How do people escape the 'churn' and enter recovery?

In the final episode of the podcast "Lost Patients," a partnership between KUOW and The Seattle Times, host Will James and reporter Sydney Brownstone look at stories of recovery.

For much of the series, Lost Patients explored the "churn” — the movement of people between emergency rooms, psychiatric hospitals, jails, prison, and life on the streets.

"The stories of individual people's recovery from these illnesses have these lessons for all of us about how we all might recover as a society, in our dysfunctional relationships with these illnesses and the ways we fail people," James said.

The episode starts with the story of Lew Middleton. Middleton's friend convinced him to go to the hospital, and consent to a mental health evaluation. Middleton was skeptical about that care at first but he eventually found stability, a place to live and a job.

He went on to work for decades as a peer counselor for other people who deal with mental illness at Downtown Emergency Service Center. He’s now retired.

"It wasn't just hearing voices and saying I need to get rid of these voices that helped him," Brownstone said. "It was actually listening to them and trying to understand where they came from that gave him greater insight into his own condition, and then allowed him to help other people."

You can find the rest of Lew Middleton's story and the latest episode of "Lost Patients" here.

You can also listen to Soundside's entire conversation with KUOW's Will James and Seattle Times' Sydney Brownstone by clicking the play button above.