Épisodes

  • From Burnout to Bigger Impact | Dr. Debra Kawahara

    From Burnout to Bigger Impact | Dr. Debra Kawahara
    Nov 2 2026
    In this episode of The 3 Parallels Podcast, Dr. Jason Branch sits down with Dr. Debra Kawahara, former president of the American Psychological Association, interim academic dean of the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, executive director of the Illumination of Mindfulness Institute, and host of the podcast Wellness in Today's World. Before any of those titles, she was a first-generation college student from Gardena, California, who planned to run a community mental health center. The line she teaches her students sits at the center of the conversation: you are the tool, and if the tool is broken, nobody you serve is well served.

    Dr. Kawahara traces her path from a diverse community where she saw leaders who looked like her, to a college classroom where she was suddenly one of a few, to an educational psychology class and an Asian American studies course with Dr. Stanley Sue that connected psychology to what she had lived. She describes her early career in community mental health, including a pilot program for what is now called wraparound services and a residential facility for adolescent males, and what she learned about a system with high turnover and limited resources that was not set up for effective care. She left because she was burned out, took a year off, and kept looking for bigger impact, which led to a visiting faculty position in San Diego and a career in academia. Along the way the conversation covers her dissertation on the generational impact of the World War II Japanese American incarceration, her partner's 160-acre family farm, her work connecting mindfulness to early Buddhism, and her three parallels: a foundation she did not know she was laying, an integration of everything she has learned, and a path that is still evolving.

    This episode is for the helping professional who has been treating exhaustion as a character flaw, and for anyone who set out toward one goal and suspects the real path lies somewhere they cannot yet see. It is also for first-generation students and professionals who wish someone had handed them the map. Dr. Branch and Dr. Kawahara send listeners away with three challenges: follow your heart by naming what you keep talking yourself out of, check the tool by asking whether your weekend is designed for relaxation or recovery, and give away one thing you wish someone had told you.


    Life Work
    1. Follow Your Heart: Whoever you are and whatever you are meant to do, you will find it if you listen to yourself. Name one thing your heart keeps telling you that you have been talking yourself out of.
    2. Check the Tool: If you do not know how to rest, you can burn yourself out. Is your weekend designed for relaxation or recovery? Schedule one real recovery block this week.
    3. Give It Away: Think of what you know now that you wish someone had told you. Share it with one person this week.


    Contact & Community Footer Connect with Dr. Branch: www.drjbranch.com | DrJ@DrJBranch.com | (858) 786-3638 Therapy available in NJ, PA, and GA. Coaching available everywhere. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/drjbranch/balloon-string-session-clone Gator University Free Community: https://www.skool.com/gator-university-4736/about Support the show on Cash App: $3ParallelsPodcast
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    57 min
  • Gator Talk: Win or Learn — Why Failure Isn’t the End | Dr. Branch

    Gator Talk: Win or Learn — Why Failure Isn’t the End | Dr. Branch
    Oct 29 2026
    In this Gator Talk session, Dr. Jason Branch brings the Gator University community together to unpack one of the most liberating reframes in Season 5: you don't lose. You either win or you learn. Through an honest, unscripted, and completely unfiltered conversation, the group explores what it looks like to stop treating every setback like a personal failure — from the professional challenges that trigger old patterns of self-blame and perfectionism, to the difference between beating yourself up and actually holding yourself accountable, to the reminder that sitting with the discomfort of not knowing something is sometimes exactly where the growth is. Dr. Branch also shares what is coming next for Gator University, including the upcoming Gator Mode book and the second edition of the Gator Scales Journal.

    Gator Talk is the live weekly conversation from Dr. Jason Branch — real talk about life, wellness, identity, career, purpose, and the work of becoming your future self. Every Friday at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET on IG Live and Zoom, Dr. Branch shows up to think out loud, take questions, and follow the breadcrumbs. No scripts. No polish. Just Gator Mode: living with intention, protecting your energy, and making room for who you are becoming.

    Gator Talk is for high performers, helping professionals, and anyone who is done surviving and ready to start building with intention. Whether you are navigating a setback, a season of growth, or simply the space between who you were and who you are becoming, this is your Friday conversation. Join live every Friday or catch the recording here. Welcome to the basement. It is time to do the work.


