Mary Bridge Children’s provider chosen as a PSBJ 40 Under 40 honoree

Ashley Mangum, MSW, LICSW, director of Kids’ Mental Health Pierce County and behavioral health social worker at Mary Bridge Children’s, is among the Puget Sound Business Journal’s 2023 40 Under 40 class, the publication announced this week.

The annual awards recognize leaders in the Pacific Northwest region who are “making major strides in their careers while leaving a positive impact on communities in the region.”

“I’m so pleased Ashley is being recognized for her transformative work, dynamic leadership and deep commitment to children, families and her community,” says Jamie Kautz, LICSW, assistant vice president of care continuum at Mary Bridge Children’s. “Her leadership and vision is creating unprecedented collaboration opportunities to change the landscape of pediatric behavioral health. The icing on the cake is that she is a warm and generous person — we are so fortunate to have her on the MultiCare team and part of our community.”

Mangum joined Mary Bridge Children’s in 2014 as a behavioral health social worker and, soon after, joined the newly formed Kids’ Mental Health Pierce County (KMHPC) community collaborative as its first full-time employee. She was promoted in 2022 from program manager to her current role of program director.

Mangum oversees KMHPC programming, including webinars, roundtables, trainings for schoolteachers and counselors, and community outreach and access to resources for youth and families seeking mental and behavioral health support.

KMHPC received the Pediatric Program of the Year award from NAMI Washington in 2020 and the Program of the Year award in 2021. The collaborative is now being looked to as a national model for other communities as we collectively look for ways to mitigate the youth mental health crisis. For more information, watch this video of Ashley introducing KMHPC: