A free personal development workshop presented by Andrea Scherrer, a Scottsdale Community College counselor and faculty member, leads students as well as the community at large on a path of self-improvement via Zoom.

Scherrer, the facilitator of the workshops, guides participants through information and insight through an online platform. 

Online counseling, like many other services, are the “new normal” after sessions and visits went virtual in the midst of the pandemic. Sherrer talks about how effective an online specific workshop is versus an in person visit. 

“They’re more readily available, people don’t have to come to campus, they’re from 3 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Somebody could get up and leave at 4 p.m. if needed, but it’s awkward to do that, so virtual workshops make it much more comfortable for people to come for the part they came for. I open them up to community members as well as students from other campuses so everybody can attend,” Scherrer said. 

Benny Grubner participated in one of the earlier workshops called,  “Creating Positive Change w/ Atomic Habits.” Gruber lives out of state in Massachusetts and heard about these workshops from work. He told Northeast Valley News that he benefited from the workshops. 

“It was nice to get a condensed review of some of the key topics covered in atomic habits,” Grubner said. 

Scherrer used her own examples in this workshop to drive home some key lessons. An analogy of illogical thinking using an Oreo dilemma (can’t stop eating them) and teaching that once you pick up a bad habit—it does not justify engaging in further bad habits.

At the end of each workshop, participants take a survey. One of the questions: – “If you could choose, would you have these services virtual or in person?” – Shearrer talks about the typical results of this survey. 

“Always—more than 50% say virtual, and it’s usually more than 80% say virtual. So I think people have liked that format,” Scherrer said. 

Grubner said he prefers in-person workshops; however he was able to grasp the content and key points in the virtual workshop. 

“Andrea (Scherrer) kept the workshop engaging for a Zoom. With her workshops, it probably wouldn’t have made a difference in-person or online.”

Keen to the receptiveness of virtual counseling has shown them to be just as effective in the most recent workshop, “Developing your resilience superpowers”’.

This workshop is carefully titled “Developing Your Resilient Superpowers” because the skills taught are learnable and developable. Attendees learned how to self-regulate— to stay motivated, calm their bodies to create a calm mind and build a life around strengths and move with intention.

In the “Developing Your Resilience Superpowers” Scherrer briefly described a model to use to help stay resilient when faced with adversity, “Naming, claiming, and aiming your strength,” Scherrer said. 

Participants have and will be able to join this series of online personal development workshops via Zoom. Dates and the sign-up link are posted on the SCC counseling page.