JerriBonner

Education & Degrees
ABJ in Advertising-Public Relations
Henry Grady School of Journalism
University of Georgia

Masters in Social Work
University of Georgia

Experience
I started my career as a news editor for weekly newspapers. I worked with words, order, creativity and direction. For the last 30 years, as a psychotherapist, I have worked with people, their lives, their feelings, their transitions. When my clients came to me dissatisfied with their jobs or their direction in school, I wanted to offer them more concrete information about what fit well for them and how. That led me to the Highlands Program. I have been certified since 2001 as a Highlands provider.

Helping people know more about themselves helps them lead their lives and choose their paths from a position of strength. It is not enough to know how smart you are. To be successful and satisfied, you need to know how you are smart.

Focus
My work revolves around developing students and adults on their quest for college and career success. Everyone has the ability to go for their highest potential, and my aim is to help discover and reinforce that potential. We work together to make the next step possible.

Strengths
As a career and college consultant, my strength lies in my 30 years as a psychotherapist and family therapist. I am able to weave the emotional/personality part of life choices with the information from the Highlands Battery and the Highlands 8 Factor personal vision model.

I have worked for more than 15 years with employees from major corporations and the Federal Government through Employee Assistance Programs, assisting them through the transition of downsizing, reorganizations and promotions.

My caring and commitment foster both students and adults to reach for their best selves.

Clients
I work with high school and college students and adults in the workforce or reentering the workforce. I also offer the Highlands with student groups and nonprofit organizations.

My professional identification as a therapist is a great complement to my work with the Highlands program. Once you know yourself, you have a much better understanding of how to work with and get along with colleagues, fellow students, professors, bosses. It saves a lot of time and worry.

Statements & Testimonials
Student

"Taking the Highlands Abilities Battery and working with Jerri was very instrumental for me in picking my major. Earlier, I had confused my hobby, a love of the outdoors, with a career. Learning that a career in forestry didn´t fit well with my personality or strengths at all saved me from wasting time in school. Currently I ´m getting a business degree in entrepreneurship. This suits me much more." – B.F.M., Auburn University.

"When my son took the Highlands, we already knew he was good in math. The new information he received reaffirmed his decision to become an engineering major. It helped a lot to better understand what role he was most comfortable with and how he learned best." – B.A., mother of a senior at Tulane University .

Adult

"The decision to take the Highlands Abilities Battery was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It explained so many things about my personality and my style of learning. It lead me to my true passion which is acting and also speaking. I am currently an entertainment reporter for a radio show. I am also taking acting classes and am scheduled to appear in my first commercial later this month. I have you and the assessment to thank for a lot of that. I gained the confidence to know that the direction I was supposed to go in was the exact direction that deep down I always wanted to go in. I tell everyone I know about the Highlands and what it did for me." – SW, Atlanta.

"The Highlands abilities test helped best by letting me understand and utilize inborn traits that I unfortunately could not see previously. You know haw they say, "You can´t see the forest for the trees." I could not "se" my inner strengths. The Highlands put it right in front of my eyes. I was able to discover that I am at my very best in a team environment with a lot of people around in a large organization. I apparently need a lot of feedback and communication of how I am performing my job. I am also very happy when my job helps other people or makes them feel good.

With this information, I changed careers into healthcare, specifically diagnostic imaging in cardiology. I now work in a large hospital in a cardiology department that staffs 75 professionals. I am on a team that helps save peoples´ lives everyday, and this gives me tremendous personal satisfaction. I am very proud of this." – David Fisher, RDCS.