Trump administration reverses cuts to mental health, addiction grants, officials say

In the span of less than a day, the Trump administration reversed plans to cut nearly $2 billion in funding for mental health and addiction treatment programs across the country.

Initially, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on Jan. 13 canceled grants for some 2,000 programs, but following a bipartisan backlash, the Department of Health and Human Services said late last night it would restore the funding, according to media reports.

“Americans affected by mental illness are the clear winners today, and we can be proud of the bipartisan effort that changed this decision,” said Daniel H. Gillison Jr, CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in a news release. “This isn’t a political issue because mental health conditions don’t care what political party your family supports. Every family has been impacted by the mental health, addiction and suicide crisis in this country. We can be proud that we fought to save mental health resources for all Americans.”

Rance Burger, director of media and public relations for Nashville, Tennessee-based Centerstone, said the behavioral health services company was among those notified on Jan. 13 about cuts to grant programs awarded by SAMHSA.

If the cuts were to go into effect, Centerstone officials said in a news release it would impact 28 programs across seven states – including Missouri – in which the company operates. The financial loss was estimated at roughly $14.3 million in funding through the end of 2026.

Burger said seven of those impacted programs are in Missouri. In southwest Missouri, those include a suicide prevention program, a mental health care program for pregnant and postpartum women and a grant to help expand a family treatment drug court in Greene County.

In the Centerstone system, around 3,000 people received more than 30,000 instances of treatment or care in 2025 as a result of the potentially impacted grants, officials said.

Centerstone officials said in a news release they received notification this morning about the reversal from SAMHSA.

“We’re excited to learn that these programs will be able to continue and we will continue our work to provide care, to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health treatment, to help families and to strengthen the communities we serve,” Centerstone CEO David C. Guth Jr. said in the release. “We appreciate everyone in the mental health space who spoke up and advocated on our behalf.”

Centerstone officials said that its patients continue to be the top priority and the organization is “taking responsible steps to manage resources and to keep delivering essential mental health services.”

Centerstone and Springfield-based Brightli Inc. completed a merger in November that created the nation’s largest behavioral health services nonprofit on the basis of revenue, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting. Combined revenue for Centerstone, which is the combined organization’s name, is $1.1 billion, with $550 million of that total coming from Brightli, the parent company of Burrell Behavioral Health.