Alliance Alert: The Alliance for Rights and Recovery strongly condemns the recent layoffs at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) during the ongoing federal government shutdown. As reported by ABC News and confirmed by multiple congressional leaders, more than 100 SAMHSA employees — including staff overseeing child, adolescent, and family mental health services — were abruptly terminated. These cuts have reduced SAMHSA’s workforce to less than half of its size at the start of the Trump Administration, severely weakening the agency responsible for guiding our nation’s behavioral health system.
At a time when the United States continues to face an unprecedented mental health and substance use crisis, eliminating the very staff charged with supporting states, communities, and providers is the absolute wrong direction for our country. These firings will directly harm efforts to prevent overdose deaths, reduce suicides, and expand access to recovery-oriented services. Instead of dismantling vital infrastructure, the federal government must increase funding and support for voluntary, community-based services that work — including Housing First, harm reduction, and peer support programs that help people recover and stay well.
The Alliance joins members of Congress, including Representatives Paul Tonko, Don Beyer, Madeleine Dean, Lori Trahan, Brittany Pettersen, and Andrea Salinas, in calling for these staff to be reinstated immediately and for transparency around the administration’s plans to fold SAMHSA into a new “Administration for a Healthy America.” Undermining SAMHSA’s independence and expertise would further erode the nation’s ability to coordinate mental health and substance use initiatives at a time of record need.
The Alliance will continue fighting for the funding and policy changes necessary to protect and strengthen services for people with mental health, substance use, and trauma-related challenges. Our communities deserve a federal government that prioritizes compassion, recovery, and support — not cuts that jeopardize lives.
Mental Health, Substance Abuse Staffers Fired Amid Government Shutdown: Sources
By Jay O’Brien | ABC News | October 14, 2025
Dozens of employees at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration were laid off in the wave of government shutdown firings last week, multiple sources told ABC News.
Best known for overseeing the rollout of the 988 suicide prevention hotline, SAMHSA works with state and local governments on mental health and addiction initiatives and gives out billions in grants.
The firings, which began Friday, include widespread layoffs of staff that oversee child, adolescent and family mental health services, sources told ABC News.
Roughly one in 10 of SAMHSA’s 900 staff were fired in the spring Department of Government Efficiency cuts. Other staff were recently transferred to other programs in the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees SAMHSA.
A HHS spokesperson told ABC News that employees who received a Reduction in Force notice “were deemed non-essential by their respective division.”
While the impacts of these latest firings are still being determined, a source tells ABC the agency was “hard hit.”
ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
Mental health, substance abuse staffers fired amid government shutdown: Sources – ABC News
Amid Government Shutdown, Mental Health & Substance Use Disorder Champions Demand Restoration of Staff & Call For Answers on SAMHSA Reorganization and RIFs
Press Release | October 15, 2025
WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Representatives Paul Tonko (D-NY), Don Beyer (D-VA), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Lori Trahan (D-MA), Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), and Andrea Salinas (D-OR), congressional champions and leaders in the mental health and substance use disorder fields, called on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to immediately reinstate illegally fired staff at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and provide information about the impacts of departmental reorganization and reductions in force (RIFs) on SAMHSA and its operations. In their letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the lawmakers underscored the fact that these actions — which have reduced SAMHSA’s staff by more than half since the start of the Trump administration — run contrary to bipartisan congressional intent and undermine the nation’s response to the mental health and substance use disorder crisis. Respectively, these lawmakers each serve as leaders in either the Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery (ATR) Caucus, the Bipartisan Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Task Force, or the Mental Health Caucus.
“As longtime champions of access to mental health and substance use disorder treatment and resources,” the lawmakers wrote, “we are writing in response to the disturbing news that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) arbitrarily and illegally fired over 100 additional employees at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Reports indicate that the latest round of firings has reduced the SAMHSA workforce to less than half of what it was at the start of the Trump Administration. These cuts fly in the face of everything Congress has worked on to prioritize the focus on mental health and substance use disorder, to reduce stigma and to expand access to prevention, recovery, and treatment.”
In the letter, the lawmakers emphasized that previous firings in April have already deeply impacted SAMHSA’s operations. They warned that at a time when the overdose and mental health crisis continues to impact communities across the nation, this latest round of reductions in force will have a devastating impact on millions of Americans seeking treatment and resources to help them overcome this disease.
“We already were truly alarmed by the initial firings made in April of 2025, where SAMHSA lost 10 percent of its staff,” continued the lawmakers. “As you well know, we are currently in the midst of a nationwide overdose and mental health crisis; one that has impacted every community in some form. Addressing mental health and substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery is a bipartisan priority and now is not the time to make more heinous cuts to SAMHSA. The work of SAMHSA is not a partisan priority. It should be a priority for every American, every member of Congress, and every Administration.”
The lawmakers also highlighted reports that the Trump administration plans to end SAMHSA’s status as an independent agency, instead folding its operations under the heading of the so-called “Administration for a Healthy America” (AHA).
“We are concerned by reports that the Administration is taking steps to stop SAMHSA from serving its statutorily approved role as an independent agency…” the lawmakers wrote. “Let’s not forget that the whole reason Congress moved SAMHSA into an independent agency was to ensure that mental health and substance use disorder treatment was prioritized despite the longstanding stigma. Protecting SAMHSA and mental health and substance use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery funding is essential to ensuring that millions of Americans continue to have access to critical mental health and substance use services.”
The letter concluded: “We strongly urge you to return all SAMHSA employees to their workplace immediately, so they can continue to serve the American people and carry out SAMHSA’s lifesaving mission. Too many people across the country are suffering without necessary resources. We must ensure that SAMHSA staff are there to ensure those lifesaving resources reach our communities.”
The full letter can be read HERE.