Dre Erwin Photography™
About
Dre Erwin, BScN, RN-AAP, MSM
Reframing the Storm
Meet Dre Erwin: Primary Care Nurse, Bestselling Author, and Founder of the Pinehouse Photography Club.
From 20 years on the front lines of northern healthcare to chasing the Aurora Borealis, discover a journey built on the belief that a camera can be more than an artistic tool—it can be a lifeline. Explore the story behind the Therapeutic Photography movement and our mission to provide youth with a new way to see, heal, and lead.
One Day in June
One day in June 2015, I took my camera out. My world had completely collapsed. I was going through a brutal divorce, dealing with betrayal, and fighting severe depression and drinking. I drove out to a field just to take photos of an old barn—desperately needing an escape from the noise in my own head.
Instead, a massive storm rolled in, and I ended up trapped in a literal tornado.
Crushed in the chaos, thinking I was going to die, I prayed to God to just give me another chance.
I survived that night, and it changed my wiring. I moved up North, discovered the northern lights, and used astrophotography as a private sanctuary. It was my medicine. Honestly, when local youth first started approaching me asking how to do it, I refused to help them. I didn't want to share it. It was my escape, the only thing keeping me afloat, and I was guarding it like a shield.
But they kept showing up.
It wasn’t until I finally let them join me out in the freezing dark that the real magic happened. Standing under the sky, kids started saying things to me like, "I don't feel like drinking when I'm doing this," or "I actually feel happy." We started building fires after taking photos, and youth who were completely off the radar for mental health—kids who had never seen a social worker or a therapist in their lives—sat by the sparks and started opening up about thoughts of suicide. Through the lens, they found a way to externalize emotions they couldn't put into words.
I didn’t start the Pinehouse Photography Club to win medals or write bestsellers. I started it because I was a guy trying to survive a storm, and I stumbled into a community full of kids trying to do the exact same thing.
The Background
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The Day Job: A Registered Nurse (RN-AAP) with 20+ years in ICU and remote care. I’m heading back to the front lines for a permanent role in Sandy Bay this June.
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The Tools: Using Therapeutic Photography and the "Visual Prescription™" model to give First Nations and Métis youth a way to block out the static of trauma.
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The Collective Journey: Co-authored the national bestseller The Little Boy Who Found Happiness in the Most Unusual Place alongside the youth of the photography club, using their raw imagery to help kids navigate heavy grief.
"I’m just a nurse from the North who found a way to breathe again through a lens, and I’m here to make sure our youth have the tools to do the same."
The Founder & Clinical Lead
Primary Care Nurse (RN AAP)
I’ve spent over 20 years on the front lines of ICU, Emergency, and remote northern clinics. But the truth is, our northern communities need more than standard care—they need nurses who can operate at the absolute top of their scope. Getting my Advanced Authorized Practice (AAP) designation allowed me to bridge the gap between clinical medicine and community wellness where it’s needed most. If you’re an RN looking to make a massive, tangible difference on the ground, the North needs you to take that next step. We need more RNAAPs on the front lines.
Founder of the Pinehouse Photography Club
In 2015, caught in a literal tornado and privately fighting my own battles with addiction and depression, I used photography as a lifeline. When I saw the heavy silence and struggles our local youth were facing, I knew they needed that same anchor. I founded the Pinehouse Photography Club to give them a camera, a safe space, and a way to look past their pain to capture the cosmos.
Bestselling Author & Educator
I didn't write The Little Boy Who Found Happiness in the Most Unusual Place alone—we created it together. The members of the Pinehouse Photography Club co-authored this book, filling its pages with their own raw, stunning imagery. Published in both Cree and English, it follows the real-life journey of one of our own youth navigating the heavy grief of losing a parent to suicide. Beyond the story, the book serves as a practical guide, teaching the exact Therapeutic Photography concepts we use on the land to help kids find their anchor and reframe their future.
Recipient of the Meritorious Service Medal (Civil Division)
Awarded by the Governor General of Canada for exceptional contribution to community well-being. This national honor recognizes the founding and leadership of the Pinehouse Photography Club and our commitment to using therapeutic photography as a tool for youth resilience, mental health, and bridge-building in remote Indigenous communities.
By putting cameras in the hands of these youth, a nurse literally is saving lives in the north.
Corey O'Soup
The Fusion of Art & Clinical Expertise
For me, medicine and photography aren't two separate worlds—they are two ways of doing the exact same thing: helping people survive. By bringing clinical background together with the therapeutic space of the Saskatchewan sky, we’re built something real, safe, and lasting for the youth who need it most.
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Front-Line Care: Using Advanced Authorized Practice (RN-AAP) to deliver critical, high-level clinical care directly within remote Métis and First Nations communities.
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On-the-Ground Advocacy: Taking the Therapeutic Photography model we built in a local northern club and sharing it as a blueprint for youth resilience across the province.
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Healing Through Culture: Using shared storytelling, the Cree language, and the land to give youth the "visual anchors" they need to navigate heavy grief and loss.
A New Lens on Life: The Story of the Pinehouse Model
When CBC came to Pinehouse Lake, it wasn't about putting me in front of a camera—it was about putting our youth's incredible resilience on a national stage. This documentary follows our club members as they show how a camera can become a literal survival tool for mental health recovery.
Watch the preview below to see how our youth are using art, culture, and the land to face their storms and rewrite their own futures.
Our mission is to provide youth with visual anchors for mental health through the clinical framework of therapeutic photography, fostering resilience and preserving cultural identity across the North."