Should I use the Workbench Access module to implement the workflow we have in mind? I am new to Drupal altogether and have a question about a site i was asked to work on. We think that Workbench Access will solve our problem but we have not yet figured out how to make it work the way we want. 

I have a large site and I have the users setup, and Roles setup, etc. But what I want to do is let users edit submit edits (for approval) on only one portion of the site (the staff portion to edit/update their own info). I also want an email to be sent (to me) for letting me know they submitted a "needs review" request if possible. 

I know this might be a lot to go over but I would really love any help or a good walk through for this.
The Workbench Access module seems to only partially cover your needs. 
If it was up to me to implement a solution for the challenge you're trying to solve, I'd go for another approach, as further detailed below.

Have a look at my answers to either of these questions:


How to implement a multi step approval with webforms/entityforms based on form components?
How can I allow anonymous visitors to submit content?


These answers explain how you can implement a workflow that is pretty (though not exactly) similar to what you are looking for.

To do so, it "only" requires you to use these modules (and regular content types):


Rules.
Node Convert.
Flag.
Content Access.


And by using such approach, it does not require modules like "Webform" or "Workbench" (modules that are typically involved for these kinds of workfows).