ERs are often ill-equipped to handle mentally ill patients and cause them more stress than they do help, furthermore, these recurring patients are costly. Mi Esperanza, a wellness center in CO, reduces unnecessary and counterproductive ER visits while providing those who are suffering a crisis a calm environment with talk therapy, and life coping strategies.

Rural Wisconsin has a shortage of mental health resources for youth. Supported by private grants and public funds, Wisconsin's statewide hotline offers counseling via text. The hotline was founded on the belief that young people may be more open to discuss their problems over text than through in-person conversations.

Fifty-one counties in the state of Wisconsin do not have child psychiatrists to provide counseling because most of them live in widely populated urban areas. Wisconsin psychiatrists now are offering telepsychiatry, which enables young people to do video conferencing and live chatting with a psychiatrist even if they are in rural areas. The program has shown that it is just as effective as in-person treatment; however, Wisconsin does not allow private insurers to pay for telemedicine services so the reimbursement for telepsychiatrists is still problematic.

In the early 2000s, Minnesota’s low income families struggled to have access to mental health care for their children. Now Minnesota therapists meet at schools rather than at a clinic and also train teachers to help students with mental health challenges. Parents measure the success based upon improved test scores, classroom environment, and fewer school suspensions.

Different programs in various nations are training ordinary people and creating community groups to effectively satisfy the mental health needs of their communities. In many of these regions, "treatment gaps" – where there are little to no mental health treatment plans or resources – exist, but this new informal infrastructure helps to fill that.