One of the priorities for the second Trump administration upon returning to the White House was a sweeping overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs, which provides services to more than 9 million veterans each year.
Despite promises from VA Secretary Doug Collins and the Trump administration that it would deliver "the highest quality care" to millions of veterans in the United States, a new investigation by the nonprofit ProPublica points to a different reality.
Based on interviews with veterans across the country, the outlet found it has become increasingly difficult for veterans to access mental health treatment, as hundreds of therapists and social workers have either left the VA or were terminated amid tens of thousands of job cuts announced by the administration in 2025.
In January, ProPublica reported the department had about 500 fewer psychologists and psychiatrists than it did at the same time last year. In that same time, the VA also lost lost about 700 social workers. Beyond losses in mental health staff, the agency has eliminated more than 14,000 vacant health care positions across its system, according to data reported by The New York Times in March.
That analysis found more than 90 percent of VA facilities reported severe shortages of doctors and nearly 80 percent reported severe shortages of nurses, based on a 2025 report from the department's inspector general.
Internal employee exit surveys reviewed by ProPublica underscore the strain caused by staffing shortages and their impact on the quality of care provided to veterans.
"Mental Health is understaffed, burned out, and there is not enough mental health care for the Veterans who need the services," wrote one New York-based former employee, according to the records.
"Support is no longer there to provide ethical and good care for these Veterans," wrote another, based in Indiana. "Scheduling issues are incredibly high due to poor staff hiring and retention."
As noted by ProPublica, many of those vacant positions have remained unfilled due to a yearlong hiring freeze that was only lifted in January.
Amid staffing shortages, many current employees told the outlet they have had to take on heavier workloads. Employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation said that as staffing has decreased, patient loads have moved in the opposite direction, while administrators shorten appointments and pack more clients into group therapy sessions.
"It was always bad," said one VA psychologist, referring to staffing at a facility in Arizona. "And now it's at a breaking point.
The therapist described being stretched so thin that schedulers replaced some one-on-one sessions with online group sessions that included as many as 35 veterans. The therapist said that despite that, they were still overloaded with individual sessions and had to limit each one to as little as 16 minutes.
The VA declined ProPublica's request to interview an official familiar with its mental health programs. In an email, VA spokesperson Peter Kasperowicz accused the outlet of attempting to mislead the public by "cherry-picking issues that are limited to a handful of sites and in many cases were worse under the Biden administration."
In the meantime, experts warn that the departure of mental health care providers from the VA has undermined the agency's ability to meet veterans' unique needs.
"VA psychologists are best in class," said Russell Lemle, former chief psychologist for the San Francisco VA Health Care System and a senior policy analyst at the Veterans Healthcare Policy Institute. "They have research and training and decades-long experience" working with veterans. When you lose them, the veterans are the ones who pay the price," he said.
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