The MY House Podcast Ep. 66: Annual Report 2026The MY House Podcast Ep. 66: Annual Report 2026
The MY House Podcast Network
Michelle Overstreet and Isaac Smolden walk through the MY House annual report, highlighting youth-led design, expanded recovery housing, community art and key outcome data. Their chat shows how a small Alaskan organisation links creative projects, practical services and strong relationships to long-term stability for young people.
24:51•21 May 2026
Youth-Led Design, Recovery Wins and Real Outcomes at MY House
Episode Overview
- The Carson Cottle Center is being built with significant input from a youth board, shaping everything from layout to paint colours to reflect lived experience.
- MY House partners with local artists to fill the building and client rooms with meaningful art, reinforcing themes of hope, recovery and identity.
- Recovery-themed children’s books like "Behind the Mask of Ramon Raccoon" and the upcoming "Sam’s Sea Lion" help families talk about trauma, faith and distorted thinking.
- The Jeff’s Path programme expanded into a larger lakeside home to add beds and avoid a harmful wait list for 18–25-year-olds seeking treatment.
- Follow-up data shows that of 94 respondents from the prior year, 80% were still employed and 100% were housed, highlighting long-term stability for former clients.
“"Out of those 94 individuals, 80% were still employed a year later and 100% were housed. That, my friends, is how we end homelessness."”
How do individuals from all walks of life battle addiction? Episode 66 of The MY House Podcast takes a yearly look at how a small youth centre in Wasilla, Alaska, keeps scaling up its support for vulnerable young people – and the picture is anything but dull spreadsheets. The conversation between host Michelle Overstreet and co-host Isaac Smolden centres on the MY House annual report and what it really means in practice.
You’ll hear about the rapid construction of The Carson Cottle Center, a striking, youth-designed building inspired by Los Angeles’ Star Apartments. As Michelle explains, even the paint colours and door handles were handed over to the youth board because, as she puts it, decisions are best made by those with “lived experience in being incarcerated or hospitalised or whatever the case may be.” Youth voice runs through everything.
The board travels, advises architects, debates paint for two hours, and shapes how the space should feel for people in recovery. Many of them now work in recovery themselves – “getting out of a burning building and then carrying buckets of water back to try to save the other people who are still there.” Art and storytelling also play a big role.
Local artists donate murals, mosaics, sculptures and room prints, while recovery-themed children’s books like *Behind the Mask of Ramon Raccoon* and the upcoming *Sam’s Sea Lion* help families talk about faith, trauma, courage and distorted thinking in kid-friendly ways. There’s practical change too: the Jeff’s Path recovery programme expanded into a bigger lakeside home to avoid turning away 18–25-year-olds. As Michelle says, “18 to 25-year-olds, you cannot have a wait list.
They die on a wait list.” The episode ends on the numbers that really matter: of the 94 former clients who responded to a follow-up survey, 80% were still employed and 100% were housed a year later. If you care about youth, recovery and what actually works, this one’s worth your time – what kind of outcome-focused support do you think makes the biggest difference?
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