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Mental Health Intervention in New Hampshire
Mental health intervention in New Hampshire, before an IEA petition is ever signed.
New Hampshire lets any individual petition for an involuntary emergency admission, and any responsible person ask the probate court for longer treatment. For families of adults living with psychosis, bipolar disorder or severe depression, here is what RSA 135-C actually requires, and how a voluntary path can work alongside it.
In New Hampshire the emergency route is called an involuntary emergency admission, or IEA. A family member can sign the petition, but a qualified clinician must examine and certify, and the admission cannot run past 10 days, weekends aside, without a new petition or a probate filing.
The law looks backward, at what happened in the last 40 days. A planned intervention looks forward. G3 prepares the family and confirms psychiatric care in advance, then guides a conversation that leaves the decision with your loved one.
When safety comes first
Call 911 for a weapon, violence, an overdose or a suicide attempt. For a mental health or substance use crisis, call or text 988, or the NH Rapid Response Access Point at 1-833-710-6477, which state DHHS lists as available 24/7. Come back to planning once everyone is safe.
RSA 135-C:27
What “danger” means in New Hampshire law
An IEA requires that a person, because of mental illness, presents a likelihood of danger to themselves or others. RSA 135-C:27 is specific about the evidence. Danger to self can be shown by serious bodily injury, a suicide attempt or serious self-injury within 40 days of the petition, with a likelihood of recurrence; a threat of serious self-injury within those 40 days; or behavior showing the person so lacks the capacity to care for themselves that death, serious injury or serious debilitation is likely. Danger to others means inflicting, attempting or threatening serious bodily harm on someone within the same 40 days.
A further prong reaches people who are refusing treatment over a longer arc. It requires all six of these: severe mental disability for at least a year, an involuntary admission within the past two years, no guardian of the person, not currently on conditional discharge, refusal of necessary treatment, and a psychiatrist’s finding that the refusal carries a substantial probability of death, serious injury or serious debilitation. Families of someone with a long history of relapse should know this prong exists.
RSA 135-C:28 to 135-C:32
How an IEA moves, day by day
Any individual signs
A parent, spouse or friend can sign the written petition. Every certificate must be accompanied by one.
A clinician examines
A physician, physician assistant or APRN on the state’s approved list examines within 3 days of the petition and certifies the specific acts that meet RSA 135-C:27. If the person refuses, a petitioner or officer may swear a complaint before a justice of the peace to compel the exam.
Custody and delivery
A law enforcement officer takes custody and delivers the person to the receiving facility named on the certificate, by ambulance or police as the certifying provider decides.
Probable cause hearing
A district court hearing follows within 3 days of admission, Sundays and holidays excluded. The admission may not exceed 10 days, weekends excluded, without a new petition or a probate petition.
Probate court, and treatment outside the hospital
For longer care, RSA 135-C:35 lets “any responsible person” petition the probate court for involuntary admission. The petition needs a certificate from a physician, physician assistant or APRN who examined your loved one within 5 days of filing. The hearing is held within 15 days of the court receiving the petition, excluding weekends and legal holidays, and the court has your loved one examined by a psychiatrist it designates, who reports by the hearing day. The standard here is a “potentially serious likelihood of danger.”
New Hampshire’s court does not have to choose the hospital. Under RSA 135-C:45 it may order the person to submit to treatment other than inpatient care on an involuntary basis, including treatment at a community mental health program approved by the commissioner. That is New Hampshire’s form of court-ordered outpatient treatment. No order for involuntary admission or other treatment may last longer than 5 years, and renewal requires another hearing.
There is also conditional discharge. Under RSA 135-C:50, a receiving facility may release someone still under an order if they agree to continue treatment as an outpatient. If they stop, or a potentially serious likelihood of danger returns, a psychiatrist, supervised physician assistant or APRN at the community program can examine them and temporarily revoke the discharge, and law enforcement returns them to the facility.
RSA 135-C is written for mental illness, and its definition says so. Under 135-C:2, mental illness “does not include impairment primarily caused by” intoxication from alcohol or drugs, or by dependence on or addiction to them. New Hampshire has no court commitment law for substance use.
What it does have is short protective custody. Under RSA 172-B:3, a peace officer may take an intoxicated or incapacitated person into protective custody, and may assist them home or to an approved treatment program. That custody “shall in no event exceed 24 hours.”
When psychosis or a mood disorder sits under the drinking or drug use, the mental health process may still apply because of the psychiatric illness itself. The bigger task is finding a program that treats both; our guide to co-occurring disorders when the mental illness came first explains why, and our New Hampshire interventionist page covers substance use interventions here.
Substance use falls outside RSA 135-C
Signing a petition, or making an offer first
Because New Hampshire lets family sign an IEA petition, the decision can feel like it rests entirely on your shoulders. It helps to separate two questions. Has something happened in the last 40 days that a clinician could certify? And if not, what would make your loved one willing to accept help now?
The second question is where we work. Matt prepares each family member to speak calmly and specifically, and we confirm a bed or program at the level of care the situation calls for, using our guide to psychiatric levels of care. If the conversation does not land and danger rises, the petition is still there. If an IEA has just ended in discharge, Hannah, with your loved one’s agreement, gathers the facility’s discharge plan so the next offer of care is grounded in what clinicians saw. Our guide to involuntary psychiatric pathways compares New Hampshire’s approach with other states’. We are not attorneys; for a probate petition, talk with a New Hampshire lawyer.
New Hampshire crisis lines and public lookups
911 for immediate danger. 988 by call, text or chat, at any hour.
NH Rapid Response Access Point: 1-833-710-6477, call or text, 24/7, for mental health or substance use crises. DHHS also points to nh988.com, where the state’s contractor describes dispatching mobile teams in person or by video.
Licensed facilities. The DHHS Health Facilities Administration oversees hospitals and residential and nonresidential health care providers, and publishes a Health Facilities License Search.
Our checks. A license confirms legal status. We also talk with each program’s clinical leadership about psychiatric coverage and admission criteria before recommending it.
G3 is based in Austin, Texas. Preparation begins by phone and video the day you call, and Matt flies in for the intervention through Manchester-Boston Regional (MHT) or Boston Logan (BOS), then drives north to the Lakes Region, the Upper Valley or the North Country as needed. When the right program is in Massachusetts, Maine or farther away, our guide to interstate intervention logistics explains how we coordinate it.
Our sober transport companions stay with your loved one until intake is finished, and our treatment navigation takes no referral fee. The fee is flat and in writing first; travel is billed at actual cost.
Getting to you, and getting them there
Common questions
New Hampshire families ask us about IEAs.
Can I petition for an IEA for my adult son or daughter?
How long does an involuntary emergency admission last?
What does the 40-day rule mean?
Can a New Hampshire court order outpatient treatment?
Can we commit someone for drug or alcohol use?
How do we check a New Hampshire facility?
Keep reading
New Hampshire pages and guides for what is next
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.