Katherine Jardine joined our department in September in the role of Communications Manager. Katherine is a Seattle native who recently moved back to the Pacific Northwest after spending the last decade in New Orleans and San Francisco. Katherine has a background in public relations, marketing, outreach and event production. She has a BA in communications from The Evergreen State College and a Master’s in Information Science from the University of Washington.
 
While in San Francisco, Katherine managed the public affairs for the San Francisco Public Library, an urban library system with 27 locations and more than 1,500 monthly public programs. Katherine was the system-wide spokesperson and key storyteller of the Library’s vision and strategic priorities, and her accomplishments include leading a year-long multilingual public outreach effort around increased library hours; increased distribution of the library’s eNewsletter; developing system-wide library style guidelines and securing year-over-year growth in significant positive media coverage of San Francisco’s library system.
 
Katherine has also worked as an account supervisor for a local boutique advertising agency in New Orleans, as a festival operations coordinator for the Seattle International Film Festival, and in the volunteer department of Life Long Aids Alliance in Seattle.  
 
Her time working in nonprofits and for city agencies has deepened her passion for public service, and she is excited to bring her range of skills to the mental health arena. “I believe wholeheartedly that mental health care is an integral part of all health care,” says Katherine “and I’m honored to join such an incredibly driven and forward-thinking team.” Katherine will be working with Becky Sladek, Associate Director of Marketing & Communications, to increase external awareness of the Department and will take the lead on our internal communications efforts including this newsletter and the Friday weekly.