SACRAMENTO - A rise in mental health issues is straining resources across the country and forcing people to wait for appointments.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, in 2022, there were an estimated 59.3 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States with some sort of mental illness.

"The goal is when they leave they feel better," said Iffat Raufi, program director for Sacramento County's Mental Health Urgent Care. "We are actually created to provide an alternative therapeutic environment for individuals averting their mental health crisis so they do not end up in the emergency dept, psych hospitalization, or incarceration."

Their midtown location first opened in 2017 and since then has seen over 20,000 people. Open 24/7, it's available to anyone no matter their age or ability to pay. It has a specialized place that focuses on mental health and helps decrease the strain of other emergency facilities.

"Individuals who might have gone to the ER for a behavioral health crisis, now have a dedicated place to go and that also frees up the capacity of the emergency rooms to do what they do best," Diana White, chief operating officer, said.

The clinic also acts as a bridge for people who have to wait for regular appointments.

"Sometimes we'll link somebody to a clinic and it takes a little while for them to see a psychiatrist, but the urgent care is there to continue some of that med-bridging support until they can so they don't have to go back into crisis or fall through the cracks," White said.

And it's places like this, a first line of defense, that can prevent that from happening.

Their facility is located in midtown off Stockton Boulevard.