July 15, 2025 | From City of New Orleans
First-Ever Mental Health Wait Time Dashboard to Help Residents Access Behavioral Health Care
Earlier this month, the New Orleans Health Department (NOHD), in partnership with ViaLink, 504HealthNet, Odyssey House Louisiana (OHL), and a coalition of local behavioral health providers, launched a groundbreaking new tool to address a critical gap in access to care: the Mental Health and Substance Use Outpatient Wait Time Dashboard, designed to help residents find timely mental health and substance use services—and assist providers in coordinating care more effectively.
The new online dashboard is designed to give residents a clearer picture of where to access outpatient mental health and substance use treatment—and how long they may have to wait for services at each participating clinic.
“Residents shouldn’t have to guess where to go for mental health care or how long they’ll have to wait,” said Dr. Jennifer Avegno, Director of the New Orleans Health Department. “This dashboard provides the kind of real-time transparency and access information that can make a real difference for people seeking support.”
The dashboard information, managed by ViaLink, will display an interactive map of participating clinics. Users can click on each location to see:
- Current wait times for outpatient mental health and substance use services
- Types of services offered
- Language accessibility and interpretation services
- Whether services are available for youth
- Accepted payment methods and insurance options
This tool is launching at a time when the need for accessible mental health and substance use services has never been more urgent. According to a 2023 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF reported), 39% of Louisianians experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression—well above the national average. Alarmingly, nearly one in five of those individuals received no care in the four weeks prior to being surveyed. While New Orleans has made progress in reducing overdose deaths, the city still lost 293 lives to accidental overdoses in 2024—a rate that is significantly higher than the national average. The dashboard represents a
hopeful step forward, empowering residents with the information they need to seek care and helping providers better coordinate services across the city.
For many years, mental health and substance use services were primarily offered by specialized providers, often separate from other types of healthcare. However, this has changed. Over the past few decades, an increasing number of primary care settings have integrated mental health services, helping to reduce stigma and improve access to care. The variety of providers featured on this new dashboard reflects this transformation and emphasizes an important truth: taking care of your mental health is just as vital as taking care of your physical health. We hope this
dashboard simplifies the process by highlighting the many outpatient providers available throughout the community—potentially right in your neighborhood.
Current participating agencies include:
Odyssey House Louisiana, Metropolitan Human Services District, Access Health Louisiana, Baptist Community Health Services, CrescentCare, EXCELth, Healthcare for the Homeless, InclusivCare, Mercy Family Center, and Priority Health Care. More provider partners are expected to join in the coming months.
The dashboard is publicly accessible now at Dashboard - Mental Health Wait Time Dashboard -VIA LINK.
For more information about the dashboard or the city’s behavioral health initiatives, please contact: Travers Kurr, tkurr@nola.gov, or visit nola.gov/health.