Lived experience. Real tools.

Navigating life & Mental Health, between the
ups and downs

Practical workbooks rooted in
lived experience & peer mentorship.

About
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A moth rests inside a dimly lit, decaying room - fragile, eerie, and quietly alive

WHO IS BEHIND THIS

This is not a clinical resource.
It is something more personal than that.

upsanddowns was built by Stef - someone who has lived with bipolar disorder since her twenties, spent three years as a certified senior peer mentor at the MUHC, and attended DBT herself.

Not a therapist. Not a researcher. Someone who has walked the road and found tools that actually helped.

This site exists to make that information accessible - and genuinely pleasant to work with. Because navigating your mental health should not feel like homework.

THE FOUNDATION

Tools built for intensity.
Made for real life.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy - DBT - was developed to help people work with intense emotions rather than be swept away by them. It gives you concrete, practised skills for the moments that tend to be hardest.

Mentally rehearsing a skilful response before a difficult moment means you are not starting from zero when it arrives.

What makes DBT different is that it works with your brain, not against it. Coping ahead uses the same neural pathways as real experience.

You do not need a diagnosis to benefit from these tools. You just need a willingness to practise before you need them most.

A luminous earth floats inside a crumbling interior - grounded and vast at once
Starting Early workbook cover - a woman sits by a large window gazing at an open landscape, holding the workbook
A woman works at her desk surrounded by flowers blooming inside a weathered, crumbling room

THE FIRST WORKBOOK

A workbook that meets you
before the wave hits.

Starting Early is a DBT workbook built on one core idea: you do not have to wait for a crisis to use these skills. The whole point is to practise them before you need them most.

Written by a certified senior peer mentor with lived experience of bipolar disorder and trained at the MUHC, this workbook introduces five DBT skills chosen specifically for navigating intense emotional cycles. No prior experience required.

Each section explains what the skill is, why it matters, and how to use it. There is space throughout to write, reflect, and practise. Work through it in order - or go straight to what feels most relevant right now.

  • Wise Mind
  • Coping Ahead
  • TIP / TIPP
  • Radical Acceptance
  • DEAR MAN
$29.99 Yes, Starting Early

THIS IS FOR YOU

You do not have to be in crisis
to want better tools.

A tornado spirals through the interior of a home - raw emotional intensity made visible
When the cycles are familiar

When the cycles are familiar

For anyone living with bipolar disorder, BPD, or any condition where emotions move fast and hit hard. You already know the pattern. This workbook helps you prepare for it.

When you are ready to start before it starts

For anyone exploring DBT for the first time, or looking for something practical to work through between sessions - on your own terms, at your own pace.

A giant hourglass stands inside a crumbling room - time held still, awareness made tangible
When you are ready to start before it starts

This work can help anyone willing to show up for themselves
before the storm arrives.

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