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Interventionist in Pensacola, Florida
A Pensacola interventionist for families who are out of easy answers.
Escambia County carries one of the heaviest overdose burdens in Florida. If someone you love here is using, drinking or slipping into a psychiatric crisis, we help your family act with a plan instead of fear.
Pensacola is a long way from Florida’s treatment marketing machine in the south of the state, and families here sometimes assume that means fewer choices. It usually means fewer honest comparisons. That is the gap we fill.
G3 is an Austin, Texas based intervention practice that travels to Pensacola. We prepare your family by phone and video starting the day you call, Matt Gibson flies in to lead the intervention, and we stay with you through admission and the first days of treatment.
Where we often come in
A loved one who survived an overdose and went right back. A Navy spouse whose partner’s drinking now threatens a career. A parent in Gulf Breeze or Pace who has run out of ways to say the same thing. An adult child in another state who cannot get a sibling in Escambia County to answer the phone.
Why the numbers here change the timeline
Florida Department of Health data show 129 drug poisoning deaths among Escambia County residents in 2024, an age-adjusted rate of 39.9 per 100,000. The statewide rate was 21.3, so Escambia’s was close to double (FLHealthCHARTS). The county did improve sharply from 2023, when the count was 202 and the rate 62.8. Families should hold both facts at once: things are getting better, and the risk is still unusually high.
In practice that shapes our planning. When opioids or counterfeit pills are involved, we move faster, we talk about naloxone with everyone in the household, and we look hard at withdrawal management, because the first days off fentanyl are when many people walk out. Our guide on what families should know about detox explains why a medically supervised start matters, and how it differs from rehab.
Our preparation follows the same shape for every family, adjusted to the person. Hannah Gibson, co-founder and case manager, builds the history. Matt, a Certified Interventionist (CAI), chooses the approach and coaches each participant by video until the words are calm, short and true. We confirm a program, verify benefits, and plan the trip, so that a yes in a Pensacola living room has somewhere to go within hours. The fee is flat and in writing before you commit; travel is at actual cost; sober transport is quoted separately.
Court options at the Escambia County clerk
A General Magistrate hears the case. The Sheriff serves the notice.
The Escambia County Clerk publishes a clear Marchman Act page. Baker and Marchman petitions are accepted at the Clerk’s Probate and Mental Health office from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, with the main office at 190 W Government Street and the main line at 850-595-4300. The clerk explains that a petition is set for hearing within 10 days, petitioners receive notice by mail or email, the Sheriff serves the person, and a General Magistrate presides. The page links the forms, including the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office Baker/Marchman Act questionnaire, and notes it cannot vouch for their legal sufficiency.
The law behind the form: a person may be the subject of a petition if they appear to meet the criteria in s. 397.675, Florida Statutes, meaning substance use has taken away their self-control and either their judgment is too impaired to recognize the need for care or they face a real threat of harm. Under s. 397.68112, the petitioner may be a spouse, guardian, relative, service provider, or one adult who has direct personal knowledge of the impairment. No fee is charged for filing (s. 397.681). If the court finds an emergency, it may order an assessment of no more than 72 hours without waiting for the hearing (s. 397.6818), and a treatment order may run up to 90 days (s. 397.697).
Escambia shares the First Judicial Circuit with Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton, but the petition is filed in whichever county your loved one is actually in. Our Marchman Act guide covers each stage, and we will tell you plainly whether a petition or an intervention is the stronger first move.
If the crisis is psychiatric, the Baker Act is the relevant law. A judge, a law enforcement officer, or a qualified clinician who examined the person within 48 hours can each initiate an involuntary examination under s. 394.463, and the examination lasts up to 72 hours. The Escambia clerk handles Baker Act petitions in the same office and hours as Marchman ones.
Court-ordered treatment beyond that point requires a petition by a facility administrator or a provider treating the person (s. 394.467). The court can order inpatient care, outpatient services, or both, for up to 6 months. When a loved one with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia cycles through short holds, we work with the family on what happens at discharge, which is where most of the leverage is. See our Florida mental health intervention page.
When it is a psychiatric emergency
Safety first, always
Someone at risk right now? Dial 911.
If a person has overdosed, is talking about ending their life, or may hurt someone, call 911 immediately. For a mental health or substance use crisis that needs help today, call or text 988. An intervention is planned work for a serious situation, not an emergency response.
Escambia County crisis services
Lakeview Center runs the Mobile Response Team for Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties. It offers 24/7 mental health crisis support for children, teens and adults, at 866-517-7766 or 850-281-5334. Lakeview’s own page advises 911 for a suicide attempt, imminent risk, violence or medical need, and 988 for mental health or substance use distress. DCF’s county directory also lists Lakeview’s Florida Assertive Community Treatment team in Pensacola for adults with serious and persistent mental illness.
State behavioral health funding in the western Panhandle flows through Northwest Florida Health Network, DCF’s managing entity for Escambia and seventeen other counties, at (850) 410-1020, per the DCF contact list. For uninsured loved ones, that network shapes which publicly funded beds are realistic.
Navy families and TRICARE
Naval Air Station Pensacola brings many military families to the area. The Fleet and Family Support Center at 151 Ellyson Avenue, Building 625, (850) 452-5990, offers confidential counseling and is a sensible support for spouses and children while a service member gets care.
For the treatment itself, TRICARE’s substance use disorder coverage may include detox, inpatient care, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, office-based opioid treatment and medication assisted treatment when it is medically necessary. Planned hospital stays need pre-authorization, while emergency care at the nearest hospital does not, according to the Air Force’s TRICARE explainer. We confirm those details before scheduling an intervention so that the plan does not stall at the admissions desk.
Vetting programs on the Gulf Coast
Every program we suggest is checked against public records first: the DCF Provider Substance Use Disorder Licensing and Designation Search for addiction treatment, and AHCA’s FloridaHealthFinder for psychiatric facilities. Sober living should be certified through the Florida Association of Recovery Residences, and since January 2025 a certified residence may not turn someone away solely for taking a federally approved medication for substance use disorder (s. 397.487), which matters for anyone on buprenorphine.
Florida’s Patient Brokering Act bans paying or receiving kickbacks for referrals. We go further than the law requires and take nothing at all from programs. Our treatment navigation is paid for by the family alone.
Pensacola International Airport (PNS) is the main gateway, and I-10 runs across the top of the city toward Tallahassee and Jacksonville in one direction and Mobile in the other. Escambia County observes Central time; the federal boundary in 49 CFR 71.5 places the Eastern zone east of the Apalachicola River. If a program or a family member is in Tallahassee, Jacksonville or most of the East Coast, everyone needs to know which hour they mean.
Many families here look at treatment out of state, and the Alabama line is close at hand. Our guide to interstate intervention logistics explains how we manage that. We also serve families in Panama City and Tallahassee, and throughout Florida.
PNS, I-10, and Central time
Pensacola questions
What Escambia County families want to know.
When can we file a Marchman Act petition in Pensacola?
Who hears a Marchman case in Escambia County?
Is there a mobile crisis team in Pensacola?
How serious is the overdose problem in Escambia County?
Can a sober home in Florida refuse someone on Suboxone?
Is G3 local to Pensacola?
Keep going
More help along the Panhandle
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.