S2E13: Overcoming Depression and Finding Purpose (with Charles Johnson)S2E13: Overcoming Depression and Finding Purpose (with Charles Johnson)
APC Recovery Cafe
Charles Johnson reflects on grief, depression, failed college attempts and suicidal thoughts, and how community college, faith and mental health support helped him find direction. He shares how vulnerability, connection and purpose now shape his work and future plans in mental health.
27:41•6 Aug 2026
Built for This Moment: Charles Johnson on Depression, Faith and Finding Purpose
Episode Overview
- There is heavy pressure to have life planned at 18, but Charles shows that failing, pausing and starting again can still lead to purpose.
- Grief over his father’s death, the end of his football dream and untreated depression led to academic failure and suicidal thoughts.
- Community college and Phi Theta Kappa gave him connection, a sense of family and space to speak openly about mental health.
- By sharing his own story of suicide attempts and counselling, Charles helps younger students feel less alone and more willing to speak up.
- Grounded in faith, he now works in mental health, studies psychology and aims to one day create a mental health facility for the less fortunate.
“If I can go back to the beginning, I was built for this moment. All the trials and tribulations, I'm here for that.”
What drives someone to seek a life with meaning after deep loss and depression? This conversation with Charles Johnson gives a raw, honest look at that question, with plenty of "yes ma’ams" and a lot of heart. Charles, a recent Jefferson State Community College graduate heading to UAB, traces how his life veered off course after losing his father to cancer while he was still in high school.
Football had been his escape and his bond with his dad, and when that passion faded, he felt aimless and weighed down by pressure to "retire" his mum and live up to high expectations. He talks openly about failing at a traditional university, dropping out of Lawson State, working for five years, and battling suicidal thoughts from his teens onward. A turning point came when, as he says, "I was built for this moment... My skin colour doesn't matter.
My background doesn't matter. God made me for this moment." Through prayer, support from his church, and a surprising question from a customer at work – "What are you asking God for?" – he found his way to Jefferson State. There, joining Phi Theta Kappa shifted everything. Instead of just taking classes and going home, Charles found a "family" through projects like Mental Health Happy Hour and suicide prevention events.
His willingness to be vulnerable helped younger students open up about their own struggles, including a powerful moment where he comforted a peer who shared suicidal thoughts in a room full of adults. Now working in mental health and studying psychology, Charles talks about wanting to one day own a mental hospital for those with fewer resources, building a true family culture for staff and patients alike.
For anyone in recovery, or just feeling behind in life, his story is a reminder that purpose can grow out of pain – and that asking for help might be the bravest step. What weight are you still trying to carry alone?
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