Outgrowing Roles and Reclaiming Vitality
Helping individuals recognize when the roles that once created stability and predictability are now limiting growth, and how to reconnect with purpose, creativity, and aliveness.
Work Together
Three Ways to Work Together.
For organizations, audiences, and individuals navigating the gap between how life looks and how it feels.
i.
Speaking
Keynotes, panels, and moderated conversations for organizations, conferences, and professional audiences.
Book a Keynote →ii.
Workshops & Trainings
Leadership team workshops, corporate development sessions, and interactive trainings tailored to the audience.
Book a Workshop →iii.
Writing, Books & Press
Editorial features, podcast guesting, expert commentary, and book contributions.
Get in Touch →Looking for couples or individual therapy with Michelle? That's handled at the Center for Growth and Connection in Pasadena, California.
Speaking
When success, stability, and identity stop aligning, something deeper is asking for attention.
Michelle Cantrell helps individuals and organizations navigate the modern tension between achievement and fulfillment, where burnout, disconnection, and lack of meaning begin to impact both performance and quality of life.
Speaker Reel
Many people have built lives that work. They are capable, responsible, and successful in the ways that matter on paper.
And yet, something feels off.
In organizations, this shows up as burnout, disengagement, and breakdowns in trust. In individuals, it shows up as restlessness, disconnection, and the sense of having outgrown the life they built.
Michelle's work addresses what's underneath these patterns and what it takes to rebuild connection in a way that is both practical and deeply human. Grounded in over a decade of clinical experience and attachment science, she helps audiences understand the relational and psychological dynamics that shape how we live, work, and connect.
Her talks are engaging, relatable, and immediately applicable, leaving audiences with both insight and a clear path forward.
Signature Speaking Topics
The High-Achiever's Paradox
Exploring why success does not always translate into fulfillment, and how to build a life that feels as meaningful as it looks.
Gray Divorce and Midlife Reinvention
Addressing the identity disruption that follows major life transitions, and how people rebuild clarity, direction, and meaning in midlife.
Secure Connection and the Foundations of Thriving
Teaching the relational skills that strengthen trust, improve communication, and create more resilient relationships in both personal and professional environments.
Why This Work Matters
Functioning, but not fully thriving.
Across both personal and professional spaces, people are navigating a similar challenge: they are functioning… but not fully thriving.
When connection breaks down:
- trust erodes
- engagement drops
- meaning fades
Michelle helps audiences understand how to rebuild connection to themselves and others, creating the conditions for more sustainable performance, stronger relationships, and a greater sense of aliveness.
Engagement Types
How Michelle shows up.
- i. Keynote presentations
- ii. Conferences and panels
- iii. Workshops and trainings
- iv. Professional and community events
Each engagement is tailored to the audience.
Discovery Call
If your audience is navigating burnout, disconnection, or a gap between how life looks and how it feels, Michelle brings the insight and clarity to help them understand what's underneath and what to do next.
Book a discovery call with MichelleWriting, Books & Press
The page and the press desk.
The Book
Featured in The Real Girl's Guide to Midlife.
Michelle is featured as an expert on relationships, identity, and reinvention after long-term partnership. In her contribution, she speaks candidly about the emotional reality of starting over, the process of unlearning old narratives about love, and what it means to build connection grounded in truth, presence, and self-worth.
Purchase the Book →Delay the Binge™ Podcast
The Moment You Realize the Life You Built No Longer Fits
"Healing as a turning point for personal growth, and how individuals move beyond survival patterns by understanding the emotional drivers beneath their behaviors."
Listen on Apple →Compassionate Heart Parenting
How to Parent Through Divorce Without Losing Connection
"Navigating the complexities of parenting young adult children during divorce, and how rupture and repair serve as essential foundations for resilient, connected relationships."
Listen on Apple →Tuesday Tea with Alisha
Showing Up Fully & Intentionally in Relationships
"How self-leadership shapes connection, and what can be lost when we silence our needs or step out of our own experience."
Watch on YouTube →VoyageLA
Identity, Reinvention & the Work That Found Her
"The personal and professional journey from eating disorder treatment to attachment-focused therapy, and how her own experience of gray divorce deepened her understanding of midlife reinvention."
Read the Feature →CanvasRebel
Building & Scaling the Center for Growth and Connection
"The journey of stepping into entrepreneurship, shifting mindset around money and leadership, and growing a group practice during a period of significant personal change."
Read the Feature →Trauma Therapist Journal
A Letter to Therapists
"On the balance of caring for others while remaining connected to oneself, and the role of self-awareness, repair, and relational presence in effective practice."
Written ContributionThe Process
What happens after you reach out.
i.
You Reach Out.
Submit the inquiry form for speaking, workshops, or press. Or book a 30-minute discovery call directly.
ii.
We Connect.
You'll hear back within two business days. For speaking and workshops, a brief discovery conversation. For press, a quick email exchange.
iii.
We Plan.
If we're a fit, we'll schedule a kickoff. For speaking, a planning call. For press, materials and timing. For workshops, the build session.
iv.
We Begin.
The work starts.
FAQ
Questions before you reach out.
Corporate events, leadership development programs, conferences, professional development events, panel discussions, and interactive workshops. Michelle speaks to organizations and audiences ready to move beyond surface-level success toward what creates connection, engagement, and meaningful growth.
Her four signature areas: Gray Divorce and Midlife Reinvention; Outgrowing Roles and Reclaiming Vitality; The High-Achiever's Paradox; and Secure Connection and the Foundations of Thriving. Every talk is tailored to the audience in the room.
Yes. Every keynote and workshop is tuned to the audience in the room: industry, format, time block, and the outcome you're trying to create.
Three to six months is ideal. Shorter lead times are sometimes possible. Submit the inquiry and Michelle's team will confirm availability within two business days.
Yes. Book a 30-minute discovery call directly on Michelle's calendar.
Keynote presentations, conferences and panels, leadership and team workshops, and professional development events. Each engagement is tailored to the needs of the audience.
Yes. Submit a press inquiry. Michelle has been featured on the Delay the Binge™ Podcast, Compassionate Heart Parenting Podcast, Tuesday Tea with Alisha Bowker Mudrock, and in VoyageLA, CanvasRebel, The Real Girl's Guide to Midlife, and Trauma Therapist Journal.
Yes, by invitation or pitch. Op-eds, feature contributions, and book chapters welcome, including her existing contribution to The Real Girl's Guide to Midlife.
Within two business days for every inquiry.
Michelle's clinical practice is at the Center for Growth and Connection in Pasadena, California, at centerforgrowthandconnection.com.
Get In Touch
Work with Michelle.
Send a general inquiry below: speaking, workshops, press, or something we haven't thought of yet. Michelle's team responds within two business days. Or book a 30-minute discovery call directly on her calendar.