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?

Mental healthcare in America is a maze — by design.

Imagine a sprawling house in which every room, doorway, and hall passage was designed by a different architect. Doorways don't connect. Staircases lead to nowhere. Rooms are cut off from each other. That's how reporter Will James describes our complicated system for treating people with severe mental illness – a system that, almost by design, loses patients with psychosis to an endless loop between the streets, jail, clinics, courts and a shrinking number of hospital beds.

Lost Patients is a deeply-reported, six-part docuseries examining the difficulties of treating serious mental illness through the lens of one city's past, present and future. With real-life testimonials from patients, families, and professionals on the front lines, Lost Patients provides a real, solutions-oriented look at how we got stuck here...and what we might do to break free.

Lost Patients is a joint production of KUOW and Seattle Times.

Mental healthcare in America is a maze &mdash; by design.
Imagine a sprawling house in which every room, doorway, and hall passage was designed by a different architect. Doorways don't connect. Staircases lead to nowhere. Rooms are cut off from each other. That's how reporter Will James describes our complicated system for treating people with severe mental illness &ndash; a system that, almost by design, loses patients with psychosis to an endless loop between the streets, jail, clinics, courts and a shrinking number of hospital beds.
Lost Patients&nbsp;is a deeply-reported, six-part docuseries examining the difficulties of treating serious mental illness through the lens of one city's past, present and future. With real-life testimonials from patients, families, and professionals on the front lines, Lost Patients provides a real, solutions-oriented look at how we got stuck here...and what we might do to break free.
Lost Patients is a joint production of KUOW and Seattle Times.

Lost Patients

Churn

In Seattle, police responded to nearly ten thousand scenes of people in crisis last year. And one of the only remaining paths into Washington State's largest psychiatric hospital is through jail.

But some cities are experimenting with ways to disentangle mental health care from policing — setting up new branches of emergency services that specifically handle mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. Tradeoffs recently teamed up with The Marshall Project to produce The Fifth Branch, a three- part series examining a new approach being tested in the city of Durham, North Carolina.

In Seattle, police responded to nearly ten thousand scenes of people in crisis last year. And one of the only remaining paths into Washington State's largest psychiatric hospital is through jail. But some cities are experimenting with ways to disentangle mental health care from policing &mdash; setting up new branches of emergency services that specifically handle mental illness, addiction, and homelessness. Tradeoffs recently teamed up with The Marshall Project to produce The Fifth Branch, a three- part series examining a new approach being tested in the city of Durham, North Carolina.

Presenting: The Fifth Branch

A story from the 'Hush" investigative podcast from Oregon Public Broadcasting. In this episode, reporter Leah Sottile explores the case of Jesse Lee Johnson, a Black man who lived for 17 years on Oregon's death row for a crime he says he didn't commit.

A story from the 'Hush" investigative podcast from Oregon Public Broadcasting. In this episode, reporter Leah Sottile explores the case of Jesse Lee Johnson, a Black man who lived for 17 years on Oregon's death row for a crime he says he didn't commit.

Presenting: Hush

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>

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