Jessica Gallant, Author at Allen Christian Counseling

About Jessica Gallant

I believe no one should struggle alone and I commend anyone with the courage to reach out for help. As a Licensed Professional Counselor, I offer faith-based therapy for teens, adult individuals, and couples. With empathy, transparency, and honesty, my aim is to act as a professional mentor to guide you through life’s challenges. Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, relationship issues, or other concerns, I would be honored to join you wherever you are on life’s journey as you search to find peace and restoration.

Daily Coping Mechanisms for Stress You Can Start Right Now

Daily Coping Mechanisms for Stress You Can Start Right Now

Jessica Gallant, Kate Motaung2025-06-18T06:08:39+00:00June 18th, 2025|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development|

Overwhelming stress can make you physically, mentally, and emotionally ill. Stress is the body’s natural response to danger. What we perceive as dangerous differs from what our ancestors experienced thousands of years ago. However, our brains still react by releasing hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to help us through perceived danger. Chronic stress causes inflammation, high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, anxiety, panic attacks, sleep issues, digestive problems, appetite changes, and weight gain or loss. Learning coping mechanisms for stress can help you manage these symptoms and ease their effects. Coping Mechanisms for Stress You Can Start Now Looking for quick stress relief? Coping mechanisms for stress should be easy to remember and activities you can do right away. When you feel overwhelmed, take a few minutes to stop and breathe. Take notice of your thoughts and identify any worries or fears that have triggered cortisol release. Next, incorporate one of the following coping mechanisms for stress into your day. Making these coping mechanisms part of your daily routine is best. This way, you manage stress from the start of your day until bedtime. For example, make it a practice to exercise first thing in the morning for twenty minutes, listen to a soothing playlist at lunchtime, read or listen to an audiobook on the commute home, and follow up with a warm bath and a funny show before bed. Adopt a routine that works best for you. Take a deep breath Pause and take a deep breath in. Exhale slowly and deliberately. Deep breathing calms the nervous system and lowers the heart rate. You can practice by inhaling through your nose for the count of four, holding your breath for four counts, and then releasing it through the mouth for another count of four. Try variations of counts [...]

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How Biblical PTSD Counseling Helps

How Biblical PTSD Counseling Helps

Jessica Gallant, Kate Motaung2025-05-28T09:28:21+00:00May 28th, 2025|Featured, Individual Counseling, Trauma|

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the diagnosis used in the mental health field to describe someone who shows symptoms or behaviors for a month or longer, after having experienced or witnessed a potentially traumatic event or series of potentially traumatic events. In PTSD counseling, a traumatic event is defined as one that threatens death, serious injury, or sexual violation.Symptoms are grouped around four different categories: intrusion symptoms, avoidance symptoms, negative changes in mood or cognitive behavior, and alterations in arousal activity (changes in emotional and physiological responses that often occur after experiencing trauma).While these labels are to some benefit, biblical PTSD counseling is helpful in taking away some of the “medical jargon” around what is essentially a “being human” issue, and one that people have struggled with since time began.Ways That Biblical PTSD Counseling Could HelpHere are some ways in which biblical PTSD counseling provides a more comprehensive solution over secular psychology:Biblical PTSD counseling removes the “disorder” labelIt can be devastating for a person seeking out PTSD counseling to receive a diagnosis that makes them feel as though there is no cure. They might feel hopeless and helpless, with the term “disorder” sending a message that they are weak or irrevocably damaged. A trained counselor using biblical insight will assert from the beginning that post-traumatic stress is a normal and common reaction to an extreme situation.It is comforting to hear that far from being disproportionate to what has been experienced, it is in line with a human response to things that are not part of God’s good creation. They are things that are the result of and occurring in a broken world; they will not be present in heaven one day, where “death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have [...]

