The profession of nursing and health care in general are in crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the fissures in a health care system that is supposed to allow clinicians to fulfill their ethical mandate to those they serve.2  A narrative that pits individual responsibility and system reforms as binary choices has intensified. Clinicians bristle at the suggestion that they are responsible for their own well-being, and systems have largely avoided the fundamental reforms that are necessary for healthy work environments. Simultaneously, evidence of burgeoning depletion, turnover, and exit from nursing accrues. How do nurses begin to reclaim their own health, well-being, and integrity amid these disorienting circumstances?

Alicia is a critical care nurse who began her career during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has cared for dozens of critically ill patients, many with COVID and others whose illnesses became severe because they waited too long before seeking treatment....

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