Spokane: Behavioral Health Unit Expansion

~ Spokane, WA- The Behavioral Response Unit (BRU) program, a joint effort between Frontier Behavioral Health and the Spokane Fire Department, has announced its expansion. The program pairs a Spokane Fire paramedic with a mental health professional from Frontier Behavioral Health to respond to behavioral health crises and provide immediate support.

According to Justin de Ruyter, Spokane Fire PIO, the BRU responded to 979 calls for service in 2025. These calls included behavioral health crises, psychiatric emergencies, and overdose-related incidents, highlighting the strong connection between mental health and substance use emergencies.

The expansion of the BRU program includes longer service hours and the addition of two paramedics and one mental health professional. The unit will now operate Monday through Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. It is important to note that the unit is dispatched only through the 9-1-1 system and is not available for direct calls.

Kelli Miller, CEO of FBH, stated that "co-response is about ensuring the right professional is part of the response at the right time." By pairing behavioral health clinicians with Spokane Fire paramedics, this program aims to improve access to care and reduce unnecessary emergency system utilization for individuals in need.

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Fire Chief Tom Williams also expressed his support for the expansion, stating that it is an investment in safer and more effective community care. "This program helps connect people experiencing behavioral health or substance use crises with the resources they need while ensuring emergency responders remain available for critical incidents," said Williams.

The expansion of the BRU program is funded by Spokane County's mental health sales tax and administered by Spokane County Behavioral Health Services. The two paramedics hired for this expanded program are the first in Spokane Fire Department history to serve solely as paramedics without being cross-trained as firefighters. This staffing model not only expands behavioral health response capacity but also reduces personnel costs compared to previous models.

For more information, please contact Justin de Ruyter from the Spokane Fire Department at 503-505-2718 or Rachell Stenson from Frontier Behavioral Health at 509-570-8788. The BRU program is dedicated to providing necessary support and resources to individuals in behavioral health crises and continues to grow for the benefit of the community.

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