Jessica Dueñas

Back from Broken

Colorado Public Radio

Society & Culture

5 • 703 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2021

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As both a student and a teacher, Jessica Dueñas found a sanctuary in the classroom. She was confident, capable and passionate about learning and helping students. But her struggle with alcoholism made her reevaluate her priorities — and the career she loved. Yet somehow, she's more hopeful than before.

Back From Broken is a show about how we are all broken sometimes, and how we need help from time to time. If you’re struggling, you can find a list of resources at BackFromBroken.org.

Host: Vic Vela
Lead producer: Matthew Simonson
Editor: Rachel Estabrook
Producers: Luis Antonio Perez, Jo Erickson, Rebekah Romberg, Dennis Funk
Music: Daniel Mescher, Brad Turner
Executive producers: Brad Turner, Rachel Estabrook

Thanks also to Hart van Denburg, Jodi Gersh, Clara Shelton, Matt Herz, Martin Skavish, Kim Nguyen, Francie Swidler.

BackFromBroken.org
On Twitter: @VicVela1

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just a quick note before we get started, this episode contains strong language and graphic descriptions.
0:07.0	In three, two, one.
0:11.0	A few months ago at the end of 2020, I read this really unusual opinion piece written by a teacher.
0:19.0	She was opening up in a local newspaper in Kentucky
0:21.6	about the sort of double life she had been leading.
0:24.6	You know, I have a couple friends who worked for that newspaper, and so, you know, I reached out to one of them,
0:30.6	and I was like, you know, I've been thinking this might be a good time for me to, like, come out.
0:34.6	Jessica Duenas is a standout teacher. She was even recently named Kentucky's
0:40.4	teacher of the year, but she also had secrets that she didn't want to keep inside anymore. She
0:47.1	wanted to go public about her struggles with alcoholism. Like no longer was there anything that I
0:52.1	could be ashamed of because if I put it all out there, I can live my most honest life.
0:58.0	Jessica wrote the story not long after she started really getting sober.
1:02.0	And her writing reminded me of how hard those first weeks and months of recovery are.
1:08.0	I've been there. The anguish, the psychological struggle. I was really moved about how Jessica
1:15.2	was putting herself out there, basically saying, look at me, I'm struggling. But she's also saying,
1:23.1	here's what it's taken for me to get to this point. Jessica has had to give up everything she's worked so hard to preserve, including her privacy and her career in order to survive.
1:39.4	I'm Vic Vela. I'm a journalist, a storyteller, and a recovering drug addict.
1:45.0	And this is Back from Broken from Colorado Public Radio, stories about the highest highs, the darkest
1:51.4	moments, and what it takes to make a comeback.
1:58.6	I mentioned Jessica was a teacher in Kentucky, Louisville specifically.
2:04.9	She made that career choice really early on back when she was growing up in New York.
2:10.3	She was only five at the time.
	...

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