    Life Work
    1. Pause Before You React: When something frustrates you, give yourself a moment to process before trying to fix everything.
    2. Learn Instead of Beat Yourself Up: When something doesn't go as planned, ask what you can learn from it instead of what is wrong with you.
    3. Challenge Yourself to Grow: Identify one habit that is keeping you stuck and take one small step toward becoming the person you want to be.


    Contact & Community Footer Connect with Dr. Branch: www.drjbranch.com | DrJ@DrJBranch.com | (858) 786-3638 Therapy available in NJ, PA, and GA. Coaching available everywhere. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/drjbranch/balloon-string-session-clone Gator University Free Community: https://www.skool.com/gator-university-4736/about Support the show on Cash App: $3ParallelsPodcast
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    55 min
  • The Faculty Lounge: Behind the Scenes of the Helping Profession

    The Faculty Lounge: Behind the Scenes of the Helping Profession
    Oct 26 2026
    In this episode of The 3 Parallels Podcast, Dr. Jason Branch sits down with Dr. Samantha Guber and Dr. Donnette Deigh for an unfiltered conversation recorded during faculty residency at Alliant International University. This is the conversation that happens after class, when the work is done, the drinks are poured, and the people behind the credentials get to be human. Three therapists, professors, and counselor educators step out of their professional roles and into something more honest: the Faculty Lounge.

    The conversation goes deep into the realities of being a helping professional — family challenges, self-care, professional identity, healthy workplace relationships, and the ongoing fight for fair faculty pay. Dr. Branch, Dr. Guber, and Dr. Deigh explore what it takes to balance who you are at work with who you are outside of it, why therapists need support too, and how the right environment can make all the difference in whether you survive or thrive. They also get real about counselor education, challenging assumptions about therapy, learning to work with people who are different from you, and why future counselors need more than textbooks to prepare for the real world. The through line is a truth that rarely gets said this plainly: titles do not erase struggles, credentials do not make anyone perfect, and helping others requires everyone in the room to keep doing their own work.

    This episode is for every helping professional who has been pouring from empty and calling it dedication. It is for the therapist, counselor, educator, and coach who has spent years holding space for others and has not yet found a space that holds them. And it is for anyone who needs to hear that they are welcome, valued, respected, and that they belong — not because of their credential, but because of who they are. Dr. Branch sends listeners away with three challenges: find the people who actually see them, take one intentional step toward their own healing this week, and try one thing they have been avoiding.
    Life Work
    1. Find Your People: Look for spaces where you are valued, supported, and challenged to grow. If you don't have that yet, start with Gator University.
    2. Do Your Own Work: You cannot pour into everybody else while ignoring yourself. Take one intentional step toward your own healing this week.
    3. Be Willing to Try: Choose one thing you have been avoiding and try it anyway. You might discover it is exactly where you need to be.


    Contact & Community Footer Connect with Dr. Branch: www.drjbranch.com | DrJ@DrJBranch.com | (858) 786-3638 Therapy available in NJ, PA, and GA. Coaching available everywhere. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/drjbranch/balloon-string-session-clone Gator University Free Community: https://www.skool.com/gator-university-4736/about Support the show on Cash App: $3ParallelsPodcast
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    1 h et 9 min
  • Inside the Session: Behind the Scenes of Being a Therapist

    Inside the Session: Behind the Scenes of Being a Therapist
    Oct 22 2026
    In this solo episode of The 3 Parallels Podcast, Dr. Jason Branch takes listeners behind the scenes of his podcasting journey and into the story of how a simple idea to monetize his podcast organically became an opportunity to create and host Inside the Session at Alliant International University. What started as one conversation became a season of meaningful dialogue, new connections, and opportunities he never anticipated. The episode is built around a single question that runs underneath all of it: what happens when you stop playing by the rules you inherited and start trusting the gifts you already have?

    Dr. Branch takes listeners inside the breadcrumbs and ripples of the Inside the Session opportunity and uses it as the entry point for a broader and more personal conversation about what it really means to be a therapist. He explores the Gator versus Salamander mindset, the stories carried in the mental basement that either limit a person or make room for who they are becoming, and the critical importance of helping professionals doing their own healing work. He also takes a candid look at the history of the counseling profession, the legacy of Sigmund Freud, and why questioning what we have been taught matters as much as learning it. At the center of everything is the reminder that helping professionals are human first — and that titles, degrees, and accomplishments do not exempt anyone from pain, growth, or the need for support.