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Anger in the Bible: Mastering a Challenging Emotion

Anger in the Bible: Mastering a Challenging Emotion

Jessica Gallant, Kate Motaung2025-05-16T07:06:07+00:00May 16th, 2025|Anger Issues, Featured, Individual Counseling|

Anger is an emotion that occurs in just about every situation you can think of. Whether you’re at the grocery store, sitting at a restaurant to have dinner with your date, visiting a sick loved one in the hospital, at the school drop-off zone, or at the park walking your dog, anger isn’t far away. It can sometimes seem as though it is a living thing waiting to escape from its cage if we’re not vigilant. Our life experiences can leave us feeling like anger is inherently dangerous. It can indeed be destructive – to our health, our relationships, and our overall well-being. Perhaps this gut reaction stems from our past brushes with anger, our own and that of others. Anger isn’t typically associated with good times, and often it’s expressed as aggression, and the emotion can end up getting conflated with this particular unhealthy expression of it. We need to nurture a healthier relationship with our anger. It is an emotion the Lord gave us for a reason, but we must handle it wisely as part of our discipleship. Just as we’re bringing everything under the Lordship of Christ, our anger can also be submitted into His hands so that we honor Him with it. Understanding Our Anger Have you ever paused and asked yourself what makes you angry? For most of us, we’re often caught playing catchup with our anger in the aftermath of an ugly interaction with a loved one, colleague, or total stranger. Because it feels unpleasant, we don’t always sit with it and try to understand ourselves and this emotion that’s inside us. What then happens is that next time, we are caught unawares yet again and feel surprised at how we overreacted. Anger is an emotional response that’s often triggered by perceived injustices [...]

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8 Common Habits of Anxious People

8 Common Habits of Anxious People

Jessica Gallant, Kate Motaung2025-04-30T05:51:32+00:00April 30th, 2025|Anxiety, Featured, Individual Counseling|

Anxiety is something we all have to deal with occasionally, but for some, it is a constant experience. Anxiety can be complex, irrational, and sometimes undetectable. However, the people who must deal with anxiety daily will feel the effects of it, whether they know where it comes from or not. Highly anxious people tend to develop similar habits over time. These might serve as indicators or red flags for the presence of anxiety in their lives. Common Habits of Anxious People They get comfort and security from constantly rewatching TV shows Highly anxious people are constantly in fight-or-flight mode and find it difficult to relax and switch off their thoughts. Some people’s coping methods can be damaging in the long-term, such as using copious medication or substances to relax. However, some people with high anxiety use visual media to unwind, and it is usually a movie series or TV show that they have watched before. Studies show that when we watch TV, our brains are less active than when we are asleep. When it is media that we have watched before or a series with a low-stakes plotline, it demands even less from us and makes for a comforting, familiar experience. Some people find comfort in having “background noise,” Even if they are not paying attention to what is happening on the screen, they’d far rather have it playing than not. They suffer from insomnia because of overthinking late at night One of the most frustrating aspects of dealing with anxiety is that the brain doesn’t seem to switch off, even when the body is exhausted. It can often feel that your brain is somehow even sharper late at night when you should be winding down for bed. Some people come to dread the stillness and quiet of late [...]

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Strategies to Seek Help for Depression

Strategies to Seek Help for Depression

Jessica Gallant, Kate Motaung2025-04-16T18:21:41+00:00April 2nd, 2025|Depression, Featured, Individual Counseling, Men’s Issues, Women’s Issues|

Anxiety As one of the most common mental health illnesses, Mental Health America states that more than 8% of American adults (more than 21 million) are affected by major depression and an alarming 15% of youth aged 12-17. The number of people who struggle with some sort of depressive disorder is likely far higher, and it is said that only about a third of people who suffer seek help for depression. Depression and Christianity have in some circles earned a bad name for how depression has been treated – as something that can be simply “prayed away” or a sinful response that fails to focus on the joy of the Lord that has been given to believers. These are unhelpful approaches to supporting someone who is struggling, and unlikely to bring the help for depression that is so needed. Indeed, the treatment for depression is in no way one-dimensional; just as it can’t necessarily be “prayed away”, it is also unlikely to disappear just by “taking a pill.” For Christians battling depression, it is important to arm yourself with strategies that include both a spiritual, medical, and psychological component. Seeking Help for Depression Help for depression is likely to come from a combination of these aspects, and a biblically trained counselor will be able to walk the journey with you as you seek healing. Here are some of the strategies, with some less conventional approaches to fighting well: Visit your healthcare professional as a first point of call If you have experienced symptoms that don’t go away in a reasonable period, the first thing to do to get help for depression is to visit your healthcare professional. The most common symptoms of depression include feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness, or hopelessness that occur nearly every day. They also include [...]

