Center for Growth and Connection

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Pasadena, CA
Center for Growth and Connection

Center for Growth & Connection offers virtual and in-person therapy in California and Virginia.

Specializing in individual, couples, and family therapy, we help clients navigate anxiety, burnout, codependency, relationship issues, and life transitions. At the Center for Growth & Connection, our experienced therapists provide personalized, evidence-based therapy to individuals, couples, and families in Los Angeles and within California. We offer individual therapy, couples therapy, marriage counseling, family therapy, and group therapy in a safe, supportive environment. Our mission is to help clients improve communication, manage anxiety and depression, strengthen relationships, and foster personal growth. Schedule a consultation today to start your journey toward wellness.

01/27/2026

Now forming: a new Women’s Gray Divorce Group.

Divorce later in life often carries layers that aren’t immediately visible — grief, identity shifts, changes in family roles, and uncertainty about what comes next. This 8-week, women-only, time-limited group therapy experience is designed to offer support and reflection in a grounded, professionally facilitated space.

Open to California residents only. See flyer for more details and to express interest.

01/26/2026

Slowing down can be an act of care, and it can also be a way of staying stuck.

The difference is not always obvious from the outside. It lives in the internal experience of the pause.

When you find yourself pulling back or pacing a relationship, it can be helpful to gently ask what is guiding that choice. Here are some questions to reflect on:

• Am I slowing down because I feel overwhelmed, or because I feel disconnected from myself?

• Does this pace help me stay present with my feelings, or does it help me avoid feeling them?

• Am I creating space to reflect and regulate, or creating distance to feel relief?

• When I pause, do I return with more clarity, or with more reasons to stay away?

• Am I checking in with my values and needs, or organizing my choices around fear of discomfort?

• Does this pacing support honesty with myself and others, or does it protect me from vulnerability?

• After slowing down, do I feel more grounded in my body, or more numb and detached?

Healing-supportive pacing often brings more honesty, even when it is uncomfortable. Avoidant pacing often brings short term relief, paired with growing distance from self and connection.

Neither needs to be judged. What matters is whether your choices are expanding your capacity to stay with yourself, or quietly shrinking it.

—

Looking for support? Feel free to reach out!

📞Phone: (626) 702 - 3485
💌Email: admin@centerforgrowthandconnection.com

—

01/23/2026

After a breakup, many people believe clarity has to come first. A clear answer. A clear sense of readiness. A guarantee it won’t hurt again.

But self trust is built in motion, not in waiting.

It grows when you notice your reactions and stay with yourself anyway. When you set limits without cutting yourself off. When you learn that discomfort does not mean danger.

You are not meant to feel sure of everything before you begin again. You are meant to know how to stay connected to yourself as you do.

—

Looking for support? Feel free to reach out!

📞Phone: (626) 702 - 3485
💌Email: admin@centerforgrowthandconnection.com

—

01/21/2026

Dating readiness is a question people ask with a lot of pressure underneath it. Am I healed enough? Am I ready enough?

What this really comes down to is capacity. The capacity to stay connected to yourself when emotions come up. The ability to pause instead of rushing for reassurance, clarity, or intensity just to feel steady.

You can still grieve. You can still feel fear. What matters is that you trust yourself to respond with care rather than abandoning yourself in the process. That kind of self trust creates a very real form of emotional safety, both with yourself and with someone new.

—

Looking for support? Feel free to reach out!

📞Phone: (626) 702 - 3485
💌Email: admin@centerforgrowthandconnection.com

—

01/19/2026

A lot of people expect healing to erase their reactions. What actually shifts is the relationship you have with them.

You notice sooner when something familiar is getting activated.

You have more room to pause instead of acting on impulse.

You can reflect on what is happening inside you without immediately turning it into a story about the other person or the relationship.

That growing space between feeling and action is where choice develops. And over time, that choice changes how safe connection feels.

—

Looking for support? Feel free to reach out!

📞Phone: (626) 702 - 3485
💌Email: admin@centerforgrowthandconnection.com

—

01/16/2026

There is a lot of pressure after a breakup to get it right next time.

To wait until you are calmer.
More certain.
Less impacted by your past.

But healing does not move in clean, linear milestones. There is no point where you graduate from having a nervous system or an attachment history.

Beginning again does not mean you failed to learn from what came before. It means you trust yourself to notice what gets stirred up and respond with care rather than self abandonment.

Healthy relationships are built by people who can pause, reflect, repair, and stay connected to themselves. Not by people who never get activated.

You are allowed to move forward without being finished.

—

Looking for support? Feel free to reach out!

📞Phone: (626) 702 - 3485
💌Email: admin@centerforgrowthandconnection.com

—

01/14/2026

So many people stay stuck after a breakup because they’re waiting for a moment that doesn’t exist:

The day they feel completely calm, unaffected, and “over it” enough to begin again.

Healing doesn’t mean you’ll never get triggered or feel pain from the past. It means you have more awareness, more choice, and more ability to care for yourself when those moments arise.

