‘We want to put them in trauma’
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 June 2025
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When President Donald Trump took office in January, 2.4 million people worked for the federal government. It was America’s largest employer.
Four months later, Trump — and Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service — have hacked off chunks of government in the name of efficiency, with tactics rarely seen in public or private industry: Some federal workers have found themselves fired, rehired, then let go again. Many have been ridiculed as “lazy” and “corrupt.” They’ve been locked out of offices by police, fired for political “disloyalty,” and told to check their email to see if they still draw a paycheck.
More than 30 former and current federal workers told The Washington Post that the chaos and mass firings had left them feeling devalued, demoralized and scared for themselves and the country. Many described problems they’d never experienced before: insomnia, panic attacks, suicidal thoughts. Others with a history of mental struggles said they’d found themselves pushed into terrifying territory.
Today on “Post Reports,” host Colby Itkowitz speaks with investigative reporter William Wan about the administration’s immense toll on federal workers’ mental health. We hear from the husband of Caitlin Cross-Barnet, a public health worker who died by suicide in March. And, in the second half of the episode, Wan reflects on years spent covering the nation’s mental health crisis for The Post.
Today’s show was produced by Rennie Svirnovskiy. It was mixed by Sean Carter, and edited by Maggie Penman.
If you or someone you know needs help, call the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988. You can also reach a crisis counselor by messaging the Crisis Text Line at 741741.
Contact William Wan at [email protected] or (202) 725-2121 on Signal.
Subscribe to The Washington Post here.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before we start today's show, a warning. |
| 0:06.1 | We'll be talking about mental health and suicide. |
| 0:09.0 | If you or someone you know needs help, please call the suicide and crisis lifeline at 988. |
| 0:16.6 | And now here's the show. |
| 0:20.6 | Mike Cross Barnett wants people to remember his wife, Caitlin, in a few ways. |
| 0:28.0 | She was someone who was constantly making things, for their three kids, for her friends, and for her colleagues. |
| 0:35.7 | A lot of the people she knows have something that she knitted for them. |
| 0:40.6 | Usually a hat, occasionally a scarf, on very rare occasions, a pair of socks. |
| 0:47.8 | She hated to knit socks because they take a long time and it's kind of difficult. |
| 0:52.9 | Mike was the careful planner. |
| 0:55.0 | Caitlin was spontaneous. |
| 0:57.0 | I didn't know that you could stay in a hotel without making a reservation ahead of time. |
| 1:04.0 | And Caitlin didn't know about making reservations. |
| 1:07.0 | And she really cared about people, even people she'd never met. |
| 1:11.9 | That's why she dedicated her life to helping other people, first as a teacher for many years, |
| 1:19.4 | but then later on as a public health researcher, because she determined that that was, you know, the way that she could best reach and |
| 1:32.5 | touch and help the greatest number of people. In 2012, Caitlin joined the Center for Medicare |
| 1:39.1 | and Medicaid Innovation in Baltimore. She studied how certain prenatal care could lead to better outcomes for pregnant |
| 1:45.8 | women on Medicaid, while also saving the government money with fewer ER visits. And she oversaw |
| 1:52.5 | a government-funded program that helped pregnant mothers who were addicted to opioids. |
| 1:56.6 | It was work that felt very fulfilling to her and that she loved doing. |
| 2:02.1 | But then, within days of President Trump's second inauguration, |
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