Two Mental Health Policy Trackers You Don’t Want to Miss

Who can forget the chaotic day this January when the Trump administration decided to vaporize $2 billion in addiction and mental health grants overnight?

MindSite News rushed to write and edit an article on the news – announced at midnight – only to wake up the next morning and find that public, bipartisan outcry had forced Trump to cancel the decision overnight.

Luckily we had not yet gone to press, so we quickly rewrote the story and announced the reprieve instead. 

These days, with chaos becoming the norm, tracking tools for new developments in mental health policy can be helpful. We’ve found them invaluable. Many of you may already use them, but if you don’t, here are two we recommend:

The KFF policy tracker: KFF – an independent source for health policy, research and news – has created an innovative policy tracker that follows federal changes to mental health and substance use treatment during Trump’s second term. It documents changes in mental health policy in four key areas:

–Opioids/Substance Use, where Trump has reduced opioid addiction treatment and overdose reversals by signing the HALT Fentanyl Act, which effectively rolled back many years of progress by treating drug use and addiction as criminal problems rather than health issues.

–Mental Health, where Trump has canceled approximately $1 billion in school-based mental health grants. A federal judge ruled that Trump’s action was unlawful and ordered the Department of Education to reinstate them in 16 states. 

–Federal infrastructure/Data/ Guidance, including proposals to dismantle the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and roll it into another agency. 

–Gun Violence, includingclawing back community violence intervention grants. In January 2026, Giffords – a PAC started by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head during a constituent meeting outside Tucson, Arizona in 2011 – issued a report about Trump’s “disastrous record” on gun violence.

As noted, not all the funding cuts the White House and DOGE pushed for panned out. Trump put some of his plans to gut Head Start on hold after public outcry (research shows the program helps prevent gun violence in later life).

Congress also prevented the administration from dismantling SAMHSA, and Health Affairs explored what’s next for the administration in regards to substance use treatment. Check out the KFF tracker for more updates.

CalMatters’ Digital Democracy tracker:  For residents of California – and anyone following Golden State politics – the nonprofit news service CalMatters has you covered.

As CalMatters explains: “Our unprecedented, custom-built AI tool tracks every word spoken in public hearings, every dollar donated to politicians, every bill introduced, every vote cast and more. If there’s something you should know, Digital Democracy has it.”

You can follow your favorite topics through tabs on education, health, the environment, justice and housing, with an added bonus: You can look up any of California’s 120 legislators to check out data and stories about their activities, politics, policy interests, voting records and personal background.