212: From Bottomless to Sober with Jessica Dueñas: Finding Her Way Out of Pain
The Addicted Mind Podcast
Duane Osterlind, LMFT
4.8 • 621 Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2022
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
How do we break the stigma around addiction and mental health support for people of color? It’s important that different communities are able to change that narrative so everyone is provided the adequate support they need.
On today’s episode, Duane speaks with Jessica Dueñas who shares her story of addiction, recovery, and using her voice to help other people find their way out of pain. Jessica started with binge eating in her bedroom as a Latina girl growing up in New York City. By the time she got to college, her addiction had morphed into alcoholism. Years later, she was awarded Teacher of the Year in Kentucky but was still drinking a fifth of bourbon a day – a secret she had to hide from her peers, friends, and students.
When she found her boyfriend lifeless from a drug overdose in his apartment, Jessica got out of control and deeper into her addiction, nearly dying herself in the months after his passing. Ultimately, she found recovery and has been sober since November 2020.
Listen in as Jessica shares her story to help break the stigma of addiction and mental health treatment. Through her platform, Bottomless to Sober, she shares stories of people's recovery and continues to break the stigma of addiction.
In this episode, you will hear:
- Drinking through the pain and pressure to be perfect as an immigrant
- The decision to step forward and speak up about her story
- What it was like for her to bring mental health issues into the light
- Breaking the stigma around mental health support for people of color
- Specific issues people of color face when getting treatment
- The importance of cultural competence in mental health care
- The power of sharing your story to help others
Subscribe and Review
Have you subscribed to our podcast? We’d love for you to subscribe if you haven’t yet.
We’d love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Supporting Resources:
https://www.bottomlesstosober.com/
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
https://www.amazon.com/Body-Keeps-Score-Healing-Trauma/dp/0143127748
Episode Credits
If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com Let them know we sent you.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Addicted Mind podcast. My name is Dwayne Austerland, and I'm your host, and we are on to the next episode. |
| 0:14.7 | So today our guest is Jessica Dunez, and she is going to share her story of addiction, all starting with |
| 0:24.3 | binging food in her bedroom as a Latino girl growing up in New York City. And by the time she |
| 0:30.0 | got to college, her addiction had morphed into the beginning of alcoholism. And years later, |
| 0:35.3 | even when she was state teacher of the year in Kentucky, she was drinking a fifth of bourbon a day, and years later, even when she was state teacher of the year in Kentucky, |
| 0:39.1 | she was drinking a fifth of bourbon a day and lying to her peers and friends while trying |
| 0:44.4 | to hide her addiction from her students. Then tragedy hit. Jessica suffered through the death |
| 0:49.8 | of her boyfriend, who she discovered lifeless from a drug overdose in his apartment, and that |
| 0:55.2 | moment spiraled Jessica out of control and deeper into addiction, nearly dying herself |
| 1:01.1 | in the months after his passing. |
| 1:03.3 | But despite all this, Jessica has found recovery and has been sober since November 2020, |
| 1:10.1 | and she shares her story to help break the stigma of |
| 1:14.3 | addiction and mental health treatment. She uses her platform, bottomless to sober, to share |
| 1:20.8 | stories of people's recovery and continue to break the stigma of addiction. She is currently |
| 1:27.3 | authoring the book, Bottomless |
| 1:28.9 | to Sober, Five Lessons on Early Addiction Recovery for Black and Brown Women. So stay tuned |
| 1:35.9 | for this episode. But before we start, if you are enjoying The Addicted Mind podcast, |
| 1:41.0 | click the subscribe button in whatever podcast app you use. And if you want to continue |
| 1:46.3 | the conversation online, think about joining our Facebook group. Just go to Facebook and type |
| 1:50.9 | in the Addicted Mind podcast and click join. All right. Stay tuned for this episode. |
| 1:59.1 | All right, Jessica, welcome to the Addicted Mind podcast. |
| 2:03.5 | I am excited to talk about our topic today. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Duane Osterlind, LMFT, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Duane Osterlind, LMFT and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.