Help with barre chords progress [NEWBIE]

Hey all,

I’m at the point where I can “barre” across all 6 strings, but I don’t have any calluses on the length of my index and I can’t hold the barre without the support of my other 4 fingers. So I can’t really play chords yet.

I’m thinking I just need to build up hand strength but I’m concerned that I might pick up some bad habits at this stage. As I understand it, barre chords require not only strength but a certain leveraging of the instrument to help maintain pressure. How would you approach practicing at this stage?