    This episode is for every therapist, counselor, social worker, coach, and helping professional who has been showing up as their credential instead of as themselves — and who suspects that the gift they have to offer is not their degree but who they are when they give themselves permission to be fully present. It is also for anyone who has been playing by inherited rules and wondering what might happen if they stopped. Dr. Branch sends listeners away with three challenges: subscribe and share if this episode gave them something to think about, join Gator University to stop surviving and start thriving, and take one intentional step toward their own healing work today.
    Life Work
    1. Subscribe: If this conversation gave you something to think about, subscribe, share the episode, and help reach the goal of 3,000 subscribers.
    2. Join Gator University: Stop surviving like a salamander and start thriving like a gator. Join the community of helping professionals committed to growth, healing, and becoming.
    3. Do Your Own Work: Whether that means starting therapy, investing in coaching, or revisiting the parts of yourself you have left in the basement — take one intentional step today.




    Contact & Community Footer Connect with Dr. Branch: www.drjbranch.com | DrJ@DrJBranch.com | (858) 786-3638 Therapy available in NJ, PA, and GA. Coaching available everywhere. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/drjbranch/balloon-string-session-clone Gator University Free Community: https://www.skool.com/gator-university-4736/about Support the show on Cash App: $3ParallelsPodcast
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    38 min
  • I Ran Into the Right Person at the Wrong Brunch | Dr. Branch

    I Ran Into the Right Person at the Wrong Brunch | Dr. Branch
    Oct 19 2026
    In this solo Season 5 episode of The 3 Parallels Podcast, Dr. Jason Branch comes live from Gator University with a story he did not plan to tell — one that involves a birthday party in Birmingham, a last-minute Walmart speaker run, a radio personality named Woo, a brunch for bruhs, and the moment he walked into a room and ran into the exact person he had been thinking about all week: his longtime colleague and fellow Black male therapist Eddie Sharp. None of it was a coincidence. This episode is a story about the law of attraction — and about what happens when you move with enough intention that the right people, places, and things find you before you even have to go looking.

    Branch opens with his full history with mentorship, from Ms. Sandra Collie pairing him with his first mentor in 4th grade to founding BOUNCE — Brothers Outreach to Underprivileged and Needy Children Everywhere — to the NBCC Minority Fellowship Program, to eventually becoming an executive performance coach. He shares what it means to outgrow mentorship that no longer serves you and how to recognize a mentor who is actually a good fit rather than just the one you want. Then the Birmingham story begins: flying out for his aunt and uncle's joint 70th and 75th birthday party, the DJ situation, the Walmart speaker run, reconnecting with Woo, getting invited to the Bruh Brunch, and walking into the room to find Eddie Sharp standing there in person — a week after Branch had DM'd him and neither of them knew they would both be in the same city. The episode closes with the line that holds everything together: tell your old self to sit down somewhere and hush, because your future self is trying to cook, and you have to let them in the kitchen.

    This episode is for anyone who has been waiting for the right connection to show up and has not yet considered that the connection might already be on its way — because of the intention they have already been putting out. It is for the helping professional who is wondering whether their current mentorship is still a good fit, and for anyone who has been letting their old self do too much of the talking. Dr. Branch sends listeners away with three challenges: practice the law of attraction starting with something small this week, audit their current mentorship, and choose one thing today for the person they are becoming. Eddie Sharp joins the show this Sunday. This episode is how they got there.


    Life Work
    1. Act As If: Practice the law of attraction starting small. Think of one thing you want and speak it as if it already exists. Attract it. Then watch what happens.
    2. Audit Your Mentorship: Who is mentoring you right now? Is it a good fit? If you have outgrown it, it may be time to upgrade. Need support? Reach out at 858-786-3638.
    3. Choose You: Tell your old self to sit down somewhere and hush. Your future self is trying to cook. Choose one thing today for the person you are becoming.

