Mental health and substance abuse staffers fired amid shutdown: Sources
Dozens of employees at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) 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, the agency 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.
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has not responded to ABC News' request for comment.
Roughly one in 10 of SAMHSA's 900 staff were fired in the spring DOGE cuts.
Other staff were recently transferred to other programs in HHS.
While the impacts of these latest firings are still being determined, a source told ABC News the agency was "hard hit."
-ABC News' Jay O'Brien







