Desert Living Now
Mikey Tableman Uses His Story to Open Conversations About Mental Health
From the outside, Mikey Tableman says his life appeared to be filled with travel, entertainment, hospitality and major music festivals around the world.
Behind the scenes, he was dealing with anxiety, depression, addiction and suicidal ideation.
Tableman says his struggles eventually led to a mental health crisis and a suicide attempt in 2018. The years that followed became a process of rebuilding his life and finding ways to talk openly about experiences he had once kept private.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, Tableman said he started hearing from more people around him who were experiencing anxiety and depression.
Those conversations helped inspire A Mind’s Pursuit, the nonprofit mental health advocacy organization he founded. The organization focuses on changing the stigma surrounding mental health and creating opportunities for people to have more open conversations.
Tableman says sharing his own experiences has become an important part of that work.
He said people have approached him after performances and speaking engagements to tell him that his words helped them identify feelings they had struggled to describe.
At the same time, Tableman said he has experienced imposter syndrome, questioning how his own story could help someone else.
His answer is rooted in the possibility that sharing one person's experience can make another person feel less alone.
"If I can change one person's day by them hearing my story, well, then me sharing it was all worth it," Tableman said.
Tableman also brings his experiences in the entertainment and festival industries into his work. He described festivals as places where audiences can temporarily escape their problems and enjoy themselves, while the people working behind the scenes may spend long, exhausting days creating those experiences and maintaining a safe environment.
That contrast between what people see publicly and what may be happening privately is also central to Tableman's creative work.
His spoken-word project, "My Manic Maze," combines music, poetry, storytelling and visual elements to explore his experiences with mental health, addiction, trauma, burnout and recovery. The project was released in 2026 and is designed to encourage conversations around mental health and vulnerability.
Tableman's recently released video "The Final Note" is part of that project. He describes it as a retelling of the period when he wrote a suicide letter, taking viewers inside the thoughts and emotions he experienced during that time.
Tableman said some viewers who have experienced similar struggles have told him they recognized the internal dialogue portrayed in the video.
For Tableman, the larger goal extends beyond his own story.
He wants his music, performances and advocacy work to create space for conversations that can be difficult to have and remind people that they do not have to face those struggles alone.
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By: NBC Palm Springs
September 22, 2026
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