• teenager with headphones laptop

    Raising Teenagers with Good Values

    By John A. Leber Jr. MA, PLPC Having worked in education for over  six years as a counselor, teacher, and coach, I’ve found one  troubling question that keeps presenting itself: Who is raising our teenagers and from where do they get their values and sense of worth?  The obvious answer would be that their parents are raising them and are instilling the appropriate values and beliefs.  Unfortunately, we need to question this belief and realize that our teenagers are absorbing information and often taking action based on what they see and hear from mass media. The halls of our local high schools are filled with thousands of students, nearly all…

  • a lesson in marital surrender

    Lose and Win at the Same Time: A Lesson from Jesus on Marital Surrender

    By Kristy Cobillas, MEd, PLPC We know in this chapter that Jesus was talking about how the Christ follower is to lay down (or sacrifice) what he or she wants and how he or she thinks things should be, in order to follow the way that is laid out by Christ Jesus. This same concept of surrender can be applied to the marital unit. Paul states in Ephesians 5:21 that husbands and wives ought to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”  For many, this idea of submission becomes scary as neither one wants to be the one to lose. The couple becomes gridlocked over seemingly intractable issues…

  • Newsletter Nov 2014 logo

    Bridge to Wholeness: Volume 1 Issue 4 November 2014

      Welcome to the November 2014 Issue of the Agape newsletter, Bridge to Wholeness! Our monthly newsletter is the best way for you to keep up with what is going on around Agape, with events and updates, and articles written by our counselors. We hope it will help bring you a little bit closer to emotional, mental, and spiritual wholeness! In this issue (click to read individual articles): Raising Teenagers with Good Values by John Leber, Jr., MA, PLPC Lose and Win at the Same Time: A Lesson from Jesus on Marital Surrender by Kristy Cobillas, MEd, PLPC Mommy & Holiday Stress by Kathryn Manley, MS, LPC, CST How to…

  • Letchworth State Park Rail Bridge Heights Phobia Therapy St Louis

    Heights: It’s All About the Altitude

    By Jessica Stillman For as long as I can remember, I have had a fear of heights. One vivid memory I have involving fear and heights is from a church trip I took to Buffalo, New York when I was in middle school. We went to a state park and one of the attractions of this park was the hiking trails and lookout points at the top of the cliffs. This park is advertised as the “Grand Canyon of the East”, so you can imagine how high up these lookout points are. Near one, there is a train track bridge that goes between two cliffs several hundred feet above the…