ABOUT

Welcome to my blog, Ever Present Hope. My name is Susan Schulte. I have a Master’s Degree in counseling and psychological services and a Ph.D. in educational psychology with an emphasis on developmental psychology. For the past 15 years I have worked as a crisis line counselor for a crisis line in a large metropolitan area. I have spoken with callers of a variety of ages, from adolescence to the elderly years, who have called with various concerns. One of the main purposes of a crisis line of course is to help people who are contemplating suicide to not act on their thoughts and to help them to be safe. People who are not suicidal also call because they are struggling with depression or anxiety, having relationship problems, feeling lonely and having difficulty meeting others, grieving the loss of someone they love, and many other issues. As a counselor, I hear about the difficult and sad aspects of people’s lives. And yet I’ve often been struck by how the people I speak with have something that keeps them going, that somewhere within them is a degree of hope. And this is true for all of us, not just for people who feel they need to call a crisis line. All of us as we live each day and experience the various aspects of life, with sometimes things going pretty smoothly and other times having challenges to deal with, are helped by the presence of hope. It my hope that reading my blog will add meaning and hope to your life.