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How to Deal With a Bad Friendship

How to Deal With a Bad Friendship

Jessica Gallant, Kate Motaung2025-03-26T10:30:01+00:00March 21st, 2025|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Relationship Issues|

Friendship is one of many good gifts that God gives us. In the wisdom literature of the Bible, there are several sayings relating to friendship such as, “A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24, NIV). We see many examples of friendship throughout the Bible and in history; some of these are great, like David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel of the Old Testament, or the friendship the Inklings had. This was a group of friends in the 1930s and 1940s which included authors J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams, Warren Lewis, and others. A good friendship can steer you in the right direction, while a poor one can amplify the worst parts of your character. Having the wisdom to discern between a good and a bad friendship, as well as a good from a bad friend, is invaluable and can save you a lot of heartache. What does a bad friendship look like? One of the Christian writers in modern history who has written extensively on friendship is C.S. Lewis. Friendship permeates just about all of Lewis’ writing, but in a book called The Four Loves, Lewis writes at length about friendship due in part to being connected to a close-knit group of like-minded men who shared his passion for communicating truth. One of the marks of a bad friendship is that it’s fragmented with jealousy. This jealousy can take the form of unhealthy competition between friends, such as when friends begrudge and are bitter about each other’s successes instead of jubilant. The other form of jealousy that can take place and that makes for a bad friendship is when someone is unwilling to share their friend with others. Lewis wrote the [...]

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Tips for Getting Rid of Bitterness in Relationships

Tips for Getting Rid of Bitterness in Relationships

Jessica Gallant, Kate Motaung2025-02-21T06:58:01+00:00February 21st, 2025|Featured, Individual Counseling, Relationship Issues|

There are some hilarious content creators out there on social media. Humor is deeply subjective, but it can be endlessly fascinating to see TikToks or YouTube clips about babies tasting something like a lemon for the first time. Many find themselves puckering their lips as the first sensations of sourness tantalize their tastebuds, faces screwed up into all manner of expressions. Less hilarious, but no less powerful, is how a person reacts when certain people in their lives are mentioned or enter a room. Adults are more adept at hiding their discomfort, but there are always telltale signs that something sour, akin to a lemon, has been introduced into the mix. It might be crossed arms, or visible signs of disgust on a person’s face that alert you to what they’re feeling. Things don’t always go swimmingly in our relationships. When they don’t, one of the results is bitterness developing between people. This makes the relationship difficult to enjoy and can eventually lead to the relationship ending. The Roots of Bitterness in Relationships Feelings of resentment, anger, and bitterness can creep into any relationship. While interacting with one another, people may say and do things that elicit these feelings. That much is mostly inevitable, but what matters is what you both proceed to do after that. It’s helpful to know the sorts of behaviors and attitudes that tend to generate bitterness and resentment to avoid those, and it also helps to know how to resolve the situation. Bitterness is an expression of having been hurt in some way by someone. Bitterness is one of the emotions that alert you to what’s going on in your world; you typically experience it when things haven’t gone well. Some of these situations include the following: Being ignored or not heard If you [...]

