’Lost Patients’ podcast examines America’s "maze-like" mental health system

Over the past half-century, 84 percent of state-run psychiatric hospital beds have disappeared. So where have the patients gone? Launching March 12, Lost Patients, a new six-part investigative series from KUOW and The Seattle Times, explores how vulnerable patients with psychosis and severe mental illnesses can end up in an endless loop between the streets, jail, clinics, and courts.

Hosted by reporter Will James, with mental health journalist Esmy Jimenez and investigative reporter Sydney Brownstone, Lost Patients examines the difficulties of treating serious mental illness through the lens of Seattle’s past, present, and future. Each week, testimonials from patients, families, and professionals on the front lines are interwoven with rigorous investigative journalism, providing a solutions-oriented look at how we got stuck here — and what we might do to break free.

“Imagine a sprawling house in which every room, doorway, and hall passage was designed by a different architect,” says James. “Doorways don’t connect. Staircases lead to nowhere. Rooms are cut off from each other. This is what we call a mental health system in America.”

Merging personal, clinical, and historical perspectives, Lost Patients grants intimate access to those most affected by severe mental illness: women who have lived through psychosis who now devote their lives to helping others understand their reality, a psychiatrist father searching for answers following his son’s schizophrenia diagnosis, a nurse reflecting on her role in controversial treatments at a Washington state facility in the 1970s, among others.

Lost Patients is distributed by the NPR Network, and is a joint production of KUOW and The Seattle Times.

Listen to the trailer.

About Will James (host and writer)
Will James is a Seattle-based writer, reporter, producer, and host whose audio documentaries delve into some of the most complex and polarizing issues in the U.S. He developed, co-reported, and produced the podcast Outsiders, chronicling unsheltered life in one city for more than a year, with KNKX Public Radio and The Seattle Times. TIME called Outsiders a “narrative feat” and one of the 10 best podcasts of 2020. He also worked on KNKX podcasts The Walk Home, investigating the death of Manny Ellis in Tacoma, Washington, and Transmission, chronicling the COVID-19 pandemic in the Pacific Northwest. His journalism career started in newspapers in his home state of New York.

Esmy Jimenez (reporter)
Esmy Jimenez is a seasoned journalist who has reported from the frontlines of the Seattle 2020 protests, visited psychiatric hospitals and jails, and investigated the detention of immigrant youth at a secret facility in Washington state. She was a reporter for the The Seattle Times’ Mental Health Project. Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, NPR, Reveal and The Center for Investigative Reporting. Born in Mexico and raised in rural Washington, she’s also a first-generation high school and college grad. Before journalism, she dabbled as a farmhand, barista, and worked for the California State Parks.

Sydney Brownstone (reporter)
Sydney Brownstone is an investigative reporter at The Seattle Times. She previously covered homelessness in Seattle and was a Livingston Award finalist for her work on the podcast Outsiders. Sydney hails from the world of alt-weeklies, where her reporting on sexual assault and sex work prompted the Washington Attorney General’s first-ever consumer protection lawsuit on behalf of sex workers.

About KUOW
KUOW Puget Sound Public Radio is Seattle’s NPR news station. We are an independent, nonprofit news organization that produces award-winning journalism, innovative podcasts, engaging community events, and more. We work every day in service of our mission to create and serve a more informed public, because we believe an informed public is essential to a thriving community, a vibrant democracy, and a better future. KUOW podcasts include chart-topping shows like THE WILD with Chris Morgan and the investigative docuseries Ghost Herd, as well as local news staples including Seattle Now, Soundside and Week in Review. KUOW is a proud member of the NPR Network, a coalition of public media podcast producers with a shared mission to create and serve a more informed public.

About The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times serves the Northwest with independent, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism, as the region’s most trusted news media company, dedicated to public service. The Seattle Times is the most-visited digital information source in Washington state and the second-largest newspaper on the West Coast. Founded in 1896 by Alden J. Blethen, The Seattle Times’ stewardship is now led by the Blethen family’s fourth and fifth generations, whose stewardship also includes the Yakima Herald-Republic and The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.

About the NPR Network
The NPR Network is a local-national media network comprised of independent public media organizations in communities around the country, founded on a mission to create a more informed public. Through the Network, NPR and Member stations are working together to bring America closer through free and independent journalism, music, politics, culture, and more. This collaborative initiative aims to engage more audiences with public media content through all digital platforms. NPR Network content is available through local Member stations (npr.org/stations), NPR.org, and the NPR App, and wherever podcasts are found.