about micah pearson
My story
As a person of color who has experienced the legal system from the perspective of the incarcerated while also struggling with mental illness, I understand that advocacy for clients and system change at all levels of legislature is imperative. As such, I have dedicated more than a decade of my life to educating communities and uplifting the voices of those directly affected by mental health into spaces where they are not normally heard but are critically needed. I use hope and humor to bring a new perspective into a system knowing that things can get better, and lives can be saved.
The Slightly Longer Story
Micah is, like you, a lot of things. A writer whose work has been featured in USA Today and publications of the Washington Post. An artist and illustrator whose images have been displayed everywhere from coffee shops, art galleries, and board games, to the Smithsonian. A mental health advocate who has worked with all levels of government, from local city councils up to members of Congress.
Micah has, like you, been a lot of different things before. In another life, he was an Information Technology professional who worked for the Washington Post, the Congressional Research Service, the National Institutes of Health, the American Chemical Society, and others. But in 2011 that life came tumbling down after the culmination of a years long struggle with bipolar disorder that took the all-too familiar path: self-medication, addiction, loss of job, loss of home, hospitalizations, and ultimately; loss of freedom once he fell into the criminal justice system.
But that was only the beginning of his journey.
Micah is, like you, in a constant state of discovery and growth. Since moving across the country to southern New Mexico from Washington, DC, and fully engaging in his recovery, he turned his life into something meaningful to pay forward all of the kindness that kept him alive when he was at rock bottom.
Micah has been a community organizer, a provider, and a supervisor of those working with clients who were living with many of his same challenges, and others whose struggles ran even deeper. He quickly realized that as important as it was to serve the individual, things were never going to improve unless conversations in the spaces where real change could be effected included the voices of those directly impacted by the flawed systems.
Micah has served on a number of boards, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness national board of directors, and consulted with several agencies due to his expertise in information systems, criminal justice and public policy. He has testified in front of legislatures to address and change the systems that deny care, perpetuate stigma, and criminalize mental health. All of this leading to being appointed as a direct Advisor to the New Mexico Governor’s Behavioral Health Council in 2021.
Before all of this, Micah was raised in a multiracial/cultural family steeped in storytelling traditions. Thus he travels and shares his journey to inspire others and prove that a diagnosis is not the end your tale, and that it most certainly doesn’t make you weak.
Micah has been a guest speaker for the American Psychiatric Association, Treatment Advocacy Center, NAMI, and numerous other groups due to his experience with the intersection of mental health and peer support with other cultural issues affecting our communities. All to give voice to the stories of the invisible majority around us.
Because Micah is, like you, a believer in a better world for all those affected by mental health conditions