By Hywania Thompson | Photography by Hillary Schave
Sarah Branch’s calming and quietly confident presence belies an interesting juxtaposition: One of her businesses involves breaking stuff. We’ll get to that.
In 2020, Branch began exploring holistic wellness, turning to natural practices and products to support her mental, physical and emotional healing.
“When I realized those things were working for me, I knew that I needed to tell the community about them,” Branch says. She created Earthly Temptation Wellness, which sells handcrafted products like body butter, oils and herbal teas. She also offers workshops making herbal teas and essential oils, and leads sound bath sessions.
It was during one of those sound bath sessions a client told Branch they felt at peace afterwards — but wished they had a place go to when they felt overwhelmed or angry. That inspired her to open Crash Box Therapy, a business aimed at helping folks to let out stress by yelling, smashing and breaking items.
“This model … normalizes emotional wellness using accessible, non-traditional tools — turning physical expression, sensory engagement and holistic practices into real interventions for anxiety and stress,” explains Branch.
Unlike other “rage rooms,” Crash Box Therapy pairs the cathartic practice with reflective, grounding practices afterward, including sound healing, tea rituals, journaling and aromatherapy.
Branch is merging both businesses into a “community-rooted wellness hub in Fitchburg.” Her 2026 plans focus on expanding into youth programming with a bevy of options, including launching two new signature programs (one for middle and high schoolers, and one for young adults) building on partnerships with schools and youth organizations to deliver onsite programming, and hosting four free community wellness events for families.
“[We] will have a measurable impact on the people we serve by giving youth and families practical, affirming ways to identify and manage their emotions, heal past wounds and build self-worth,” says Branch. “We are already building partnerships, developing programming, and laying the physical and operational foundation to bring this vision to life.”
When did you feel like you really hit your stride in your work?
“[I] started noticing how many times people reached out to me to speak on a panel or host a workshop. I [realized] what I was doing actually had a profound impact on my community.”
