The newly formed Regional Crisis Response (RCR) Agency announces Brook Buettner as its first Executive Director. The RCR Agency provides regional mobile crisis response services for the five north King County cities of Bothell, Kenmore, Kirkland, Lake Forest Park, and Shoreline.
“Brook’s decade of experience in the King County crisis system and her proven track record building and leading the successful RADAR program made her a clear and unanimous choice by the RCR Board to be RCR’s first Executive Director,” says RCR Board President Kurt Triplett. “We all see Brook’s leadership, passion, and vision as exactly what it will take to make this innovative program a success.”
Buettner comes to RCR having managed the North Sound Response Awareness, De-escalation, and Referral (RADAR) Navigator Program for the last three years. The RADAR Navigator Program deploys Social Workers/ Navigators to address the needs of individuals in crisis with behavioral health issues and/or developmental disabilities and connect them to the community of care. Under her leadership, RADAR improved the lives of people served, showing incredible outcomes like a 67% reduction in adult jail bookings and a 60% reduction in crisis services events for people touched by the program.
Prior to managing RADAR, Buettner worked for King County Department of Community and Human Services for several years as the Familiar Faces Initiative Manager and a Health and Housing Integration Specialist. She has also worked in the County’s Department of Public Defense as well as for the Downtown Emergency Services Center Crisis Solutions Center.
“I’m thrilled to be part of this exciting and ground-breaking approach to getting people in North King County experiencing behavioral health crisis the right resources at the right time,” said Buettner. “We are poised to build a whole new approach to first response in our community.”
Buettner holds master’s degrees in Social Work and Public Administration from the University of Washington. She also serves on the Executive Board of the North Urban Human Services Alliance and Co-Responder Outreach Alliance.
The RCR Agency consolidates and expands the services provided by the successful North Sound RADAR Navigator and Kirkland Community Responder programs with the goal of offering services on a 24/7 basis. When all positions are filled, the RCR Agency will have 13 full-time staff, an initial $5 million biennial budget, and will deploy Crisis Responder Mental Health Professionals to serve community members in the five-city region who are experiencing behavioral health crises. The RCR Agency Crisis Responders may refer community members in crisis to a new behavioral health crisis response center, which is scheduled to open in Kirkland in 2024.
Media Contact
Sue Romero, Communications Program Coordinator
City of Kirkland
sromero@kirklandwa.gov
(425) 587-3017