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10 Bible Verses to Help You Remember Who You Are in God’s Eyes

10 Bible Verses to Help You Remember Who You Are in God’s Eyes

Jessica Gallant, Kate Motaung2025-01-11T06:11:34+00:00January 15th, 2025|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Personal Development, Spiritual Development|

It is human nature to be easily enticed or confused by the materialistic and fake society we live in. Unless you remember who you are in the sight of the Lord, you may live your life as a mere shadow of your true self. As the world gets increasingly fast-paced, the lines between what is real and what is false, or who is genuine and who is a pretender, have become blurred. It is easy to lose your identity in a world that is getting further away from the original description of the life God had intended for us from the time of creation. The only way to hold on to your original purpose on earth and remember who you are is to align your everyday life with biblical truth. Thankfully, you have the gift of Scripture, which paints a wonderful picture of how and why God created us and reminds His people of who they are in Him. Who do you think you are? Which answers do you give first when people ask who you are? If you’re being honest, your answers are probably one or all of the following: Your birth name. Your gender. Your marital status. Your profession. Your interests. Your family. Technically and lawfully, this is all correct. These are the characteristics that help society distinguish one person from another. This perfectly curated checklist is who you are in the eyes of the government and all those around you. However, is your legal checklist the sum of who you really are? Consider the fact that any one of those items listed up there can now be legally altered, renounced, or changed. For example, there are plenty of people who have lived half their lives using one name, then change it for one reason or another, [...]

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How to Avoid Work Burnout

How to Avoid Work Burnout

Jessica Gallant, Kate Motaung2025-01-10T05:58:45+00:00January 10th, 2025|Coaching, Featured, Individual Counseling, Professional Development|

Love it or hate it, work is one of those things that needs doing. Most of us spend a significant portion of our lives working and we do so to earn a living, which allows us to take care of our responsibilities and gives us room to enjoy things like vacations. Work can be enjoyable, but it is also often quite stressful. One of the major sources of stress in people’s lives is their work, and that stress can cause considerable damage to one’s health. One of the challenges that comes with work is the possibility of work burnout. Being able to identify when you’re on the way to burnout, and how to recover from it can help you immensely. What is work burnout? Work burnout, also known as job burnout, is a form of stress related to one’s work. When a person is burned out, they are worn out physically, mentally, and emotionally, as a response to constant stress. Some people may feel as though they are powerless and empty, or they may feel useless. The term ‘burnout’ is relatively new, coined around 1974. However, the experience described by that term is quite common, and is marked by a loss of pleasure in one’s work, a lack of motivation to get work done, and the sense of inability to do that work and complete assigned tasks. A person who is burned out or on the road to it may find themselves struggling with simple tasks or having uncharacteristically angry or irritable responses to loved ones. Some of the signs that you may have burnout or are on the way to burnout include not being able to get a good night’s rest, feeling disconnected from your work, every day feeling like a bad day, having trouble telling the days [...]

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Bible Verses About Grief to Help You Express Your Loss

Bible Verses About Grief to Help You Express Your Loss

Jessica Gallant, Kate Motaung2024-11-13T11:11:43+00:00October 14th, 2024|Featured, Grief Counseling, Individual Counseling, Spiritual Development|

At its heart, grief is the often-prolonged sadness we feel after a loss of some kind. Sometimes the loss is concrete, such as the death of a loved one, the loss of a relationship due to divorce or moving away, or the loss of a pregnancy, job, health, or possessions. At other times the loss may be more abstract, such as the loss of an opportunity or the death of hopes and dreams In the Bible, God invites us to draw near to Him when we are grieving, no matter the reason for our loss. He is the only one who can really understand how we feel. When dealing with grief, our emotions can be complicated. Sometimes we feel anger, betrayal, or even relief mixed in with our sadness, which can be confusing to understand. However, this is normal and quite common. We are complex creatures, able to feel two or more contradictory emotions at the same time. Think of the happiness yet sadness that can be present in certain memories and celebrations – anniversaries, birthdays, holidays, etc. At times it seems that there is an unspoken time limit on feeling sad, after which we are supposed to cheer up and get over it. Feelings, especially grief, have no time limit. Yet grief is something that even months or years later can sneak up on us and bring us to tears or even to our knees all over again. Processing grief is just that – a process that moves more in cycles and patterns rather than progressing through linear stages. We know the reality is we can feel and experience all these “stages” in any order at any time. Maybe they are familiar to you: shock, denial, anger, depression, and acceptance. As time passes, the intensity of our feelings [...]

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Jessica Gallant

About Jessica Gallant

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Allen Christian Counseling

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