    2027 Gator Mode Wellness Retreat — First Announcement Dr. Branch's first healing and wellness retreat is coming in 2027 and it is called Gator Mode. Gator Mode is also becoming a book and a lifestyle brand. When you are in Gator Mode, you are transitioning from a salamander in survival mode to a gator in thriving mode. Stay tuned for details.

    Contact & Community Footer Connect with Dr. Branch: www.drjbranch.com | DrJ@DrJBranch.com | (858) 786-3638 Therapy available in NJ, PA, and GA. Coaching available everywhere. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/drjbranch/balloon-string-session-clone Gator University Free Community: https://www.skool.com/gator-university-4736/about Support the show on Cash App: $3ParallelsPodcast
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    28 min
  • Your Future Self Is Trying to Get In | Dr. Branch

    Your Future Self Is Trying to Get In | Dr. Branch
    Oct 15 2026
    In this solo Season 5 episode of The 3 Parallels Podcast, Dr. Jason Branch takes listeners behind the scenes of an unexpected reunion in Birmingham with longtime colleague and fellow Black male therapist Eddie Sharp. What began as a simple podcast invitation became something neither of them planned for — a real-life demonstration of the law of attraction, and a reminder that some connections cannot be forced. They happen when the timing is right and when both people have done enough internal work to recognize what they are looking at when it arrives.

    Dr. Branch uses the encounter as a launching point to reflect on his full journey with mentorship, from his first mentor in the fourth grade through building mentorship programs, guiding future counselors, and eventually becoming an executive performance coach. He explores what it means to outgrow mentorship that no longer serves you without dishonoring what it gave you, and how the law of attraction works in practice through intentionality, authenticity, and the courage to speak and move as if the future you desire is already possible. The episode builds toward a question he puts to himself and to every listener: your old self may have something to say, your current self may be confused, but your future self is still trying to get in the kitchen. Will you let them?

    This episode is for anyone who has been waiting for the right moment, the right connection, or the right permission to become the next version of themselves. It is for the person whose future self has been knocking for a while — and who is finally ready to open the door. Dr. Branch sends listeners away with three challenges: honor one person who helped shape who they are, challenge one belief that is blocking the next version of themselves, and take one risk this week that their future self is counting on them to take. Life Work:
    1. Honor the People Who Made You: Who helped you become who you are? Name them. Reach out to one this week — not because you need something, but because they deserve to know their impact.
    2. Challenge One Belief: What belief is keeping the current version of you from becoming the next one? Name it. Then ask: is that a fact, or a story?
    3. Take One Risk: What risk would you take if you knew your future self was counting on you? Name it. Take one step toward it this week.























    Contact & Community Footer Connect with Dr. Branch: www.drjbranch.com | DrJ@DrJBranch.com | (858) 786-3638 Therapy available in NJ, PA, and GA. Coaching available everywhere. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/drjbranch/balloon-string-session-clone Gator University Free Community: https://www.skool.com/gator-university-4736/about Support the show on Cash App: $3ParallelsPodcast
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    28 min
  • You Are a Human Being, Not a Human Doing | Dr. Elisabeth Tomlin

    You Are a Human Being, Not a Human Doing | Dr. Elisabeth Tomlin
    Oct 12 2026
    In this Season 5 episode of The 3 Parallels Podcast, Dr. Jason Branch sits down with Dr. Elisabeth Tomlin, a colleague, friend, and kindred spirit he has known for more than a decade, for a conversation about the one competition most high achievers never think to enter: you versus your own perfectionism. The episode is built around a reframe Liz offers that names the wound most overachievers carry without language for it: we have been trained to be human doings instead of human beings. Slowing down is not doing less. It is learning to be present. And for anyone who has spent years confusing their worth with their output, this conversation is the permission slip they did not know they needed.

    Dr. Branch and Liz trace their friendship back to its origin: a shared look across a conference room that communicated, before either of them spoke, a mutual recognition of two people willing to question the status quo, challenge the rules of the spaces they occupied, and refuse to fit a mold that was never built for them. From there the conversation moves into Liz's own story of growing up feeling the need to accomplish, contribute, and be useful to feel worthy, and the childhood experiences, family dynamics, cultural expectations, and systems that reward constant achievement that shaped that belief. She names her high school teacher Joan Cecil as the person who first introduced her to frameworks for understanding gender, racism, class, and power, and who planted the early breadcrumb toward a lifetime of curiosity, cultural humility, and the courage to keep asking. Together they explore perfectionism, self-compassion, privilege, identity, and what it actually looks like to show up authentically in spaces that often reward the performance of expertise over the honesty of not knowing.

