Heidi Aurand has watched her son Adam spiral from one psychiatric crisis to the next for about eight years, bouncing between emergency rooms, jails, and homelessness. Now, after treatment at the state's largest psychiatric hospital, Adam was just released back onto the streets of downtown Seattle. A mother asks: How could her son pass through so many institutions and none are able to stop his decline?

Heidi Aurand has watched her son Adam spiral from one psychiatric crisis to the next for about eight years, bouncing between emergency rooms, jails, and homelessness. Now, after treatment at the state's largest psychiatric hospital, Adam was just released back onto the streets of downtown Seattle. A mother asks: How could her son pass through so many institutions and none are able to stop his decline?

The production team behind the Peabody-nominated "Lost Patients" returns with a new investigative series: "Adults in the Room" begins on February 24, 2026.

Seattle, 1999. At Garfield High School, Mr. Hudson is a legend. With a thundering voice and imposing stature, Mr. Hudson — or “Tom” as select students call him — teaches biology and leads an elite outdoors program. But when teen reporters at the school paper start exploring a rumor that he sexually abused students, all hell breaks loose. Adults close ranks, and schoolmates turn on the young journalists. And then one day, a voice on the school intercom announces that Mr. Hudson is dead. Isolde Raftery is one of the students who first hears about and reports allegations against Mr. Hudson. Three decades later, she is an investigative journalist in Seattle. In "Adults in the Room," Raftery re-reports the story to understand what really happened in 1999. Was a whole school community groomed by a charismatic predator? Or was she part of a whisper campaign that cost the life of a great teacher?

"Focus" is KUOW’s home for immersive audio documentaries. Each season zooms in on a single story that challenges commonly held narratives about life in the Pacific Northwest and reveals something bigger about American society. 

The production team behind the Peabody-nominated "Lost Patients" returns with a new investigative series: "Adults in the Room" begins on February 24, 2026.
Seattle, 1999. At Garfield High School, Mr. Hudson is a legend. With a thundering voice and imposing stature, Mr. Hudson &mdash; or &ldquo;Tom&rdquo; as select students call him &mdash; teaches biology and leads an elite outdoors program. But when teen reporters at the school paper start exploring a rumor that he sexually abused students, all hell breaks loose. Adults close ranks, and schoolmates turn on the young journalists. And then one day, a voice on the school intercom announces that Mr. Hudson is dead. Isolde Raftery is one of the students who first hears about and reports allegations against Mr. Hudson. Three decades later, she is an investigative journalist in Seattle. In "Adults in the Room," Raftery re-reports the story to understand what really happened in 1999. Was a whole school community groomed by a charismatic predator? Or was she part of a whisper campaign that cost the life of a great teacher?
"Focus" is KUOW&rsquo;s home for immersive audio documentaries. Each season zooms in on a single story that challenges commonly held narratives about life in the Pacific Northwest and reveals something bigger about American society.&nbsp;

Focus: Adults in the Room

Lost Patients: Churn

Lost Patients compares the system for treating mental illness in America to an elaborate house, where every room, hallway and staircase was designed independently by a different architect. So what is it like to be shuttled from room to room? What sorts of tradeoffs are doctors working within this system forced to make every day? And what might it look like to design care around the needs of patients?

KUOW and the Seattle Times convened a forum at the Seattle Public Library to hear perspectives and answer questions. Featured guests included:
Laura Van Tosh, patient advocate and founder and convener of Mental Health Policy Roundtable
Carolynn Ponzoha, patient advocate and content creator who goes by @psychotic.in.seattle on TikTok
Timothy Jolliff, acting senior director of clinical programs at the Downtown Emergency Service Center in Seattle
Dr. Paul Borghesani, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine

You can find resources for people with mental illness and related stories from The Seattle Times and KUOW here:

https://www.seattletimes.com/component/lost-patients-podcast/
https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/lost-patients

Lost Patients compares the system for treating mental illness in America to an elaborate house, where every room, hallway and staircase was designed independently by a different architect. So what is it like to be shuttled from room to room? What sorts of tradeoffs are doctors working within this system forced to make every day? And what might it look like to design care around the needs of patients? KUOW and the Seattle Times convened a forum at the Seattle Public Library to hear perspectives and answer questions. Featured guests included:
<ul>
<li>Laura Van Tosh, patient advocate and founder and convener of Mental Health Policy Roundtable</li>
<li>Carolynn Ponzoha, patient advocate and content creator who goes by @psychotic.in.seattle on TikTok</li>
<li>Timothy Jolliff, acting senior director of clinical programs at the Downtown Emergency Service Center in Seattle</li>
<li>Dr. Paul Borghesani, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine</li>
</ul>
You can find resources for people with mental illness and related stories from The Seattle Times and KUOW here:
<a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/component/lost-patients-podcast/">https://www.seattletimes.com/component/lost-patients-podcast/</a> <a href="https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/lost-patients">https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/lost-patients</a>

Lost Patients Live: First-Person Stories from Seattle's Mental Health Crisis

"Something is preventing us from building a system that works for people with serious mental illness. In lieu of that, patients are often left to improvise recovery for themselves. They learn to live with their inner voices and build their own support structures. Can their stories give us insight into what a functioning system of psychiatric care might look like — and what might be getting in the way?


You can find resources for people with mental illness and related stories from The Seattle Times and KUOW here:
https://www.seattletimes.com/component/lost-patients-podcast/
https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/lost-patients

"Something is preventing us from building a system that works for people with serious mental illness. In lieu of that, patients are often left to improvise recovery for themselves. They learn to live with their inner voices and build their own support structures. Can their stories give us insight into what a functioning system of psychiatric care might look like &mdash; and what might be getting in the way?
 You can find resources for people with mental illness and related stories from The Seattle Times and KUOW here: <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/component/lost-patients-podcast/">https://www.seattletimes.com/component/lost-patients-podcast/</a> <a href="https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/lost-patients">https://www.kuow.org/podcasts/lost-patients</a>

Lost Patients: Disease Without Knowledge

A look ahead at the final episode of Lost Patients, coming next week on April 23. We'll explore what recovery looks like for people with serious mental illness — and what it might look like for our fractured system of psychiatric care itself.

A look ahead at the final episode of Lost Patients, coming next week on April 23. We'll explore what recovery looks like for people with serious mental illness &mdash; and what it might look like for our fractured system of psychiatric care itself.

Lost Patients: Churn

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