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Interventionist in Lakeland, Florida
Intervention for Lakeland and Polk County, between Tampa and Orlando.
If someone you love in Lakeland, Winter Haven or Bartow is caught in drinking, drug use, or a mental health crisis they cannot see, we help your family plan one clear, loving conversation and the treatment that follows it.
Polk County families have an unusual problem: too many directions. Tampa’s hospitals and programs are to the west, Orlando’s are to the east, and both sets of advertising reach every phone in Lakeland. A family in crisis needs someone to cut through that, not add to it.
That is our role. G3 is based in Austin, Texas, travels to Polk County for the intervention, and starts preparing your family by phone and video the day you call. No facility in Tampa, Orlando or anywhere else pays us, so where your loved one goes is decided by need alone.
Before you call anyone else
Write down three things: what your loved one is using or what symptoms you are seeing, what has already been tried, and who in the family they still listen to. Those three answers shape almost every decision we make with you, and having them ready makes the first call far more useful.
A Polk County intervention, start to finish
Hannah Gibson, our co-founder and case manager, opens the case with a long conversation about history and risk. Matt Gibson, a Certified Interventionist (CAI), decides with you on the approach and on who belongs in the room. Then the preparation begins: each participant writes a brief letter, and we rehearse it by video until it is calm, specific and free of blame. Families who have tried talking a hundred times are often surprised how different a prepared conversation feels.
While the family practices, we research treatment. That is where Polk’s location matters most. A program in Hillsborough or Orange County may be an hour away; one in another state may be what finally separates your loved one from the people and places tied to using. We weigh the clinical picture, insurance, and what is waiting at home, and our treatment navigation stays with you until admission.
On the day, Matt meets the family, then guides the conversation in whatever setting feels least confrontational for your loved one, perhaps a parent’s home near Lake Hollingsworth or a sister’s kitchen in Winter Haven. When the answer is yes, travel is already arranged. Our fee is flat, in writing, and agreed before you commit; travel is billed at actual cost and sober transport is quoted separately.
Services
What we bring to Lakeland.
Intervention for drugs and alcohol
Planned, rehearsed, and backed by a confirmed program, so the conversation ends with a concrete next step rather than another promise.
Explore →02Mental health intervention
For schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe depression and co-occurring illness, especially when your loved one is convinced they are fine.
Explore →03Family consulting
Help for parents and spouses who need to stop absorbing the consequences of someone else’s illness, before and after treatment.
Explore →The legal options in Polk
Two Florida laws, one courthouse in Bartow.
For loss of control over substances
Filed with the clerk where the person is located, with no fee (s. 397.681). A hearing within 10 court working days; treatment orders up to 90 days.
For mental illness and danger
An examination of up to 72 hours, begun by police, a professional’s certificate, or a judge’s ex parte order (s. 394.463).
Family can start both
Relatives may petition under Marchman and seek a Baker ex parte order. Longer Baker orders are filed only by a facility or treating provider.
Polk County Clerk
The Bartow Courthouse, 255 N. Broadway Ave. Polk shares the Tenth Judicial Circuit with Hardee and Highlands.
The details deserve more than a summary card. Under s. 397.675, a Marchman respondent must have lost the power of self-control over substance use and, as a result, either be unable to make a rational decision about needing services or face a real and present threat of harm. Refusal alone is not enough. For an adult, s. 397.68112 lets a spouse, legal guardian, relative, service provider or a single adult with direct personal knowledge file. The clerk of the county where the person is located takes the petition at no charge (s. 397.681), which in Polk means the Polk County Clerk at the Bartow Courthouse. The court then has 10 court working days to hold the hearing (s. 397.68151), and an order for treatment may run up to 90 days (s. 397.697).
On the psychiatric side, s. 394.463 sets the 72-hour examination, after which the facility releases the person, accepts a voluntary admission, or files for involuntary services. That petition, under s. 394.467, belongs to the facility or treating provider, not the family, and can lead to an order of up to six months. Our Florida Marchman Act guide covers each stage, and our page on mental health intervention in Florida explains how we work around the 72-hour window.
The statutes, read closely
When it cannot wait
Emergencies go to 911, not to us.
If your loved one has overdosed, is threatening suicide, or is a danger to anyone, call 911 now. For any mental health or substance use crisis, call or text 988. When everyone is safe, we can start planning the next step together.
Crisis lines Polk County families can use
Peace River Center, which serves Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties from its Bartow base on East Main Street, publishes its Emotional Support & Crisis Line at 863.519.3744 and says help is available 24 hours a day. United Way of Central Florida’s 2-1-1 covers Polk, Hardee and Highlands with referral specialists around the clock: dial 2-1-1 or text your zip code to 898-211.
Statewide, 988 connects you to Florida-based crisis counselors who can refer to a Mobile Response Team, available 24/7 in person or by telehealth (DCF). Public mental health and addiction funding for Polk runs through Central Florida Behavioral Health Network, the DCF managing entity that also covers Hardee, Highlands and Hillsborough. These services are the safety floor. An intervention is built on top of them, never instead of them.
Polk’s overdose picture, and how we check a program
In 2024, 176 Polk County residents died of drug poisoning, an age-adjusted rate of 21.7 per 100,000, almost exactly the Florida rate of 21.3. A year earlier the county recorded 211 deaths at a rate of 27.0 (Florida Department of Health, FLHealthCHARTS). Polk is neither an outlier nor safe. It is a large county where the risk is ordinary, which is exactly why families underestimate it.
When we evaluate a program in Polk, Tampa, Orlando or beyond, we verify the license through DCF’s provider licensing search for substance use care or AHCA’s FloridaHealthFinder for psychiatric facilities, check sober housing for FARR certification, and stay alert to anything that looks like a paid referral, which Florida’s Patient Brokering Act makes a felony. If your loved one keeps insisting nothing is wrong, our guide to talking to someone in denial is a useful read while we prepare.
TPA or MCO: travel from the middle of the state
Lakeland sits on I-4, so Matt can fly into Tampa International (TPA) or Orlando International (MCO) depending on schedules, and families flying in from other states have the same choice. When treatment is out of state, we pick the airport that gives your loved one the shortest, calmest trip, and one of our sober transport escorts goes with them door to door. Our guide to interstate intervention logistics explains how we handle tickets, identification and medication.
If part of your family lives toward the coast, our Tampa page covers Hillsborough’s separate court and crisis system; to the east, our Orlando page does the same for Orange County. A loved one living in Kissimmee, Plant City or Brandon belongs to a different county, and a different clerk, than one in Lakeland.
Questions from Polk County families
What Lakeland families ask first.
Where is a Marchman Act petition filed for someone in Lakeland?
Should treatment be in Tampa, Orlando, or somewhere else?
Is there a 24-hour crisis line in Polk County?
Our son lives in Plant City. Is he in Polk County?
Is G3 based in Lakeland?
How much 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.