Proposed Federal Cuts Put Rural Behavioral Health Resources On The Line

(Daily Yonder, Madeline de Figueiredo) — Ten years ago, Nancy Winmill’s son survived an opioid overdose. In her search for support, she found almost nothing available in her Burley, Idaho community.

“I had no idea what to do or where to go. I had no help. I had no resources,” Winmill said.

That experience pushed her to create what was missing: support groups, counseling, and eventually Simply Hope Family Outreach—a nonprofit for families struggling with addiction, codependency, divorce, grief, and suicide for rural southern Idaho. The organization has rapidly expanded due, in part, to funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) under the Building Communities of Recovery Grant (BCOR).

“For rural communities like ours in Cassia and Minidoka counties, where access to behavioral health and recovery services is already limited, this grant has been nothing short of transformational,” Winmill said.

But now, the grant that helped build this community lifeline is on the chopping block.

The proposed FY2026 Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) budget would cut nearly $1 billion and dozens of programs from SAMHSA following a March announcement that SAMHSA would be one of five agencies folded into a new, centralized Administration for a Healthy America. BCOR is one of the grants eliminated in the current budget proposal.

“In a region where stigma still silences many, this grant has empowered us to bring these issues into the light, and offer pathways to healing and hope,” Winmill said. “Eliminating this funding would not only stall progress, but potentially reverse hard-earned gains in recovery support for our rural neighbors.”

Rural mental health stakes

“We’re not being extremist when we say that there is a mental health crisis in rural America,” said Don Hannaford, vice president of public policy at Rural Minds, a nonprofit advocating for rural mental health equity.

Rural areas face a serious mental health care gap, with similar rates of mental illness as urban areas but nearly double the suicide rate, fewer primary care providers, and slower workforce growth. Sixty-five percent of rural counties lack a psychiatrist, 81 percent lack a psychiatric nurse practitioner, and 47 percent lack a psychologist.

Rural communities also face a 45 percent higher opioid overdose rate than urban areas, yet only 14 percent of behavioral health facilities are rural, and fewer than half treat substance use disorders.