Influential Woman · Dementia Training and Elder Consultation
Arnesia Terrell
Founder and Certified Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia Care Trainer
St. Louis, MO
Her Story
About Arnesia
I am a gerontologist who studies aging, and I specifically love studying pathological aging processes for dementia and Alzheimer's disease. I started working with seniors professionally in 2018 when I made my career shift into long-term care, and it's been 8 years now. Currently, I run my own business called Beneignity LLC, which is a dementia training and elder consultation company. My plan is to partner with other businesses to appropriately train their staff, make sure they have a way to consult with somebody about complex cases, and operate sort of like an interventionist for them. I also train people to become certified dementia practitioners by preparing them through Alzheimer's disease and dementia care seminars to help them qualify with the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners. I've been training people in different capacities for the last 5 or 6 years. Before entering senior care, I worked in academic settings as a testing proctor at St. Louis Community College and Webster University, helping people get ADA accommodations and running their testing centers. I also proctored GED testing in the St. Louis City and County Jail System starting in 2015. What I love most about my work is being able to see families and practitioners or clinicians get relief, showing them how to work through the obstacles. The way I teach and train is that you have to go through it - there's no other way. So how do we go through it in a way that's going to be rewarding for you as a caregiver and for the individual that has the disease? Standing on that principle has really helped me guide families and other people working in this field to handle this disease just that much better.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Arnesia
01What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Kindness is at the core of everything I do. My mom named my business Beneignity, which means basic kindness, and we were looking for something biblical. Sometimes kindness is advocacy, you know? I follow a modern-day philosopher named Ryan Holiday, and he often says a lot of the time, the obstacle is the way. I think that comes down to the dementia journey - we try to run from so much, we try to avoid so much, and at the end of the day, the way that I teach and train is that you have to go through it. There's no other way than going through it. So how do we go through it in a way that's going to be rewarding for you and for them? I firmly believe that standing on that principle has really helped to guide families and other people working in this field to handle this disease just that much better. I also don't like to close myself off to a door and an opportunity. I think sometimes I'll end up somewhere I don't think I need to be, and then all of a sudden the blessing is just hidden, it's there, like there's something that I was supposed to see in that space.
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