Chicago – October 13, 2025
The Trump administration has laid off more than 100 employees at the nation’s main mental health agency, NPR has learned.
Current and former employees at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) told NPR about the layoffs, which were part of a government-wide reduction in force. The sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the agency, said the layoffs came late Friday, as the nation’s government shutdown dragged on.
Employees were notified of a “Reduction in Force” shortly before 8 p.m. ET on Friday, according to a source within the agency who was not authorized to discuss the layoffs publicly. According to the source, administration officials offered no rationale for who lost their jobs:
That source was aware of dozens of firings. Two former employees told NPR that the total number of employees at SAMHSA who lost their jobs was around 125, though that number was a rough estimate. SAMHSA had employed around 900 people at the start of this administration, but had already lost a third of that number to layoffs in the spring. With this latest round of firings, that number is down to nearly half.
In a statement, the Department of Health and Human Services, which houses SAMHSA, confirmed the cuts.
“HHS employees across multiple divisions are receiving reduction-in-force notices as a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown,” Andrew Nixon, the department’s director of communications, wrote to NPR in an email late Saturday.
