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 by way of Getty Pictures
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Smith Assortment/Gado by way of Getty Pictures
The Trump administration has laid off greater than 100 staff on the nation’s predominant psychological well being company, NPR has realized.
Present and former staff on the Substance Abuse and Psychological Well being Companies Administration (SAMHSA) instructed NPR in regards to the layoffs, which had been a part of a government-wide discount in pressure. The sources, who weren’t approved to talk publicly in regards to the company, mentioned the layoffs got here late Friday, because the nation’s authorities shutdown dragged on.
Workers had been notified of a “Discount in Pressure” shortly earlier than 8 p.m. ET on Friday, in accordance with a supply inside the company who was not approved to debate the layoffs publicly. Based on the supply, administration officers supplied no rationale for who misplaced their jobs:
“I believe the overall feeling at the moment is shock — and never understanding why?” the supply instructed NPR.
That supply was conscious of dozens of firings. Two former staff instructed NPR that the full 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 at first 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 just about half.
In an announcement, the Division of Well being and Human Companies, 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 applications aimed 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, instructed NPR earlier this 12 months. “If these grants had been to go away, we might be screwed.”
Regardless of having what many see as an important position in defending the nation’s psychological well being, SAMHSA has not been considered favorably by the present administration. President Trump had proposed slashing its funds as a part of his Massive Lovely Invoice. And earlier this 12 months, Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. instructed 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 elements of the company are shedding 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 accordance with two staff who say they had 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 accordance with 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 Pressure 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 instructed NPR that the company had been the topic of sweeping cuts to workers at places of work liable for illness surveillance, outbreak forecasting, continual ailments, and immunization and respiratory ailments, to call however a number of. “Should 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 instructed 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 staff.
The assertion from HHS’s Nixon didn’t instantly handle 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 might be 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.
