CPP State Policy Feature: Louisiana
“[CPP is] the gold standard for the treatment of trauma in young children and their caregivers.”
— Louisiana CPP trainer
66 Providers*
48 Agencies*
Annual funding for Medicaid-serving agencies
Foundational Training
Timeline
1998
1st CPP cohort, part of LSU’s IMH curriculum, sponsored by Harris Foundation.
2001
Louisiana joins the Early Trauma Treatment Network (ETTN), introducing CPP through LSU and Tulane internship programs.
2003
LA launches Early Childhood Supports and Services (pilot program for children 0-5).
2017
State budget funds MCOs to train providers in CPP.
2019
Substance Abuse Block Grant funds CPP training.
2019
Center for Evidence to Practice founded, funded by LDH.
2023
ARPA funds CPP training and retention payments for Medicaid-serving providers.
Academic Medical Centers
Conduits of funding for statewide workforce development.
Louisiana State University’s Center for Evidence to Practice and Tulane’s Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health serve as LA’s primary hubs for CPP dissemination. By providing direct training and partnering with state agencies, Medicaid-serving clinics, and regional early childhood programs, LSU and Tulane have helped extend CPP beyond urban centers and sustain a statewide network of providers.
Early Childhood
Support & Services
State program expands CPP dissemination
In 2003, LA launched the ECSS program to improve access for young children and families served by Medicaid. Funded by OBH, ECSS expanded CPP training throughout the state. Many clinicians trained through ECSS have moved into leadership roles at state agencies and health systems. The program was cut in 2013 but reinstated in 2023 and continues to scaffold CPP dissemination across LA.
Children’s Cabinet
Advisory Board
CPP leaders advocate and build relationships
The Louisiana Children’s Cabinet Advisory Board makes recommendations about funding priorities and services for children and families to the Governor and legislators, which includes leadership from state agencies. This forum allowed state CPP leaders to build relationships with state-level policymakers, which afforded them a seat at the table for decisions shaping infant and early childhood mental health services in Louisiana, including the re-institution of the ECSS in 2023.
Learn More
Key Organizations
Louisiana State University’s Center for Evidence to Practice (LSU CE2P)
Explore the academic medical center that receives funding from the state legislature to provide CPP training across the state.
Tulane’s Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health
Learn about the private academic medical center that provides CPP training, consultation, and supervision to community clinicians, interns, and child psychiatrists across the state.
Tulane’s Early Childhood Policy Leadership Institute (ECPLI)
Learn about a former program that advanced IECMH policy by delivering training to business professionals, judges, legislators, advocates, and funders.
Louisiana Office of Behavioral Health (OBH)
Explore the unit of Louisiana’s Department of Health that manages the state’s IECMH programs and funds statewide dissemination of evidence-based practices.
Magellan of Louisiana
Learn about one of Louisiana’s Medicaid behavioral health contractor that supported early statewide dissemination of infant mental health and CPP training, particularly in underserved regions.
Key Resources
- Louisiana Substance Abuse Block Grant Report (FY 2021) – Explore the state’s programming to address substance abuse, including a collaboration with managed care organizations to train Medicaid-serving therapists in Child-Parent Psychotherapy.
- LSU CE2P Annual Report (2025) – Explore the center’s annual report, prepared for the Louisiana Department of Health, which contains data on training and impact across CPP and other evidence-based practices.
Foundational Training
A lack of foundational IECMH knowledge, prior experience with the population, or relationship-based treatment approaches can reduce the likelihood of successfully completing a CPP Learning Collaborative. To support these clinicians, LSU’s Center for Evidence to Practice provides foundational training in infant and early childhood mental health. Developed with input from state CPP leaders, this training is composed of five 3-hour webinars:
- Early childhood development
- Attachment
- Parent-child relationships
- Trauma history
- Working with complex caregivers
These courses are a prerequisite for the Learning Collaboratives and help prepare clinicians in under-resourced systems.
IECMH Champions
Infant and early childhood mental health in Louisiana was greatly supported by the following champions:
- Drs. Joy and Howard Osofsky. Both are Chairs and Professors at LSU’s Department of Psychiatry, and Joy is a CPP Mentor Trainer. These two early childhood mental health professionals have been longtime champions of young children to funders and policymakers, in addition to their clinical innovations and training contributions to the field.
- Dr. Charles Zeanah, Director of the Institute of IECMH and Professor of Psychiatry at Tulane University, has been integral in developmental research and advancing knowledge about the impact of trauma on infants and young children. He has advocated for IMH funding and policies, including his involvement in the initiation of ECSS, co-creation of the Early Childhood Policy Leadership Institute (ECPLI), and his decades-long work directing an Infant Mental Health Team that provides intervention for infants and families involved with the Child Welfare system, supporting the dissemination of CPP throughout the state.
Additional Challenges to Sustainability
- Lack of resources and infrastructure in northern and central Louisiana has hampered the development of the CPP workforce in “trauma treatment deserts.”
- Maintaining consultation and supervision for a growing CPP workforce, especially as dissemination extends further from urban hubs.
Future CPP Sustainability Considerations
- Develop sustainable funding for ongoing consultation and reflective supervision.
- Build referral pipelines in central and northern Louisiana.
- Scale up the Early Childhood Courts program to meet the needs of all children in state custody.
- Expand the enhanced rate pilot program from Sunshine Health across the state.
*Numbers reflect individual providers and agencies named on the CPP Provider Roster as of June 2026.
The content of this document is intended for informational use only. If you are interested in becoming involved with CPP policy advocacy in your state, please fill out this survey.
The CPP Dissemination Team would like to thank Amy Dickson, Devi Miron Murphy, Joy Osofsky, and Julie Larrieu for providing context into CPP sustainability in Louisiana.