CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (CBS19 NEWS) -- Mental Health America found almost all health care workers were experiencing stress amid the pandemic.

As local health care workers continue to fight on the frontlines, a team of nurses is looking to provide tools for self-care.

"The whole idea, it was a two-fold challenge really when we looked at this, the three of us said 'what can we do to help the colleagues in this pandemic,' even before the pandemic to deal with self-care, and it came down to two things, space was one and permission for care was the other," said registered nurse Nancy Farish.

She along with two other nurses created the Mobile Resiliency Toolbox. They are part of the Compassion Care Initiative at the University of Virginia School of Nursing.

According to the UVA School of Nursing spokesperson, inside the toolbox are headphones with recorded visualizations, poetry, or nature sounds, a virtual reality headset so nurses can walk on the beach or through a rainforest and guided breathing exercises.

There is also a card inside with instructions on how to calmly wash your hands and center yourself.

One of the creators said this toolbox was designed to make self-care accessible to nurses.

"The whole point of this mobile box is to be able to practice self-care in the moment and have this resource right on your unit to be utilized," said registered nurse Jeanell Webb-Jones. 

Mental Health America found 93 percent of healthcare workers were experiencing stress, 86 percent reported experiencing anxiety, 77 percent reported frustration, 76 percent reported exhaustion and burnout, and 75 percent said they were overwhelmed. 

Even before the pandemic, research revealed as many as half were facing symptoms of burnout. With the toolbox, one of the creators says she hopes it can be a stepping stone to sustainable care for nurses and change how health systems approach it. 

"What we are targeting here is that individual nurse coping aspect where we identify mindfulness strategies that are supported by research, address compassion fatigue, moral fatigue," said registered nurse Jane Muir. "We really see our work as this little pebble building on a pebble working towards this bigger system culture shift in how we view stigmas of nurse self-care and resiliency and being OK with expressing 'I'm burned out.'"

The toolbox is currently being deployed to three units at UVA Health. Afterward, Farish says they have plans to send it to all units with hopes of expanding it outside the Charlottesville area and across the nation. 

"All nurses have stress on all levels and each area with their workflow we wanted to see how they incorporate this, so we know the end result may look different than what we have now in terms of how these platforms are used, so we are piloting to see and based on that and the results of that because we are a national benched mark survey to check nurse resiliency, then we are going to incorporate into the entire health system at UVA and then yes, hopefully beyond we would love to be able to take it to our colleagues really around the country we want to change the culture not just at UVA but everywhere," she said.