Louisiana Mental Health Services Guide

Few private mental health providers are able to immediately serve people in crisis, while most state mental health systems have crisis response systems that help people get mental health care quickly in an emergency.

While the availability and type of crisis response services varies by region, the public mental health system is the primary source for immediate mental health care in Louisiana and one of your best options if you’re in crisis and need help right away. The people who answer crisis lines can provide caring support as they help you determine the best response to a crisis, whether it’s inpatient treatment or an appointment with a counselor.

Community mental health clinics (CMHCs) in Louisiana are publicly-funded outpatient programs that provide care for people who lack the means to access outpatient mental health services in the private sector. In addition to offering affordable therapy, CMHCs provide specialized and intensive services that aren’t available anywhere else or that are hard to find in private clinics. These specialized services help people with severe mental health conditions maintain a better quality of life. Consider going to a CMHC if you need intensive treatment or can’t access mental health care in the private sector due to your diagnosis or financial situation.

Many Louisiana CMHCs don’t have restrictive clinical eligibility criteria. This means you don’t have to have a serious mental illness (SMI) to get treatment at those clinics. You simply need to have a mental health condition such as depression, anxiety, or a trauma-related disorder. Eligibility criteria vary by region, so it’s a good idea to contact your Local Governing Entity (LGE) or district human services department to ask about the clinical requirements for CMHC services where you live.

All Louisiana CMHCs have income-based eligibility criteria. In general, Louisiana CMHCs provide services to people with limited incomes who have Medicaid, who are Medicaid-eligible, or who are uninsured. Specific financial eligibility criteria vary by region. If you’re not sure whether you’re eligible, reach out and call your region’s LGE or the clinic where you’d like to receive services. They should be able to tell you over the phone whether you’re likely to qualify and whether you should come in for an in-person assessment.

When Louisiana accepted federal Medicaid expansion in 2016, it significantly increased the number of people in Louisiana who are eligible for Medicaid and Medicaid-funded services like mental health services at district clinics. In Louisiana, you’re currently eligible for Medicaid if your income is 138 percent of the federal poverty level or less.

If you qualify for services at a Louisiana CMHC, you’ll need to pay for the care you receive using cash or insurance. Most CMHCs accept Medicare, Medicaid, and a range of private insurance plans. They also offer reduced and sliding-scale fees to people who lack insurance and can’t afford full fees. To find out how fees at your local CMHC compare to fees for private providers, you can call your local clinic and ask what they charge. Availability of counseling and other clinical services depends on each CMHC’s funding and staff at any given time.

If you’re not finding the care you need through the state system or tried it and felt like it wasn’t the right fit, you can try searching for free or low-cost counselors on OpenCounseling.

The best way to find out about your local public mental health clinic in Louisiana is to call the program directly. Each regional mental health service district, or LGE, also has a central office you can contact. You can reach the Louisiana Office of Behavioral Health (OBH) at (225) 342-9500 for general information or if you’re not sure which LGE or clinic to call. You can also refer to the LGE Directory on the OBH website for updated links and phone numbers to regional offices. For your convenience, we have also listed current contact information for all Louisiana LGEs, mental health crisis lines, and district clinics below.

In the 1960s, Americans started thinking differently about how to treat mental health conditions. New laws required state and local governments to establish community mental health programs as alternatives to institutionalization for people with serious mental illness. Many states’ public mental health programs trace their origins back to this period.

Louisiana opened community mental health clinics as early as the mid-1950s. After President John F. Kennedy signed the federal Community Mental Health Act in 1963, more clinics opened in Louisiana. In the beginning, they were operated directly by the state Office of Mental Health (now the Office of Behavioral Health). The state started transitioning from a centrally organized system to one operated by Local Governing Entities (LGEs) in the 1980s and 1990s.

All of Louisiana’s public mental health services are now delivered through its ten regional LGEs, also known as human service districts. The LGEs are accountable to local and state government, but they operate independently of them. This means that funding, the types of services available, and eligibility requirements vary from region to region in Louisiana. While LGEs contract with private providers for some services, behavioral health clinics are operated directly by the district. There are currently about 50 district-run behavioral health clinics in Louisiana.

Louisiana’s healthcare system was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, especially in the New Orleans area. In the aftermath of Katrina, many clinics and hospitals closed, including public and charity hospitals where many people received most or all of their medical and mental health care. Public mental health facilities also closed, and the system still hasn’t fully recovered. As a result, even more inmates with mental illness are being booked into the already overloaded prison system in Louisiana.

The state is aware of the issues it faces and is working to correct them. Louisiana continues to rebuild its system, which was previously focused on services provided at hospitals, with a new emphasis on clinic-based care. The state’s updated Medicaid system calls itself Healthy Louisiana to reflect “recognition that the Department’s goal of improving the health and quality of life of all residents of our state encompasses more than Medicaid [and also includes] increased access to care.”

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), only 38 percent of people in Louisiana who have a mental health condition get treatment for it. One reason for the care gap is that people aren’t aware of their options for affordable mental health care, including community mental health clinics. You can help change these statistics by reaching out and using local mental health resources to get the care you need to recover.