'Struggling': Veterans and mental health therapists on edge over White House moves

Both mental health therapists and the veterans they serve are "suffering" on several fronts due to President Donald Trump's job cuts and anti DEI policies, according to a new report by National Public Radio.

First, the therapists themselves say they're terrified of DOGE's plan to eliminate some 80,000 jobs within the Department of Veterans Affairs.

One mental health care provider who went by the name 'Lynn' for this report, told NPR's Katia Riddle, "I've been really struggling with my concentration and my ability to focus when I'm at work, because I feel like I have this ax over my head all the time."

Then there's the veterans themselves who seek out therapy for issues from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to gender dysphoria. Lynn said she's especially concerned over her LGBTQ patients due to Trump's anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion order declaring there are just two genders: male and female.

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"Consequently employees at the VA have been directed to remove symbols such as flags that indicate support for transgender or queer rights," Riddle wrote. "Therapists in other locations reported similar concern that these patients — already in a marginalized population — are being singled out and targeted for discrimination."

To "silently communicate a message of solidarity" with their LGBTQ clients, some therapists post "subversive" pieces of art in their offices displaying rainbows or displaying phrases such as, "Love is love," Riddle wrote.

Employees at the VA also report having "received emails encouraging them to report colleagues who are violating the new ban" on DEI.

"There's this culture of, 'you need to rat on people,'" Lynn said.

Patients are also skittish over the anti-DEI rule, asking for references to their gender identity or sexual orientation to be wiped from their records, the report said.

Riddle wrote that an emailed statement from a VA spokesperson said, "The VA will always provide veterans, families, caregivers and survivors the health care and benefits they have earned," while the secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins, "has promised to preserve 'mission critical' positions such as clinicians."

Read the full NPR article here.