MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
It has been a turbulent year for federal employees here in the U.S. The Trump administration has fired thousands of them. Far more have resigned - many under pressure. NPR's Andrea Hsu paid a return visit to one of the many federal workers she spoke with this year.
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: I first met Liz Goggin at her home in Washington, D.C., just a few weeks into President Trump's new term. It was a snow day and her kids were home too.
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UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (Inaudible).
LIZ GOGGIN: OK.
HSU: At the time, Goggin was a clinical social worker with the VA, providing therapy to veterans with addiction and trauma. The majority of her clients were Black. She ran support groups where they often discussed hard topics like racism. She feared Trump's new policies cracking down on diversity, equity and inclusion could impede her work.
GOGGIN: The atmosphere has been pretty tense, and people are really uncertain and questioning, like, what is OK.
HSU: On top of that, her husband's job in foreign aid was in jeopardy. So when Elon Musk's DOGE team invited nearly the entire federal workforce to resign with pay and benefits through the fall, she opted in.
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GOGGIN: I did. I hit resign on the email.
HSU: But then she was told she was ineligible, along with most of the VA. So when I met her, she didn't know what was next.
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GOGGIN: Like, who knows? I had regrets about telling my supervisor given that, you know, like, the whole thing is kind of unraveling.
HSU: Well, Liz Goggin ended up walking away from the VA in June without the buyout, and I caught up with her the other week.
GOGGIN: Hi.
HSU: Hey, Liz.
Not at her home, but at her new office in a small commercial building just a few blocks away.
GOGGIN: I trolled Craigslist and it showed up and then I saw it. And it's a really nice space.
HSU: She's got a comfy sofa, her grandmother's rug, a desk her aunt and uncle made for her. Opening her own practice was something she thought she might do one day.
GOGGIN: And then what was an idea became more and more of a reality as things felt really hard.
HSU: Under Trump, there were all kinds of new demands. For a while, federal workers had to email their supervisors with five bullet points of what they'd accomplished that week, to which Goggin said...
GOGGIN: Do an audit of the medical record. Pull our numbers.
HSU: They were also told to report any anti-Christian bias they observed in their coworkers.
GOGGIN: I mean, in my whole time at the VA, I did not see any anti-Christian bias. To be clear, that was not even remotely an issue.
HSU: And then there was all the rhetoric out of the White House demonizing federal workers as lazy and worse.
GOGGIN: I mean, it's sort of death by a thousand cuts.
HSU: So after more than a decade at the VA, she gave notice and struck out on her own.
GOGGIN: I made a profile on Psychology Today and I found this office. I kind of took a leap of faith.
HSU: And it came together quickly. It's clear the skills and expertise she brought to the government are in high demand outside government too. Goggin says she's really busy - maybe too busy. In addition to seeing private clients, she also runs a weekly support group at a substance-use recovery program. She enjoys the work and the flexibility that being self-employed has brought her, but she misses her former life.
GOGGIN: Leaving the VA was very, very hard for me.
HSU: She says veterans are special. They've been all over the world. They've made a lot of sacrifices for the country. And they need help.
GOGGIN: I think of those people that I worked with and what I learned from them and how meaningful it felt over the years. And intense. I mean, that's the word I'd use. I mean, sometimes I feel like I am just doing such a different job in private practice than I was at VA.
HSU: She hasn't ruled out working for the VA again. In fact, she keeps an eye on the federal jobs website.
GOGGIN: I still look at USAJOBS. It's this weird habit that I have (laughter).
HSU: Maybe, she says, when her kids are a little older.
Andrea Hsu, NPR News, Washington.
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