• Adults Served in Civil Mental Health Treatment Facilities. Civil facilities serve individuals 18 years of age or older with severe and persistent mental illness for whom less restrictive treatment settings are not available or appropriate. Individuals may be admitted either voluntarily or involuntarily by court order. There are three civil mental health treatment facilities. The Department of Children and Families operates Florida State Hospital and Northeast Florida State Hospital. The additional civil facility, South Florida State Hospital, is operated through a contract with Wellpath Recovery Solutions.
• Adults Served in Forensic Mental Health Treatment Facilities. Forensic facilities serve individuals charged with a felony criminal offense who are incompetent to proceed to trial and those found not guilty by reason of insanity and determined by the court to require treatment in a state mental health facility. Individuals who do not require a secure setting may be directly admitted or transferred into one of three civil hospitals. There are four maximum security facilities to serve individuals determined by the court to require treatment in a state mental health facility. DCF operates Florida State Hospital and North Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center; Wellpath Recovery Solutions operates Treasure Coast Treatment Facility and South Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center.

Mental Health Treatment. The 2023 Legislature enacted Ch. 2023-270, Laws of Florida, which modifies Ch. 916, Florida Statutes, regarding competency determination, treatment options, and restoration. Specifically, the law requires local sheriffs or the DCF to administer psychotropic medications to forensic clients in jails prior to their admission to forensic facilities if clinically indicated; requires the consideration of alternative, community-based treatment options before ordering a defendant to be placed in a forensic facility; and reduces timeframes for notifications from forensic facilities to the courts, scheduling of competency hearings, and the maximum wait time for transportation back to the committing jurisdiction. Additionally, forensic facilities must provide up to 30 days of medication when transferring a defendant back to the committing jurisdiction and assist the county jail's medical team with discharge planning.

Other Reports
Oversight and Administration of State Mental Health Treatment Facilities, Report 2021-043, October 2020
The Auditor General reports on department operations are available on its website

Websites of Interest
Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Mental Health America

Performance Information
Performance measures and standards for the department may be found in its Long Range Program Plan.
Planning and Performance Measures report the department's performance on external and internal measures for its various programs. The measures allow the user to view performance at both a statewide and geographic region level.

Mental Health Services, DCF Headquarters, 850-487-1111
Website

Contacts for the state hospitals can be found on the websites below.