PROVIDENCE – CODAC Behavioral Health was one of many mental health and substance use treatment providers to receive a letter on Jan. 13 detailing major cuts to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant funding under a Trump administration directive.
Two days later, following significant public and legislative outcry, treatment providers received a second notice that funding, which totaled $2 billion nationwide, had been restored.
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But the stretch of time between the enacted cuts and funding restoration threw Rhode Island’s behavioral health care providers into a state of dread, said Linda Hurley, CEO and president of CODAC.
“None of us has gotten much sleep the past two days,” Hurley said on Jan. 15, shortly after CODAC learned it would keep its grant funding.
“The whole safety net of the state was absolutely, seriously impacted by this,” she said, noting that the cuts would have acted as a “very large nail in the coffin” for behavioral health and substance use treatment.
“If you look at prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery, it slashed programs across the board,” Hurley said, with preventative programs particularly hard-hit.
With grants once again stable, Hurley says she’s optimistic that outcry over the funding cut announcement will discourage the administration from shifting back to its initial directive.
“I think most of us are thinking that this isn’t going to happen again really soon because of the remarkable pushback that made it turn around in … really a rapid pivot,” Hurley said.
Randal Edgar, a spokesperson for the R.I. Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals, said the office continues to track the situation.
“We, along with providers, were dismayed and surprised by the sudden announcement of the SAMHSA grant cuts, and we are greatly relieved that the cuts were reversed because they would have impacted a vulnerable population that needs prevention and recovery services,” Edgar said. “We are monitoring daily for any other announcements that would impact services.”
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
