Confusion erupts in mental health and substance abuse programs as HHS cuts, then reinstates grants

By ALI SWENSON, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Elizabeth Woike was cautiously optimistic when she saw news reports that the nearly $2 billion in grants that the Trump administration pulled from substance abuse and mental health programs around the country the previous day might be getting reinstated.

Then she got a 2 a.m. email Thursday from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reiterating the cuts — and didn’t know what to think anymore.

“I just shook my head. It’s mass chaos,” said Woike, the CEO of BestSelf Behavioral Health, a mental health and substance use disorder treatment provider in Buffalo, New York. As it turned out, the second termination letter was sent in error. She and roughly 2,000 other grant recipients nationwide were notified later Thursday morning that their federal funding had indeed been restored.

Woike’s feeling of whiplash over the past two days has been a common experience for providers, state health agencies and Americans who receive services amid the Trump administration eliminating, then abruptly reinstating, grants that support some of the nation’s most vulnerable people.

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