    This episode is for the high performer who has never stopped long enough to ask whether what they are chasing is something they actually want, or something they were trained to want. It is for the helping professional who knows how to take care of everyone else but has confused busyness with worth. And it is for anyone ready to enter the Season 5 competition that matters most: you versus the version of yourself that has been performing instead of being. Dr. Branch and Liz send listeners away with three challenges: catch yourself performing and ask who you are trying to prove yourself to, practice ten minutes of presence each day without an agenda, and choose to show up as your authentic self in one area where you have been performing instead.
    Life Work
    1. Catch Yourself Performing: This week, notice one moment when you feel the need to prove your worth, earn approval, or be everything to everyone. Pause and ask: Who am I trying to prove myself to?
    2. Practice Being Present: Slow down for 10 minutes each day. Put the work, responsibilities, and expectations aside. Be present without feeling like you have to accomplish something.
    3. Choose Personhood Over Performance: Identify one area of your life where you feel pressure to perform. Practice showing up as your authentic self instead of the version you think others expect.


    Contact & Community Footer Connect with Dr. Branch: www.drjbranch.com | DrJ@DrJBranch.com | (858) 786-3638 Therapy available in NJ, PA, and GA. Coaching available everywhere. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/drjbranch/balloon-string-session-clone Gator University Free Community: https://www.skool.com/gator-university-4736/about Support the show on Cash App: $3ParallelsPodcast
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    57 min
  • You vs. You: The 4th Quarter Starts Now | Season 5 Premiere

    You vs. You: The 4th Quarter Starts Now | Season 5 Premiere
    Oct 8 2026
    Season 5 of The 3 Parallels Podcast is here, and Dr. Jason Branch opens it with a declaration: the competition has changed. In this solo premiere episode, Dr. Branch returns from a break with a framework that will drive everything in the season ahead. You vs. You. Not you versus your colleagues, your competitors, your peers, or the version of success someone else has built. You versus the person you used to be. That is the only scoreboard that matters — and it is the one most people have never thought to look at.

    Dr. Branch draws on Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Tony Stark's suit upgrades to build the case that the greats do not avoid losing — they use it. Jordan was cut from his high school team. Kobe studied film of his misses. Each version of Stark's suit was not a replacement but an evolution, integrating what came before and building what was next. That framework applied to the 3 Parallels, who we were, who we are, who we are becoming, becomes the architecture for Season 5. He is also honest about taking a break, releasing rules that no longer serve him, and choosing wellness over simply performing at a high level. The 4th quarter of 2026 means 90 days left in the year, and this episode is the signal that those 90 days are not going to pass by without intention.

    This episode is for everyone who has been waiting for a sign that it is time to stop competing with everyone else and start investing in the version of themselves that is still becoming. It is for the person who almost made it through 2026 running on the same script they started with — and who still has 90 days to change one thing. Dr. Branch sends every listener away with three challenges: bet on yourself by starting one thing today, change the competition by measuring against yesterday's version of themselves, and bring somebody with them by sharing this episode with one person who needs to hear it. Whose house? My house. Welcome to Season 5.


    Life Work
    1. Bet on Yourself: You have 90 days left in 2026. Pick one thing you want to change, build, heal, or become — and start today. Not January. Today.
    2. Change the Competition: Stop comparing yourself to everyone else. Ask yourself: Am I better than the person I was yesterday? That is the only scoreboard that matters.
    3. Bring Somebody With You: If this episode gave you something, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Don't keep the breadcrumbs to yourself.


    Contact & Community Footer Connect with Dr. Branch: www.drjbranch.com | DrJ@DrJBranch.com | (858) 786-3638 Therapy available in NJ, PA, and GA. Coaching available everywhere. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/drjbranch/balloon-string-session-clone Gator University Free Community: https://www.skool.com/gator-university-4736/about Support the show on Cash App: $3ParallelsPodcast
    Afficher plus Afficher moins
    46 min