Readiness isn’t about perfection.

It’s about having enough capacity for repair, accountability, and self-connection.

You don’t have to be done healing to start again.

—

Looking for support? Feel free to reach out!

📞Phone: (626) 702 - 3485
💌Email: admin@centerforgrowthandconnection.com

—

01/13/2026

After a breakup, many people confuse self protection with healing.

Wanting to move slowly is different from waiting until you feel nothing.

Growth often shows up as increased awareness and repair, not the absence of reaction.

—

Looking for support? Feel free to reach out!

📞Phone: (626) 702 - 3485
💌Email: admin@centerforgrowthandconnection.com

—

01/09/2026

Wanting connection that feels mutual is not asking for too much.

Many people desire closeness, intimacy, and the comfort of being chosen. At the same time, they may struggle with the responsibilities that make a relationship sustainable, such as consistency, accountability, emotional negotiation, and repair.

When you name your needs in that kind of dynamic, it can quickly get framed as pressure or moving too fast. Over time, that can leave you questioning yourself rather than the situation.

Often this is not about a lack of care. It is about a lack of capacity.

Staying in relationships where you have to keep shrinking in order to preserve closeness slowly erodes your relationship with yourself. You do not need to villainize someone to acknowledge they cannot meet you where you are. And you do not need to abandon your needs to keep a connection alive.

If someone wants closeness without responsibility, that is information. It tells you something about the dynamic, not about your worth. What matters is that you get to decide what you do with that information.

—

Looking for support? Feel free to reach out!

📞Phone: (626) 702 - 3485
💌Email: admin@centerforgrowthandconnection.com

—

01/07/2026

We’re updating our “Meet Our Therapists” post to include our newest AMFT, Ben!

Jessie & Ben are both currently accepting new clients; to schedule a free consultation click the link in our bio.

Our associates see clients virtually and in-person at our offices in Pasadena and Studio City.

Jessie’s specialities:
• LGBTQ+ affirming couples & individual therapy
• Life transitions & break-ups
• Polyamory / non-monogamy / open relationships
• Age gap relationships
• Young women navigating self-worth challenges
• Intimacy challenges

Ben’s specialities:
• Breakups / divorce
• ADHD
• Men’s issues
• Social anxiety
• EMDR
• Grief & loss
• Career struggles, especially in creative / demanding careers

Start your year off right with a therapist who is committed to your personal growth. 🌱

01/05/2026

The start of a new year often comes with a lot of noise about fixing, improving, or becoming someone else. For many people, the work is quieter than that.

It looks like making space.
 Letting go of roles you have outgrown.
 Listening more closely to what your nervous system actually needs.

As you move into this year, consider this question:
 What would it look like to create more room rather than more pressure?

—

Looking for support? Feel free to reach out!

📞Phone: (626) 702 - 3485
💌Email: admin@centerforgrowthandconnection.com

—

01/02/2026

Many people are surprised by how quickly they can feel small, overwhelmed, or emotionally flooded around family during the holidays.

From a nervous system and attachment lens, this response makes sense.

Our brains are wired for efficiency. When we enter familiar relational environments, especially ones tied to early attachment experiences, the nervous system often reaches for what it already knows. These responses are stored not just as memories, but as patterns in the body.

You might notice strong emotions that feel sudden or familiar.
You might feel the urge to keep the peace, disappear, or take care of everyone else.
You might find yourself thinking thoughts that do not match the life you have built as an adult.

Rather than seeing this as a failure, it can be helpful to see it as information.

One gentle way to create space is to pause and ask yourself, “How old do I feel right now?”
That question often shifts us out of self criticism and into awareness.

From there, support can be simple and present focused.

Orient to where you are and who you are now.
Take a slow breath and notice your body.
Offer yourself quiet reassurance.
Allow yourself to step away or set limits when needed.

Outgrowing an old role does not mean it never shows up again. It means you have more choice in how you respond when it does.

For many people, therapy becomes a place to understand these patterns with care, so family dynamics hold less power over their nervous system and sense of self.

—

Looking for support? Feel free to reach out!

📞Phone: (626) 702 - 3485
💌Email: admin@centerforgrowthandconnection.com

—

Address

301 E. Colorado Boulevard , Suite 860
Pasadena, CA
91101

Website

https://www.centerforgrowthandconnection.com/

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About Michelle

Michelle Cantrell is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Virginia. Michelle's areas of speciality are eating disorders, trauma, and unhealthy relationship patterns. In addition to her experience in treating eating disorders, Michelle is trained in Post-Induction Therapy for the treatment of developmental and relational trauma, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). When working with couples, Michelle utilizes an Emotionally Focused Couples (EFT) approach. To contact Michelle, you can email her at mdc@michellecantrell.com or call 571-969-4393.

Disclaimer: This page is intended to be for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for mental health services. If you wish to contact Michelle, please do so by emailing or calling. Messages posted through Facebook are not confidential and may not be responded to in a timely manner.