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
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Smith Assortment/Gado through Getty Photos
The Trump administration has laid off greater than 100 staff on the nation’s foremost psychological well being company, NPR has discovered.
Present and former staff on the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies 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, mentioned 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 response to 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 the moment 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 whole variety of staff at SAMHSA who misplaced their jobs was round 125, although that quantity was a tough estimate. SAMHSA had employed round 900 folks.
The Division of Well being and Human Companies didn’t instantly reply to NPR’s request for remark.
SAMHSA is liable for overseeing the brand new 988 suicide prevention hotline. It additionally provides out billions in grants for psychological well being and dependancy providers. It was created in 1992 by way of 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 packages geared toward psychological well being points and dependancy.
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 yr. “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 seen favorably by the present administration. President Trump had proposed slashing its finances as a part of his Large Lovely Invoice. And earlier this yr, 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 elements of the company are dropping staff.
Brynn Anderson/AP
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Brynn Anderson/AP
SAMHSA was not the one company to see workers laid off on Friday night. The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention additionally seems to have suffered cuts to staffing, in response to 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 gave the impression to be in flux late Saturday. In an obvious reversal, one worker had their firing undone in response to a letter seen by NPR. The letter, from Tom Nagy, the Chief Human Capital Officer on the division of Well being and Human Companies mentioned the worker’s Discount in Drive was “hereby revoked.”
The supply mentioned they have been conscious of different reversals on the CDC, however 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 workers at workplaces liable for illness surveillance, outbreak forecasting, power ailments, and immunization and respiratory ailments, to call however a couple of. “In case 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 advised NPR.
The New York Occasions additionally reported in depth cuts on the public well being company, together with two senior officers liable for overseeing the CDC’s measles response group. 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.
