Hathaway-Sycamores Names Debbie Manners President and CEO

Hathaway Sycamores Child and Family Services – one of California’s largest and most respected mental health and welfare agencies – today announced that Debbie Manners was recently named the organization’s new president and chief executive officer.

Manners has a long history with Hathaway-Sycamores, having joined the agency in 1987, and most recently serving as senior executive vice president. Manners will oversee more than 600 employees – across 11 Los Angeles-area locations of care – who deliver a comprehensive array of services to children, youth, young adults, and families facing serious life challenges. She also will have oversight of Hathaway-Sycamores’ continuum of programs and services – which touch nearly 7,000 lives annually – including: a residential treatment facility; foster care and adoption services; transitional independent living assistance for emancipated foster youth; outpatient and school-based mental health services; wraparound/in-home services; psychological, psychiatric, and therapeutic behavioral services; grief counseling; educational support services; and a family resource center.

Over the course of her nearly 30 years with Hathaway-Sycamores, Manners – who is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker – has influenced several treatment innovations that have become standard practice in the fields of child welfare and children’s mental health service delivery. For example, she re-engineered the psychiatric residential treatment program for youth by bringing families into the service delivery process, working diligently to empower each family with voice, choice, participation, and access to tailored treatments – all of which resulted in shortened lengths of stay and improved outcomes.

In addition to being an industry innovator, Manners also is a children’s-mental-health subject matter expert. For instance, she was called upon for her expertise in relation to a high profile, class action lawsuit (Katie A v. Bonta) that revolved around the availability of intensive mental health services for California children in foster care and those at risk of being placed into foster care. As part of the suit’s settlement, she was the only provider professional in the state to be appointed to a negotiating team charged with developing a plan to implement intensive mental health services for foster children statewide.

About Hathaway-Sycamores

Hathaway-Sycamores Child and Family Services is a highly respected mental health and welfare agency with 11 locations throughout Southern California. For over 112 years, we have been dedicated to nurturing hope, healing, and the opportunity to thrive for children, youth, young adults, and families facing serious life challenges. Hathaway-Sycamores’ comprehensive array of programs and services – which touch more than 7,000 lives annually – include: residential treatment; foster care and adoption; transitional living assistance for emancipated foster youth; outpatient and school-based mental health services; wraparound/in-home services; psychiatric services; psychological testing; grief counseling; a nonpublic school; and afterschool tutoring/enrichment. Accredited by The Joint Commission and the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Hathaway-Sycamores is licensed by the Community Care Licensing Division of the California Department of Social Services and is certified by the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. To learn more, visit http://www.hathaway-sycamores.org/.