OCTOBER 14, 2025

Court documents suggest over 1,100 workers at HHS were laid off

Hundreds of federal employees working on mental health services, disease outbreaks, and disaster preparedness were among those hit by the Trump administration's mass firings over the weekend, current and laid-off workers said Monday, as the administration aimed to pressure Democratic lawmakers to give in and end the nearly 2-week-long government shutdown.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) was among the agencies within HHS that saw cuts, according to two SAMHSA employees with knowledge of the layoffs who weren't authorized to speak publicly.

OCTOBER 13, 2025

NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of federal employees working on mental health services, disease outbreaks and disaster preparedness were among those hit by the Trump administration’s mass firings over the weekend, current and laid-off workers said Monday, as the administration aimed to pressure Democratic lawmakers to give in and end the nearly two-week-long government shutdown.

The government-wide reduction-in-force initiative that began Friday roiled the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services just six months after it went through an earlier round of cuts and as many staffers already were disconnected from work because of the shutdown.

OCTOBER 10, 2025

The Committee to Protect Public Mental Health says that Kennedy has implemented changes to the nation's health agencies "in ways that endanger lives."

In 2024, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent campaign for president released a highly polished documentary about his vision for solving the interconnected crises of addiction and mental illness in the U.S. In travels throughout the country, Kennedy, a recovering addict himself, met with advocates and people who were struggling to recover from substance abuse disorders. Throughout the documentary, he floated ideas that seemed New Age-y (”healing farms”), and some that sounded like throwbacks to a contentious era of involuntary commitment.

OCTOBER 6, 2025

Psychiatrists have joined other public health groups in calling for the removal of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary.

Two psychiatry organizations — the Southern California Psychiatry Society and the recently formed grassroots Committee to Protect Public Mental Health — have released statements saying that the actions of the leader of the Department of Health and Human Services have increased stigma, instilled fear and hurt access to mental health and addiction care.

The Southern California Psychiatric Society, representing more than 1000 psychiatrists in the region, calls on the California congressional representatives and senators who represent our members to urge the California congressional delegation and the Senate Mental Health Caucus led by California Senator Alex Padilla to seek removal of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Secretary Kennedy has repeatedly spread dangerous falsehoods about medical preventative services and treatments.

MAY 21, 2025

Psychiatrists and mental health advocates rally in Los Angeles in protest of the proposed cuts to Medicaid.

The decision to eliminate the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the proposed cuts to Medicaid by President Donald Trump have left many mental health clinicians and psychiatrists extremely worried.

That’s why, in conjunction with the 2025 American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting in Los Angeles last weekend, dozens of psychiatrists and mental health professionals held a rally to urge federal leaders to reverse course and reject the proposed cuts to Medicaid and restore SAMHSA.