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Chronic Illness

Chronic Illness

By Heather O'Neil|2025-03-31T01:15:31-06:00March 31st, 2025|Chronic Illness, Uptown Counseling|

CHRONIC ILLNESS In my practice I work with people who have chronic illness, which is defined as a disease that persists for 6 months or more, requires medical attention, has significant impact on daily life and may not have a cure. I have done this work for a long time and have found that therapy can be an integral part of this chronic illness journey. It helps process the feelings and emotions that develop when diagnosed. It allows space to learn self-care strategies that are critical for people living with a chronic condition and it also enables people to learn mindfulness skills and boundaries that are needed when you are dealing with a new “normal” in your life. Today, I also wanted to talk [...]

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Happy Holidays??

By Heather O'Neil|2025-03-31T01:15:56-06:00December 13th, 2019|Anxiety, Stress Management, Uptown Counseling|

HAPPY HOLIDAYS?? We are in the heart of the holiday season and although we get a lot of messaging about this being a joyful time to spend with loved ones, it is often mixed with anxiety, depression and stress. At this time of year my practice is busy. Often spending time with extended family can be difficult. Past grievances flair back up, old patterns of behavior reappear and we are often drinking more, sleeping less and feeling financially strained … which adds to our difficulty coping. So how do you get through this season a little more gracefully? First, by acknowledging that holidays are difficult for people. Some people are struggling with the death loss of a loved one or dealing with families [...]

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Traumatic Words

By Heather O'Neil|2025-03-31T01:16:45-06:00July 31st, 2017|Trauma, Uptown Counseling|

TRAUMATIC WORDS I overheard a conversation in my gym the other day about how people take things too personally and how it might be easier if people could let go of things quicker. This brought up a mix of emotions from me as I believe there is truth to this and a sense of privilege. We all need to be able to find some humor and humility in our humanness, but we need to recognize how much privilege there is in having a safe enough life/existence to doing this. In working with clients who have experienced trauma and having experienced my own, I know we take things more personally than would be beneficial for us. Our active fight or flight systems are constantly alert [...]

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Reducing Anxiety

By Heather O'Neil|2025-03-31T01:17:57-06:00September 29th, 2016|Anxiety, Uptown Counseling|

REDUCING ANXIETY Lately I’ve been thinking about anxiety and how many people I see in my office that are experiencing intense anxiety symptoms like insomnia, increased heart rate and blood pressure, a daily feeling of worry and not being able to “get it all done”. This culture of multitasking and having it all, just isn’t working for most people. We are tired, overwhelmed and feel little joy. The changing of seasons can be a transition time and an opportunity for change in our lives. Although change can be difficult, there are small steps we can take that have big payoff in our well-being. The following 5 suggestions are things that I am committing to do more of this fall and winter and offer [...]

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Stressed Out And Anxious

By Heather O'Neil|2025-03-31T01:18:31-06:00January 25th, 2016|Stress Management, Uptown Counseling|

STRESSED OUT AND ANXIOUS Have you noticed how busy we all are lately? Everyone talks about being "stressed out"! The world we live in with cell phones, video conferencing, Instagram, snap chat, etc. is lively and interactive, but it can also feel overwhelming and stressful. As I see more and more clients who are coming in with stress related to living in a 2016 world, I have been contemplating what we can do about this overload. One of the challenges we face is to not get caught up in what a client of mine refers to as "fomo" - fear of missing out. The idea that if we don't do it all, we will somehow miss out on something really important. However, we might want [...]

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“Work” In A Marriage

By Heather O'Neil|2025-03-31T01:19:00-06:00September 2nd, 2015|Couples Counseling, Uptown Counseling|

"WORK" IN A MARRIAGE What does it really mean to "work" in a marriage? With all of the news about the Ashley Madison site breach I've been thinking about why we commit to marriage and why we cheat. All of this thinking brought me to the reality of how much work it actually takes to make a marriage successful. Popular culture has set us up to believe if things don't come easy, they aren't meant to be. In my own marriage and in the couples that I've counseled through the years this concept doesn't paint an accurate picture. I've been married for 16 years this November and my perspective on working in a marriage has changed over time. My husband and I initially had [...]

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Spring Cleaning

By Heather O'Neil|2025-03-31T01:19:22-06:00April 15th, 2015|Mindfulness Training, Uptown Counseling|

SPRING CLEANING Spring is finally here! This time of year often insights energy ... to clean the house, get the yard in order and just be out and about more. What if it was also about cleaning our "internal" house, our bodies, mind and spirit? We often see these three things as separate, but I'm here to remind you that they are intricately connected. When one of these domains is "off" we will feel out of balance in our whole self. This post will offer some ideas on how to utilize the energy of spring to reconnect with our whole selves and get our "internal" house in order. Let's start with the body. We have so much research and information at our disposal [...]

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Endings and Beginnings

By Heather O'Neil|2025-03-31T01:19:45-06:00January 7th, 2015|Trauma, Anxiety, Uptown Counseling|

ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS It's 2015, the beginning of a new year! For some of us we were happy to see the end of 2014 and for others, we go into the new year with trepidation for the unknown to come. With this in mind I thought I'd write a bit on endings today. For without endings, beginnings can't happen. The basic definition of 'ending' is an end or final part of something. We often have difficulty ending things. How many of you have known that a relationship needs to end, but can't communicate this with your partner. Maybe you do something that will make them so angry that they end the relationship. Or maybe you continue on because it is easier than ending [...]

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Coping With Family Stress During The Holidays

By Heather O'Neil|2025-03-31T01:14:03-06:00November 13th, 2014|Stress Management, Uptown Counseling|

COPING WITH FAMILY STRESS DURING THE HOLIDAYS To officially kick off this blog, I thought I'd start with a subject that everyone can relate to: family. As fall moves in and the leaves begin to drop, we start to think about holiday planning, which leads to how we will be spending time with our families (family of "origin" or "created" families). Regardless of whether you have a well functioning family or a more chaotic family, this time of the year can create stress. We are told that family is important (family IS important) and should be our priority, but my experience as a therapist and my personal experience with being a part of a less-than-perfect family have given me some insight into how [...]

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