from Alternative Currents,
Alternatives Federal Credit Union
December 1996

Susan Lerner MSW, CSW, has embarked on a new business devoted to helping individuals and organizations identify and change behaviors that limit them. She provides one-on-one counseling, group workshops with themes, and training and consulting for businesses and organizations. "I'm trying to help people do two things; first, to recognize what they know already, and second, expand on their possibilities. When I work with people one-on-one I'm trying to help them be the person they want to be. When I work with an organization I'm really doing the same thing -- helping the people in it individually and collectively to figure out what their goals are and to visualize what the organization could be."

Susan brings many years of experience to her new business, including 16 years at Cornell, where she created and led personal growth workshops for the Cornell community, and assisted departments with project planning and stress management.

Some of the six-week group workshops Susan offers are: Making Sense of Life Changes; Self-Renewal and Planning for the Future; Making Peace With Your Inner Critic; and for women, Taking Charge of Your Life Journey. "With individuals and groups I want to demystify the whole concept of self-esteem. We make assumptions about what we can and can't be and this gets in the way of our going in the directions we really want to go in. I'm getting people to intervene on their own sides, to build a healthy voice to respond to the inner critic."

In her organizational workshops she teaches skills such as motivating volunteers, goal setting and project planning, dealing with difficult people, and appreciating differences. "People at work jump into problems and get hung up there. But if you start out doing the vision, people get excited, they have fun, and it enables them to find some common ground."

Susan also has much to offer those going into business for themselves. Of course, as someone engaged in building her own new business, she has first-hand experience with the ways personal issues impact the process. Many of the issues she is concerned with, such as self-esteem, can be crucial factors in developing a successful and satisfying business. As Susan is finding out, starting your own business can bring new challenges, freedoms and self-discovery.

Peggy Arcadi

For further information please call Susan at (607) 273-1154 or
send e-mail to chrysant@aol.com

<------Susan Lerner home page

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