Dr. Sara B Dupuis, Ph.D, LP, LMFT

12/22/2025

12/17/2025

The holidays can be meaningful and overwhelming at the same time. If your nervous system feels tired or on edge, nothing is wrong with you. This season asks a lot of us emotionally.

Consider this your reminder that self compassion matters, boundaries are allowed, rest is necessary, and support is something you deserve. Healing does not pause during the holidays. Sometimes it begins by slowing down and listening to what your body needs most.

If this season is bringing up more than you expected, trauma focused therapy can offer a steady place to land. You do not have to carry it all alone.

12/11/2025

There comes a point in healing when you realize the weight you are carrying is not a personal failing. It is your nervous system doing its best to protect you. Trauma lives in the body as much as the mind, and it quietly shapes your reactions, your relationships, and the way you move through the world.

Sara specializes in helping clients understand and transform these deeper patterns with powerful, evidence based trauma modalities. She is trained in Internal Family Systems, EMDR, Accelerated Resolution Therapy, and Brainspotting. These approaches reach the core layers of the nervous system where emotional memories, survival responses, and old protective strategies are stored. As the body begins to release what has been held for years, you feel more grounded, more connected, and more yourself.

If you are ready to explore trauma focused therapy, or want to know which modality may best support your healing journey, Sara welcomes you to reach out and start a conversation. Your next chapter can begin with a single step.

12/05/2025

It’s what happens when your early experiences taught you that connection was fragile, unpredictable, or unsafe. Maybe you were ignored, criticized, dismissed, shamed, or expected to perform perfectly to be accepted. You may feel some of these:

1. Emotional Intensity: Small misunderstandings feel huge. Your nervous system reacts as if you’re being abandoned, even when you’re not.

2. Avoidance Behavior: You pull back first so no one gets close enough to hurt you.
Distance feels safer than risk.

3. People-Pleasing: You over-give, over-explain, or over-accommodate to avoid disappointing anyone.

4. Sensitivity to Tone or Body Language: A change in someone’s mood can send you into spirals, even when it's not about you.

5. Overthinking Relationships: You replay conversations, search for hidden meaning, or assume you did something wrong.

6. Fear of Asking for What You Need: You silence yourself to avoid being seen as "too much" or difficult.

7. Staying in Unhealthy Relationships: You tolerate more than you should because rejection feels more threatening than dysfunction.

8. Hesitation to Try New Things: Opportunities feel risky because failure or criticism feels personal and not situational.

9. Hyper-independence: You rely only on yourself to avoid depending on someone who could let you down.

10. Self-Rejection Before Others Can Reject You. You talk down to yourself, shrink your personality, or dismiss your own needs to “beat them to it.”

Why This Matters

Rejection trauma affects far more than your relationships. it affects how you live, love, communicate, and trust yourself.

12/04/2025

As we move toward a new year, now is a powerful time to slow down and reflect on how you want to show up in your relationships. Instead of setting rigid resolutions, consider creating intentions that support emotional clarity, steady growth, and healthier connection.
Relationship intentions help you tune into your needs, communicate with more honesty, and choose relationships that feel grounded and reciprocal. Small shifts in awareness can lead to meaningful change over time.

If you are noticing patterns you want to better understand or you are craving a more aligned way of relating, therapy can offer support and guidance. Sara and her team provide a compassionate space to explore your emotional landscape and create intentions that honor your wellbeing.

Ready to begin your relationship reset for 2026?
Connect with Stepping Stones Therapy to take the next step.
www.saradupuisdr.com/stepping-stones-therapy

11/30/2025

Gratitude does more than shift your mood. It shifts the way you show up in your relationships. When we name what we appreciate in someone, it strengthens trust, connection, and emotional safety.

Here is how gratitude supports healthy relationships:
• It helps you both notice what is going well instead of what is missing.
• It signals safety to the brain, making communication easier.
• It builds openness and appreciation on both sides.

Try this:
Choose one person in your life and name something specific you appreciate about them today. Say it out loud or send it in a message. Small moments of gratitude can soften tension, rebuild closeness, and remind both of you that the relationship matters.

11/21/2025

Healthy relationships grow through honest moments, not by avoiding conflict. When tension rises, what matters most is how we stay connected while caring for our own emotions.

When overwhelm or old wounds get activated, shutting down often feels like the safest option. That is when the difference between a wall and a boundary becomes powerful. A wall is a reflex that closes us off. A boundary is a clear, steady invitation for connection that feels safe.

Walls usually come from fear or emotional overload. They close the door and make it harder for understanding to happen. Boundaries are different. They come from clarity, and they help two people stay in a relationship while honoring what each person needs.

In EFT, we slow everything down so we can understand what is happening underneath the shutdown. Is it fear. Is it hurt? Is it a need that has not been voiced yet. When we can name these emotions, our boundaries begin to support closeness instead of cutting it off.

Practice:
The next time you feel yourself pulling away, try saying, “I need a few minutes to gather my thoughts so I can stay connected when we talk.” This simple pause creates room for calm, clarity, and repair.

Your boundaries are not a burden. They are a pathway to connection that feels safe, loving, and sustainable.