It has been full circle for Michael Branch, the new CEO at the East County Transitional Living Center in El Cajon. In 2010, Branch joined the ECTLC program.
“I was experiencing a readjustment challenge from my time in the military,” he said. “And I was self-medicating with alcohol and other maladaptive behavior.”
A Navy SEAL, Branch completed three deployments with a combat tour in Iraq. His first deployment was a peacetime deployment, and while his SEAL team was in Japan, 9/11 happened, and his team did some work on the Global War on Terrorism, followed by a 10-month tour in the beginning of the Iraq War.
“When I came back from my third deployment, I was experiencing challenges readjusting my life as a civilian and someone from my local church recommended this program, and that is how I found ECTLC.”
Founded in 2009, former ECTLC founder and CEO Pastor Harold Brown passed away on Jan. 31, from COVID-19 related pneumonia and a lengthy battle with cancer, working more than 20 years leading the ECTLC and its mission. He also served as senior pastor of Christian Fellowship of El Cajon.
Branch said when he was introduced to the ECTLC in 2010, Brown was the CEO, he went through the program and graduated from it in 2011.
“During my healing process, I was motivated to go into the helping and giving profession,” he said. “After my graduation, I took a job here in East County as a ranch hand and went back to school. I had not been in school for 12 years.”
Branch earned his bachelor’s degree at Southern California Seminary in Biblical Studies, then earned his master’s degree in Social Work from University of Southern California.
“I knew specifically I wanted to work in the field of addiction and mental health,” he said, adding that is what he has been doing for the last eight years.
“I have been out of this program for 12 years, so this is kind of a full circle moment,” he said. “To come back and actually be part of the organization again, and to be able to make some of the changes that I wanted to institute even back then as I came through.”
Branch has been a mental health clinician since 2014. After graduation in 2016, his first job was with Veterans Village of San Diego as an alcohol and drug case manager, and at the same time worked for St. Vincent de Paul Village in a living module for veterans.
After about a year, he took a job at the Veterans Administration La Jolla on the circuit unit, a substance abuse rehabilitation unit. Then he transferred to an outpatient clinic for the VA specializing in treating combat trauma and military sexual trauma. He then became the director and transferred to the San Diego Vet Center as director where he worked until his appointment at the ECTLC.
“One of the things I have always wanted to do in my career is to circle back and work for an organization like this, that not only serves the veteran population, but also everyone who is interested in,” he said. “More specifically, a faith-based organization.”
Branch said over the past 12 years, prior to Brown’s passing, he worked the program to what it is today. ECTLC offers a 60 day emergency housing funded by community block grants, and while on that emergency housing, they do not have to follow the faith-based program. They have a counselor and get to make a choice to find other permanent supportive housing, a program that is a good fit for them, or they can go into ECTLC’s single men and women program, or the Family Restoration Program, which is a faith-based program.
“That is a year-long program, it has four phases. And our goal is to stabilize them, help them build life skills, come off drugs and alcohol, find positive and healthy coping skills, family reintegration, relationship building, and any other challenges they are facing,” he said. “We are also a working program. During that time, we have different work therapy programs that participants participate in which helps to fund the program since we are solely funded by ourselves, through donations and community partners, and work therapy programs.”
Branch said if participants have not received their GED, it is a requirement of the program that they complete it through an outside organization that comes in and teaches those classes.
Branch said the goal is to get participants back into permanent housing, back with their families, and help them transition at that year mark. He said if more support or time is needed, they provide the help and time to get them to where they need to be to be integrated back into a healthy and safe environment.
Now, on his fourth week on the job, Branch said he wants to see about helping more people that may be on certain medications that have not been allowed at the Center before. He wants the team to work on curriculum development, not only faith-based curriculum, but evidence-based treatment, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectal behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy.
“We have clinical interns that are supervised by a local doctor to do different trauma counseling and addiction counseling,” he said. “I would like to expand that program so that we are getting folks as much help and skill building as we can so they can be successful moving forward.”
Branch said the pandemic shut down its outreach program but is now implementing and redeveloping a robust outreach program.
“One of the things that you have already seen from that is we are focusing on East County because that is why we are here. We have a longstanding tradition of grassroots support here,” he said.
