The Advocate's War Chest
Crisis numbers, Florida programs, official agencies, and peer support, gathered in one place and sorted by what you actually need right now.
Call these first
988
Crisis & Suicide Lifeline
Call or text, 24/7. Free and confidential.
1-800-539-4228
Mobile Response Team
SMA Healthcare 24/7 helpline, Marion and Central Florida. Sends counselors, not police.
911
Immediate physical danger
Say: "behavioral health emergency, request a CIT officer."
1-800-962-2873
Florida Abuse Hotline
No facility may ever block your child from calling this number.
What kind of help do you need?
Pick the one that fits and it will take you to the right part of this page.
A treatment program or placement
Florida programs, and help researching residential options.
Take me there →An official agency or legal authority
State agencies, rights enforcement, insurance parity, and school support.
Take me there →Other parents who understand
Peer support networks and plain-English explanations of diagnoses.
Take me there →Step-by-step guides
Thirty guides on crisis response, placement, rights, court, and school.
Browse the guides →The Crisis Flyer
A free one-page handout for families in the moment of crisis: the numbers to call, placement and education rights, and how to reach Waymark. Built to be printed and left behind by law enforcement, CIT officers, school resource officers, hospital social workers, and therapists. Print as many as you need.
Thirty step-by-step guides, sorted by where you are
Crisis response, building your documentation, choosing a level of care, forcing a stalled placement to move, your rights under Florida law, school, and planning for adulthood. All free, all plain language.
Programs and placement help in Florida
Florida-based organizations families ask us about. These are informational listings only. Read the note below before you contact anyone.
Braveminds Academy
A licensed residential mental health program for adolescent boys, roughly ages 11 to 17, serving the Tampa Bay and Pinellas County area. Publicly listed services include individual, group, and family therapy with academic support on site.
Visit their website →Best Choice Admissions
A free referral service that helps families research therapeutic boarding schools, residential treatment centers, and similar programs. They state publicly that they are paid by the programs they refer families to, and that they are not a licensed child placement agency.
Visit their website →How to read this directory
The Waymark Foundation does not endorse, recommend, vet, license, or inspect any program listed here, and we have no partnership, affiliation, or financial relationship with any of them. We receive nothing for these listings. They appear because Florida families have asked us about them and a public directory saves parents hours of searching in a crisis.
Before placing your child anywhere, verify the program's current licensure with the state, ask directly about accreditation, staffing ratios, restraint and seclusion policies, and your visitation and communication rights, and ask any referral service how it is paid. Our guide on what quality residential care looks like walks through the questions worth asking.
Represent a listed organization and want your entry updated or removed? Email Lindsay@aisling.consulting and we will take care of it promptly.
Schools and structured environments
A different category, for a different moment. These are academic settings, not treatment.
Read this first
The programs in this section are schools. They do not provide psychiatric treatment, clinical supervision, or crisis stabilization, and they are not a substitute for any of it. They are not appropriate for a child in acute crisis, at risk of self-harm, or needing a locked or clinically supervised setting.
We list them because some families reach a later stage, once a child is stable, where the need is structure, a change of environment, and getting school back on track. If that is not where you are today, start with the placement spectrum instead.
Southern Preparatory Academy
A private boarding and day school for grades 7 to 12, founded in 1898 and formerly known as Lyman Ward Military Academy. It offers a college-preparatory curriculum with a Christian focus, an optional Corps of Cadets and JROTC program, athletics, and career and technical tracks such as welding, robotics, culinary arts, and flight training. The school describes itself as co-educational.
Confirm before you call: boarding eligibility has historically differed from day enrollment at this school. Ask the admissions office directly which programs are currently open to your child.
Visit their website →As with everything in our directory, this is an informational listing only. The Waymark Foundation does not endorse, vet, or inspect this school, has no affiliation or financial relationship with it, and receives nothing for the listing. A structured school works well for some students and is the wrong fit for others, and a program can discharge a student whose needs exceed what a school is equipped to handle. Ask directly about how the school responds to behavioral escalation, what their discharge policy is, and what happens to your child's credits if a placement ends early.
Agencies, rights enforcement, and legal authority
Who to contact when you need the official record, an investigation, or the law on your side.
Florida DCF, Crisis Services
State agency
The official state source for Baker Act and Marchman Act forms, FAQ, and training.
Visit site →Disability Rights Florida
Rights enforcement
A non-profit with legal authority to investigate abuse or rights violations in facilities. The "big guns" for parents whose children are being mistreated in residential care.
Visit site →The Kennedy Forum
Insurance parity
The leading group on mental health parity. If you are fighting an insurance denial, this site provides the tactical parity language you need to win an appeal.
Visit site →SEDNET
School support
The Multiagency Network for Students with Emotional and Behavioral Disabilities, a Florida-specific network for school-based support.
Visit site →ABLE United (Florida)
Financial planning
A state-run program that lets families save for a child with a disability, including many behavioral health diagnoses, without losing eligibility for other assistance.
Visit site →Peer support and understanding the diagnosis
Other parents who have lived these nights, and plain-English explanations for the words nobody stopped to define for you.
NAMI Florida
Peer support
The gold standard for peer support. Offers Family-to-Family classes and resources for families navigating the justice system.
Visit site →The National Federation of Families
Family advocacy
"Parents and caregivers are the experts on what their families need." A nationwide champion of family voice.
Visit site →Child Mind Institute
Understanding diagnoses
Plain-English explanations of complex diagnoses. Use their Symptom Checker when a term like ODD or dissociation feels overwhelming.
Visit site →National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Trauma-informed care
The authority on trauma-informed care, and proof that trauma is a medical reality rather than a buzzword.
Visit site →When a family is in crisis, the most powerful thing they can hear is: someone else has been here, and they made it through.