Man helps inspire others after teacher encouraged him to ask for help as a teen: "I can feel the daylight again"

A teacher's simple message inspired a student to get help for depression when he was in high school. Now, years later, that former student is making a difference by sharing his experience with others.

William Hargen worked the sound board at his high school performances near Atlanta when he confided in his choir teacher, Gamble Everett, that he was struggling with depression.

"I said, 'Hey, so I mentioned I've been depressed. Well, I've been really, really depressed. I'm really struggling. What can I do? What do you think?'" he recalled.

Everett encouraged him to act and seek help from his parents, emphasizing that they will help him.

William Hargen remembers the moment he decided to speak with his mother, Tracy Hargen, about how he was feeling, saying, "I get up from my room, go down the hall, knock and say, 'Hey, Mom, can we talk?' I had no idea what I was going to say."

His mom was surprised after he told her he had suffered from depression for years.

"He was happy. He was laughing. He was having fun. I mean, I thought he was like happy-go-lucky, all-American kid, doing great," Tracy Hargen said. " To find out he'd been struggling since he was 9 was heartbreaking."

William Hargen said he had been living with depression "thinking this is my experience of life. This is just how it is."

But with the help of his family, medication and therapy, he began to see a brighter future over time.

"The biggest change didn't happen until, you know, over the course of 10 years," he said.

One in five teenagers report feeling symptoms of depression or anxiety, according to KFF Health News, but barriers like cost and stigma prevent many from getting help.  

Sharing their experience

Now 27 years old, William Hargen has built a successful career in consulting and is about to get married.

"I can feel the daylight again," he said. "Now, medication, therapy, you know, different outlook on life, I can sit and actually feel and enjoy things. I can see this is beautiful. This is great."

Now, they share their experience with others by blogging and attending guest speaker events.

"We do talks," Tracy Hargen said. "Will does them with me. Oh my God, when he gets up and speaks … I mean, it's just amazing how strong he is and how, like, these people will come up to him and hug him and … like these big men, and they'll say, 'If you can be that vulnerable up there in front of all these people, then I can go ask for help.'"

When they saw how much their story helped others, Tracy Hargen decided she didn't want to stop there.

"I feel like music can reach people in a way that just words alone can't. It just touches your soul," she said.

Tracy Hargen told her son that his story should be a song. Although she said he was hesitant, she decided to try. 

"I said, 'I'm gonna take a crack at it.' And I did over and over and I just couldn't, I couldn't get it right," she said.

So Tracy Hargen took their story and turned to an AI program to set it to music.

"As soon as I heard it, I felt it in my soul," she said. "I just wanted this song to reach somebody who needed something, a lifeline to hold onto and to feel like there's hope. Or maybe they'll take this song and play it for somebody and say, 'I don't have the words, but this is how I feel.'"

"Changed my life"

Even though the song was intended to help anyone in need, there was one person in particular who Tracy Hargen really wanted to reach: Everett. 

"I wasn't even sure if I had the right number anymore, but I texted and said, 'Be sure to hear the shout out to the teacher in the chorus,'" she said in her message to Everett.

Hours later Tracy Hargen got a text back from Everett.

"Thank you so much for sending me this song. It has really been warming my heart today," Everett told her.

Nearly a decade later, William Hargen and Everett had the opportunity to reunite.

William Hargen wanted Everett to know how their kindness impacted his life.

"That changed my life," he said. "I think you should really know that I'm not mincing words at all, meant the entire world to me."