December/

January 2026


Welcome back to our Monthly Counseling Toolkit! We created these counseling toolkits to introduce you to some counseling topics, provide tools and resources you can use in your own life, and encourage you in your life journey, wherever you find yourself. And let you know what’s happening at The Barnabas Center. Thank you for your support!

The holiday season is a wonderful time of the year. But it can also be a very challenging time too. Many of us have lost loved ones recently or in years past and the holiday season is difficult to anticipate and manage. Missing our loved ones at special meals and holiday celebrations brings up feelings of grief. Or the holidays can bring up other emotions like regret, frustration, and sadness because life hasn’t turned out as you imagined.

This month’s Counseling Toolkit focuses on grief around the holidays. Whether you have experienced grief from death or a relationship ending, or unfulfilled dreams, it’s important to consider grief as an opportunity to help you transform your painful circumstances. Exploring and experiencing grief will bring hope and healing to your pain. Please reach out to us at The Barnabas Center for grief counseling this holiday season to bring a trained counselor alongside you in your grief journey. And consider some of the recommended books to shed light on what grief is, how to move through grief, and what waits for you on the other side.

A few additional items this month–check out a fun recipe to make gingerbread men and a great Advent book, Honest Advent, to guide you through this season. Christians celebrate Advent beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and it's derived from the word meaning “arrival.” It is a season when we look back to Christ’s first coming, as a baby born in Bethlehem, and look forward to his second coming when he will return to renew and redeem every part of fallen creation. Jesus Christ has come and will come again. The Advent season is a time to reflect upon the promises of God and to anticipate the fulfillment of those promises. It is a time for remembering and rejoicing and grieving. Pastor Tim Keller says, “The world is a dark place, and yet the coming of Jesus Christ shows us no one and nothing is hopeless.”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Grief as Growth

Gather with Loved Ones

Why is Pre-Martial counseling important?

Pre-Marital counseling is a form of couples therapy that can help you and your partner prepare for marriage. Pre-Marital counseling helps couples build a healthy and solid foundation ahead of the long-term commitment of marriage, identify areas of conflict in the relationship, and provide effective tools to navigate them successfully. And explore topics like family of origin, finances, intimacy, and expectations in marriage. 

Pre-Marital counseling also aims to improve the quality of friendship between you and your partner, increase intimacy and understanding, and help you build a stronger relationship.

Research shows that couples who go through Pre-Marital counseling have a higher relationship satisfaction and greater buffer for stress later on in marriage. Plus, going through Pre-Marital counseling when things are going well is much more enjoyable!

What subjects come up in premarital counseling?

-Family of origin exploration

-Stress management and self-care

-Communication and conflict

-Emotional engagement

-Faith and values 

-Finances and money

-Sex and romance

-Children and parenting

-Roles, goals, and life dreams

Book Club

A Note on Books...

We often recommend books to clients as a resource to dig deeper into topics that come up during sessions and to further personal insight into our current struggles, behaviors, and relationships.

Books can help expand what’s happening in the counseling session and widen our understanding of ourselves and our experiences. And sometimes reading about real-life people or characters and their experiences can provide an emotional release and a sense of connection–we aren’t alone in our experiences!

Plus, reading can be a mindful activity that reduces stress and offers a great escape from our daily stressors. We’ll continue to offer book recommendations through our Book Club as well as books that supplement our Counseling Toolkit!

To learn more about our counseling services reach out to us below to connect directly via e-mail or visit our website.

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Reach out to us at connect@barnabascenterhou.com with questions about our counseling services, or visit www.barnabascenterhou.com for more information and to schedule an appointment.