Sign up for mental health crisis hotline 988 Lifeline, Walnut Creek, CA, December 20, 2024. The Trump administration has fired more than 100 employees at the agency responsible for overseeing the number.
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The Trump administration has fired more than 100 employees at the nation's top mental health agency, NPR has learned.
Current and former employees of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) spoke to NPR about the layoffs, which were part of a statewide workforce reduction. The sources, not authorized to speak publicly about the agency, said the layoffs occurred late Friday as the national government shutdown dragged on.
Employees were notified of the “reduction in force” shortly before 8 pm ET on Friday, according to an agency source who was not authorized to discuss the layoffs publicly. According to the source, administration officials did not explain who lost their jobs:
“I think the general feeling today is one of shock – and not understanding why?” A source told NPR.
This source knew about dozens of attacks. Two former employees told NPR that the total number of SAMHSA employees who lost their jobs was about 125, although that number is a rough estimate. SAMHSA employed about 900 people at the start of this administration, but had already lost a third of that number due to layoffs in the spring. Thanks to the latest round of layoffs, that number has almost halved.
In a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services, which houses SAMHSA, confirmed the cuts.
“HHS employees across multiple divisions are receiving layoff notices as a direct consequence of the Democratic-led government shutdown,” Andrew Nixon, the department's communications director, wrote NPR in an email late Saturday.
SAMHSA is responsible for overseeing the new Suicide Prevention Hotline 988. It also awards billions in grants for mental health and addiction treatment services. It was created in 1992 through bipartisan legislation signed by then-President George H.W. In 2024, its budget was about $7.5 billion, most of which went directly to states for programs targeting mental health and addiction issues.
SAMHSA funds “are the backbone of behavioral health in this country,” Rachel Winograd, a psychologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, told NPR. earlier this year. “If these grants stopped, we would be screwed.”
Despite what many consider an important role in protecting the nation's mental health, SAMHSA has not been viewed favorably by the current administration. President Trump proposed budget cuts as part of his “Big Beautiful Bill.” And earlier this year, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told Congress he intends to consolidate his responsibilities into a new program he calls the Healthy America Administration.
CDC in confusion as some cuts are reversed
A sign marks the entrance to the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, in Atlanta. Several key divisions of the agency are losing employees.
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Brynn Anderson/AP
SAMHSA wasn't the only agency to lay off employees Friday night. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also appears to have experienced staff reductions, according to two employees who say they were affected by the layoffs. Both employees were not authorized to speak to the press while the layoffs were being completed.
But by Saturday evening, the CDC cuts appeared to be turning around. In contrast, one employee was canceled, according to the letter seen by NPR. A letter from Tom Nagy, director of human resources for the Department of Health and Human Services, said the employee reductions are “hereby cancelled.”
The source said they were aware of other anomalies at the CDC, but it was unclear how many employees had received such letters.
Before the waiver was reversed, one laid-off CDC employee told NPR that the agency had made sweeping staff cuts in offices responsible for disease surveillance, outbreak forecasting, chronic diseases, immunizations and respiratory diseases, to name a few. “If you wanted to weaken America's public health capacity without saying so outright, this is how you would do it: eliminate the people who connect the dots, stabilize the ship and inform the public,” the fired official told NPR.
New York Times Also reported significant reductions at the public health agency, including two senior officials responsible for overseeing the CDC's measles response team.
Nixon's statement from HHS did not directly address CDC cuts or obvious changes, but it did indicate that additional cuts could be made.
“HHS continues to shut down wasteful and duplicative organizations, including those that run counter to the Trump Administration's Make America Healthy Again agenda,” it said.
NPR's Pien Huang and Jeff Brady contributed to this report.
