StoryCollab and sponsored by Ballad Health, the Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement, the ETSU College of Nursing, and the ETSU Research Corporation.

After more than 40 years in nursing, Debbie reflects on the many roles she has held, the patients she has cared for, and how those experiences ultimately allowed her to honor her mother's wish to receive care at home during the final chapter of her life.

Through stories like Debbie's, the Nurse Narratives Initiative demonstrates how personal storytelling can elevate the voices of health care professionals while fostering empathy, reflection, and meaningful conversations about patient care.

Watch Debbie's story, then visit www.StoryCollab.org to learn more about our work and opportunities to collaborate.

Ballad Health ETSU College of Nursing Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement

07/22/2026

Ijeoma Chukwu-Amaechi's **"Beyond a Checklist"** explores how one nursing student's clinical experiences challenged her to look beyond tasks and recognize the power of presence, empathy, and listening in patient care.

Ijeoma created her story during a custom digital storytelling workshop facilitated by StoryCollab as part of the Nurse Narratives Initiative, a collaboration between East Tennessee State University's College of Nursing, Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement, StoryCollab, and the ETSU Research Corporation, with support and partnership from Ballad Health.

Learn more about StoryCollab and opportunities to collaborate at www.StoryCollab.org.


Ballad Health ETSU College of Nursing Tennessee Center for Nursing Advancement
Ballad Health ETSU Health ETSU College of Nursing