Signal for the 988 Lifeline psychological well being emergency hotline, Walnut Creek, California, December 20, 2024. The Trump administration has laid off greater than 100 staff on the company liable for overseeing the quantity.
Smith Assortment/Gado through Getty Photos
cover caption
toggle caption
Smith Assortment/Gado through Getty Photos
The Trump administration has laid off greater than 100 staff on the nation’s major psychological well being company, NPR has realized.
Present and former staff on the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration (SAMHSA) informed NPR concerning the layoffs, which had been a part of a government-wide discount in power. The sources, who weren’t licensed to talk publicly concerning the company, mentioned the layoffs got here late Friday, because the nation’s authorities shutdown dragged on.
Staff had been notified of a “Discount in Power” shortly earlier than 8 p.m. ET on Friday, in keeping with a supply throughout the company who was not licensed to debate the layoffs publicly. In response to the supply, administration officers provided no rationale for who misplaced their jobs:
“I feel the overall feeling in the present day is shock — and never understanding why?” the supply informed NPR.
That supply was conscious of dozens of firings. Two former staff informed NPR that the entire variety of staff at SAMHSA who misplaced their jobs was round 125, although that quantity was a tough estimate. SAMHSA had employed round 900 individuals initially of this administration, however had already misplaced a 3rd of that quantity to layoffs within the spring. With this newest spherical of firings, that quantity is down to almost half.
In an announcement, the Division of Well being and Human Providers, which homes SAMHSA, confirmed the cuts.
“HHS staff throughout a number of divisions are receiving reduction-in-force notices as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led authorities shutdown,” Andrew Nixon, the division’s director of communications, wrote to NPR in an e-mail late Saturday.
SAMHSA is liable for overseeing the brand new 988 suicide prevention hotline. It additionally offers out billions in grants for psychological well being and habit providers. It was created in 1992 by bipartisan laws signed by then-President George H.W. Bush. In 2024 its funds was about $7.5 billion, most of which went on to states for packages geared toward psychological well being points and habit.
SAMHSA funds “are the spine of behavioral well being on this nation,” Rachel Winograd, a psychologist on the College of Missouri-Saint Louis, informed NPR earlier this yr. “If these grants had been to go away, we would be screwed.”
Regardless of having what many see as a vital function in defending the nation’s psychological well being, SAMHSA has not been seen favorably by the present administration. President Trump had proposed slashing its funds as a part of his Large Stunning Invoice. And earlier this yr, Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. informed Congress that he meant to fold its duties into a brand new program he calls the Administration for a Wholesome America.
CDC in confusion as some cuts reversed
An indication marks the doorway to the U.S. Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention headquarters Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in Atlanta. A number of key components of the company are shedding staff.
Brynn Anderson/AP
cover caption
toggle caption
Brynn Anderson/AP
SAMHSA was not the one company to see employees laid off on Friday night. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention additionally seems to have suffered cuts to staffing, in keeping with two staff who say they had been affected by the firings. Each staff weren’t licensed to talk to the press whereas the layoffs are being finalized.
However the cuts at CDC gave the impression to be in flux late Saturday. In an obvious reversal, one worker had their firing undone in keeping with a letter seen by NPR. The letter, from Tom Nagy, the Chief Human Capital Officer on the division of Well being and Human Providers mentioned the worker’s Discount in Power was “hereby revoked.”
The supply mentioned they had been conscious of different reversals on the CDC, nevertheless it was unclear what number of staff obtained such letters.
Earlier than the reversals went out, one CDC official who was laid off informed NPR that the company had been the topic of sweeping cuts to employees at workplaces liable for illness surveillance, outbreak forecasting, power ailments, and immunization and respiratory ailments, to call however a couple of. “In the event you wished to weaken America’s public well being capability with out saying it outright, that is the way you’d do it — take away the individuals who join the dots, regular the ship, and preserve the general public knowledgeable,” the official who was laid off informed NPR.
The New York Instances additionally reported intensive cuts on the public well being company, together with two senior officers liable for overseeing the CDC’s measles response group.
The assertion from HHS’s Nixon didn’t instantly tackle the CDC cuts or the obvious reversals, nevertheless it indicated extra cuts may come.
“HHS continues to shut wasteful and duplicative entities, together with these which are at odds with the Trump administration’s Make America Wholesome Once more agenda,” it mentioned.
NPR’s Pien Huang and Jeff Brady contributed to this report.
