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 answerable for overseeing the quantity.
Smith Assortment/Gado through Getty Pictures
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Smith Assortment/Gado through Getty Pictures
The Trump administration has laid off greater than 100 staff on the nation’s most important psychological well being company, NPR has discovered.
Present and former staff on the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Providers Administration (SAMHSA) advised NPR concerning the layoffs, which have been a part of a government-wide discount in power. The sources, who weren’t approved to talk publicly concerning the company, stated the layoffs got here late Friday, because the nation’s authorities shutdown dragged on.
Staff have been notified of a “Discount in Drive” shortly earlier than 8 p.m. ET on Friday, in keeping with a supply throughout the company who was not approved to debate the layoffs publicly. In line with the supply, administration officers provided no rationale for who misplaced their jobs:
“I feel the overall feeling at this time is shock — and never understanding why?” the supply advised NPR.
That supply was conscious of dozens of firings. Two former staff advised NPR that the overall 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.
The Division of Well being and Human Providers didn’t instantly reply to NPR’s request for remark.
SAMHSA is answerable for overseeing the brand new 988 suicide prevention hotline. It additionally offers out billions in grants for psychological well being and habit companies. It was created in 1992 via bipartisan laws signed by then-President George H.W. Bush. In 2024 its finances was about $7.5 billion, most of which went on to states for applications 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, advised NPR earlier this 12 months. “If these grants have been to go away, we might be screwed.”
Regardless of having what many see as a vital function in defending the nation’s psychological well being, SAMHSA has not been considered favorably by the present administration. President Trump had proposed slashing its finances as a part of his Massive Lovely Invoice. And earlier this 12 months, Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. advised Congress that he supposed 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
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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 have been affected by the firings. Each staff weren’t approved to talk to the press whereas the layoffs are being finalized.
However the cuts at CDC appeared 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 stated the worker’s Discount in Drive was “hereby revoked.”
The supply stated they have been conscious of different reversals on the CDC, nevertheless it was unclear what number of staff acquired such letters.
Earlier than the reversals went out, one CDC official who was laid off advised NPR that the company had been the topic of sweeping cuts to employees at workplaces answerable for illness surveillance, outbreak forecasting, persistent ailments, and immunization and respiratory ailments, to call however a number 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 maintain the general public knowledgeable,” the official who was laid off advised NPR.
The New York Instances additionally reported in depth cuts on the public well being company, together with two senior officers answerable for overseeing the CDC’s measles response staff. HHS didn’t reply to NPR’s request for remark about CDC cuts by deadline.
NPR’s Pien Huang and Jeff Brady contributed to this report.
