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Interventionist in Miami, Florida
Drug, alcohol and mental health intervention for Miami-Dade families.
When someone you love in Miami will not accept help, we prepare the family, lead the conversation, and see the plan through to an admission chosen for fit, not for who pays a referral fee.
By the time a Miami family calls, there has usually been a long stretch of trying everything themselves: the cousin who knows a doctor, the program a friend swore by, the hospital stay that ended before anything changed. What is usually missing is a plan the whole family agrees to and someone with no financial stake in where your loved one lands.
G3 is based in Austin, Texas, and travels to Miami for the intervention itself. Preparation begins by phone and video the day you call, so by the time Matt arrives, every person in the room knows what they will say and what happens next.
What shapes a Miami case
Families who talk across two languages and three generations. Relatives in Kendall, in Hialeah, and abroad who all need to hear the same plan. A county court with its own filing counters and deadlines. A treatment market where free placement advice is rarely free. We plan around each of these on purpose.
How a Miami intervention comes together
The first call is with Matt or Hannah Gibson, not an intake line. We ask what is being used and how much, what has been tried, who in the family still has influence, and whether anything points to a psychiatric emergency rather than a substance problem. Hannah, our co-founder and case manager, builds the file from there. Matt, a Certified Interventionist (CAI), decides on the approach and who belongs in the room.
Many Miami families are bilingual, and the person your loved one will listen to is not always the one who speaks first at dinner. We pay attention to that. If an abuela carries the most weight, we build the conversation so she can speak in the language she prays in, and we prepare the others to support her rather than talk over her. Letters are rehearsed by video until they are short, honest and free of the arguments that have failed before.
While the family rehearses, we do the placement work: a program matched to the clinical picture, insurance verified, a bed confirmed for the day, and travel arranged so agreement turns into admission without a gap. You receive a flat fee in writing before you commit. Travel is billed at actual cost, and sober transport is quoted separately if it is needed.
The Baker Act at the Miami-Dade courthouse
A family can start an examination. Only a facility or provider can ask for months of care.
When the worry is psychosis, mania or a loved one who has stopped eating and sleeping, Florida’s Baker Act is the relevant law. Under s. 394.463, Florida Statutes, an involuntary examination can begin three ways: an ex parte order from a judge based on sworn testimony, a law enforcement officer, or a certificate from a qualified professional who examined the person within the previous 48 hours. The examination lasts up to 72 hours from arrival at a receiving facility.
The family route in Miami runs through the Clerk. The Miami-Dade Clerk’s Mental Health Court page says the petitioner must have personally observed the behavior, the person must be in Miami-Dade County and not already in a hospital or jail, and you must reach the Probate Court office before 3:30 p.m. with photo ID. There is no filing fee. Once a judge signs, you receive the order in a sealed envelope and contact police for transport.
What happens after the 72 hours is out of the family’s hands. Under s. 394.467, only a receiving facility administrator, a treatment facility administrator or a treating service provider may petition for involuntary inpatient placement or outpatient services, which can last up to six months. Our Florida mental health intervention page explains how we plan around that limit.
For drugs and alcohol, the Marchman Act gives families a direct role. Since the 2024 rewrite, a petition for involuntary treatment for an adult may be filed by a spouse or guardian, any relative, a service provider, or one adult with direct personal knowledge of the impairment and the person’s treatment history (s. 397.68112). The court must hold a hearing within 10 court working days (s. 397.68151), and an order may run up to 90 days (s. 397.697).
In Miami-Dade, the Clerk’s adult Marchman packet sends petitions to the Probate Section at the Miami-Dade County Courthouse, 73 West Flagler Street, Room 234. There is no filing fee, but if the Sheriff serves the respondent you bring a $40 money order or cashier’s check payable to the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office. The packet is undated, so confirm the current forms at the counter. Our Florida Marchman Act guide walks through the whole process.
We are not lawyers and we do not file for you. What we do is help you decide whether a petition is the right tool at all, and if it is, make sure a bed and a plan exist on the other side of the order.
The Marchman Act on Flagler Street
If tonight is the emergency
Who to call in Miami-Dade, in order.
911
An overdose, a weapon, a threat of suicide with a plan, or anyone in immediate danger. Call 911 and stay on the line. An intervention is never the tool for an active emergency.
988
Call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, answered in Florida by the 988 Florida Lifeline. Text and chat are available in Spanish.
800-HELP-YOU
Miami-Dade’s Mobile Response Team line, (800-435-7968), listed 24/7 by Thriving Mind South Florida, the DCF managing entity for Miami-Dade and Monroe.
The Living Room
The same page lists a Living Room Program at 305-539-0325, open up to 23 hours a day, run by New Horizons Community Mental Health Center in Miami.
Miami’s treatment market, read honestly
Miami-Dade recorded 281 drug poisoning deaths among residents in 2024, an age-adjusted rate of 9.7 per 100,000, against 21.3 statewide, according to Florida Department of Health FLHealthCHARTS. That lower rate is real, and it is no comfort to the family living inside one of those numbers. It also says nothing about the quality of the programs advertising to you.
South Florida’s treatment industry is large, and some of it is built on referral money. Florida’s Patient Brokering Act, s. 817.505, makes it a felony to pay or receive any kickback, bonus or benefit to induce a patient referral, with fines up to $500,000 when 20 or more patients are involved. The law exists because the practice did. When a helpline offers to place your son for free, it is fair to ask who pays them.
Before any program gets our recommendation, we check it ourselves. Substance use providers must hold a DCF license, searchable in the DCF provider licensing search. Psychiatric facilities are licensed by AHCA and listed in FloridaHealthFinder. Sober housing that calls itself certified should appear on the FARR list under s. 397.487. Our guide to choosing a treatment center gives you the questions we ask, and our treatment navigation service does the asking for you.
Getting to Miami, and getting out of it
Matt flies into Miami International Airport (MIA). Relatives may be flying in too, from New York, Atlanta or Bogotá. We schedule the meeting around those flights so nobody who matters is reduced to a phone on speaker.
Sometimes the right program is in Miami. Often it is not, because distance from old contacts helps, or because the clinical need points somewhere else. When the answer is a flight, our escort travels with your loved one from the front door to the admissions desk. When it is a drive north on I-95 or the Turnpike, the same rule applies: nobody makes the trip alone. Our guide to interstate intervention logistics explains how we coordinate a family spread across states and countries.
Family-led, nationwide
You will reach Matt or Hannah, not a call center.
Tell us what is happening in Miami. We will tell you honestly whether an intervention fits, and if it does not, what does.
Common questions
What Miami families ask first.
Where do we file a Marchman Act petition in Miami-Dade?
Can we Baker Act someone who is already in the hospital in Miami?
Can the intervention happen in Spanish?
Is there a crisis team in Miami that comes to the house?
Should treatment be in Miami or somewhere else?
What does an intervention cost?
The next step is a conversation
You do not have to figure this out alone.
One confidential call with G3 begins it. No pressure, no judgment, just a path forward.