Marissa Stevens was already doing the work long before she was a Certified Nursing Assistant.
She’d spent years caring for her mom, who had an autoimmune disease. That experience led her to a job at an assisted living facility. First as a care partner, then as a med tech.
Along the way, she developed a deep connection to hospice care and the residents she cared for. She’d even go back to the facility in her own time to sit with residents in their final hours, so they wouldn’t have to pass away alone.
Marissa attended Caregiver Training Institute to gain the tools to take her career to the next step.
Where It All Started
The path to a CNA credential didn’t begin in a classroom. It began at home.
The hands-on experience she gained caring for her mother led her toward assisted living work, and the longer she was in that environment, the more drawn to it she became.
“I got very attached to hospice care and got very interested in becoming a hospice nurse,” she said.
A nurse at her facility pointed her toward CTI, and it was the nudge she needed.
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Why This Work Matters
For Marissa, it’s never been just a job. It’s about making people feel seen and valued in their most vulnerable moments. Treating them as full human beings when the world around them sometimes stops doing that.
“It just feels nice to make sure they’re comfortable and happy. Knowing that you’re part of making them happy and comfortable in the last years, months, or days that they have.”
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That conviction runs deep enough that she’s shown up on her own time to be present with residents who were dying so they wouldn’t be alone.
“I think a lot of people treat them like they’re not a person anymore, and it makes me feel better to make them feel like they’re still alive while they are alive.”
Walking In Nervous, Walking Out Relieved
Marissa didn’t know much about CTI before she started. Her expectations were low; she assumed it would be passive and textbook-heavy, the kind of program where you read the material, take a test, and move on.
“I was very nervous. I hadn’t heard about the school much before I went there. I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t realize it was going to be so helpful and hands on. Kind of thought it was just going to be like, read through this, take a test, and here you go.”
What she found was something totally different.
“Even just the first day, it was relieving to see how much the instructors care and how much they make an effort to make sure they not only just tell you the information, but they want you to actually understand it.”
The instructors didn’t just repeat information; they brought their own experiences into the instruction.
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“They were just very, very insistent on fully understanding the information and sharing their experiences, not just textbook information.”
She describes the whole experience as “very different than I thought it was going to be, but it’s probably the best decision I’ve made in a long time.”
The Moment That Showed Her CTI had Her Back
One experience during clinicals stood out above the rest for Marissa.
While shadowing another CNA, she found herself in an uncomfortable situation. The practices she was observing didn’t feel safe. It was a stressful position for anyone to be in, let alone a student still finding her footing. She was nervous to say anything, but she did, and her clinical instructor’s response left an impression.
“She was very, very serious about confronting the people that I was working with. Making sure that we were all healthy and safe. She didn’t just leave me to figure it out. It was something I was nervous to mention to her while I was with the person that I wasn’t feeling safe with. So that was very big to me, that they care very deeply about their students.”
Why She Loved Clinicals
Going from a home setting and an assisted living facility to a hospital was a big change and Marissa was a little nervous about it.
What she found on the other side was a welcome surprise.
“I honestly love my clinicals. I was really nervous. I’d only worked in my mom’s house or at an assisted living facility. So going to a hospital was a really big change from what I was familiar with, and they were very, very welcoming. I learned more there than I’ve learned in years. They were super understanding that I was a student and that I was learning. And it wasn’t just the CNAs that I followed; the doctors, the nurses, the unit managers, they were all super on top of helping us.”
CTI’s open lab helped her get there. Being able to practice as much as she needed, on her own schedule, meant she walked into clinicals with more confidence than she expected.
A Community That Builds Each Other Up
Marissa loved the smaller class sizes at CTI, but what she didn’t anticipate was how much the students themselves would become part of her support system.
“All the staff and students are all super supportive of each other. Very big on helping each other, reminding each other of certain things they might have forgotten during the labs, or giving advice to the people that don’t have experience from the people that have real life experience.”
Her class was a genuine mix: young and older, no experience and years of it, people who’d worked in facilities, people who’d worked in hospitals, and people who’d never set foot in either.
“It was definitely a big mix of people, and it was nice to see people from all walks of life with all different types of experience come together, help each other learn, and move on to go help people.”
Where She’s Headed
Marissa is ready for a faster pace. Now that she’s a Certified Nursing Assistant, she wants to work in a hospital.
“I feel like you can help a bigger number of people in a smaller amount of time. I love the difference that I made in a facility. I think the hospitals need a lot of people that can handle the panic and the fast pace.”
Her longer-term goal is critical care nursing, and she found that goal through someone she cared for — a resident who had been a critical care nurse in the 1940s and 50s.
“She always told me that I was meant for bigger and better things and not to stay at the bottom. I’ve had a lot of people that have believed in me and made me believe in myself that I can keep going forward. Getting through the CTI course and my clinicals especially proved to me that I can definitely keep going forward.”
Her Advice For Anyone Drawn To This Work
If you keep thinking about it, Marissa says, that’s your answer.
“If you think about it enough and it kind of comes back over and over and over again; just go for it. If it’s on your mind that much, it’s probably something that you want to do, which means it’s something you should do. You shouldn’t put yourself down and wonder if you should do it. You should try, and even if it doesn’t work out, at least you know you tried and you gave it a shot.”
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