For two years, social science researchers observed the conditions under which emergency psychiatric requests from patients with mental health disorders were received and handled. Many of the people who use emergency services (hospital emergency rooms, health centers, social emergency services, hotlines, etc.) are frightened by the healthcare system, sometimes bounce from one facility to another, or are completely marginalized. Emergency services can then play a positive role as a buffer, just as organizations that assist patients in accessing care do. Faced with the gap between patients’ needs and the available care, some professionals and organizations are innovating by intervening as close as possible to the community, at the neighborhood or local facility level.