To start a 302 in Pennsylvania, call 911 if someone is in immediate danger; otherwise call your county mental health crisis line and ask to petition the county administrator or their delegate, who has legal authority to sign a 302 warrant. Section 302 of the Mental Health Procedures Act allows involuntary emergency psychiatric evaluation when a person is severely mentally disabled and poses a clear and present danger to themselves or others.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Mental Health Procedures Act – Section 302 Knowing exactly what qualifies, who to call, and what to say is what moves the process forward when someone you care about is in crisis.
What Qualifies Someone for a 302
Not every mental health crisis meets the standard for involuntary commitment. A 302 applies only when someone is severely mentally disabled and their behavior shows clear and present danger, and that dangerous behavior must have occurred within the past 30 days.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Mental Health Procedures Act – Section 302 The danger falls into two categories.
The first is danger to self or others. Suicide attempts, self-harm intended to end life, and serious threats of violence backed by concrete steps all meet this standard. Someone who attempted suicide last week and is now refusing help qualifies. Someone making specific threats and taking steps to act on them qualifies.
The second is inability to care for oneself due to mental illness. If a person has stopped eating, stopped drinking, or refuses necessary medication because of a psychiatric condition, and that pattern is likely to result in serious physical harm or death within 30 days, the standard is met. The question is whether mental illness is preventing informed decisions about basic self-care.
Simply having a mental illness, acting erratically, or being hard to deal with is not enough. The behavior has to pose a real safety threat, and it has to be recent.
Who to Call
Two paths exist, and the right one depends on how urgent the situation is right now.
Call 911 for Immediate Danger
If someone is actively trying to hurt themselves or threatening violence in the moment, call 911. Police officers who personally observe dangerous behavior can transport the person directly to an approved facility for evaluation without a signed petition. Physicians who witness the behavior in a medical setting have the same authority.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Mental Health Procedures Act – Section 302 This is the fastest route when safety is at stake immediately.
Call Your County Crisis Line Otherwise
When the danger is real but not unfolding in front of you, call your county mental health crisis line. Under Pennsylvania law, the county mental health administrator or their delegate is the person with authority to sign a 302 warrant and authorize transport to a facility for evaluation.2Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Emergency 302 Bulletin County crisis lines connect you to those delegates. Most operate 24/7 and can send mobile crisis teams to assess the person in person.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education maintains a directory of county mental health contacts.3Pennsylvania Department of Education. Mental Health Contacts by County in PA Dialing 988 also connects you to local crisis resources if you don’t have the county number in front of you.
Who Can Petition
Anyone who has witnessed the dangerous behavior, or anyone the person has directly told about it, can file a 302 petition. You do not need to be a family member, a doctor, or law enforcement. You apply to the county administrator or delegate, describe what you saw or were told, and they decide whether the criteria are met.1Pennsylvania General Assembly. Mental Health Procedures Act – Section 302
What to Say When You Call
The information you give the dispatcher or delegate is what determines how quickly the process moves. Stick to concrete observations, not diagnoses or general impressions of someone’s mental state.
- Specific behaviors you witnessed. “He said he was going to kill himself and I found him holding a bottle of pills” carries far more weight than “he seems depressed.”
- When the behavior happened. The 30-day window matters. Behavior from two months ago may not meet the legal standard.
- Where the person is right now, and whether they are alone.
- Safety concerns for responders. Weapons in the home, physical aggression, drug or alcohol use.
- Known mental health history. Diagnoses, current medications, past hospitalizations you are aware of.
The delegate uses this information to decide whether the legal threshold is met. Specific descriptions of dangerous conduct move the petition forward. General descriptions of someone being unwell usually do not.
What Happens After the Petition Is Signed
Once a warrant is signed, or once police transport the person based on personal observation, the person is brought to a designated psychiatric facility or emergency room. A physician there examines them and makes an independent judgment about whether the commitment criteria are actually met. Not every person brought in on a 302 is admitted.
If the physician confirms the criteria, the person can be held for involuntary evaluation and treatment for up to 120 hours. That clock starts when the county administrator or delegate signs the warrant or authorizes transport, not when the person arrives at the hospital.2Pennsylvania Department of Human Services. Emergency 302 Bulletin Transport time and emergency room waits eat into that window, so in practice the facility has roughly five days to evaluate and develop a plan.
At the end of the 120 hours, three things can happen: the person is released, the person agrees to stay voluntarily, or the facility petitions the court for extended involuntary treatment under Section 303. Most people do not reach the extended-commitment stage.
The Firearm Consequence to Understand Before You File
An involuntary commitment under the Mental Health Procedures Act triggers firearm prohibitions at both the state and federal level, and this is the piece most petitioners do not know about until it is too late.
Under Pennsylvania’s Uniform Firearms Act, a person who has been involuntarily committed for inpatient psychiatric care cannot possess, use, sell, or transfer a firearm, and cannot obtain a firearms license.4Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Code Title 18 – Section 6105 Federal law imposes a separate prohibition on anyone committed to a mental institution: no shipping, transporting, possessing, or receiving firearms or ammunition.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 922 – Unlawful Acts
These prohibitions are not temporary. They last indefinitely unless the person successfully petitions a court for restoration of rights, which typically requires evidence of restored mental competency and a current mental health professional’s certification that the person does not pose a danger. If the person you’re considering a 302 for owns firearms, the permanent loss of gun rights is worth weighing before you file.
Voluntary Commitment as an Alternative
If the person in crisis will accept help, voluntary admission under Section 201 of the Mental Health Procedures Act is almost always a better path. Anyone 14 or older who understands the nature of treatment can consent to voluntary inpatient care.6Pennsylvania General Assembly. Mental Health Procedures Act The person signs a consent form, and the facility develops a treatment plan within 72 hours. A voluntary stay has no fixed time limit and continues as long as the treating physician determines inpatient care is medically necessary.
A voluntary admission does not trigger the firearm prohibitions that come with a 302. The patient keeps more control over treatment decisions and can leave by giving written notice, though the facility has up to 72 hours to discharge if the patient agreed to that waiting period at admission. If the patient submits a withdrawal notice and the facility believes they still meet involuntary commitment criteria, the facility can initiate a 302 petition during that window.
For situations that don’t rise to inpatient care, outpatient therapy, medication management, and community crisis centers offer support without hospitalization. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and the Crisis Text Line (text HOME to 741741) are available for anyone in distress who is not at the point of needing a facility-based intervention.