Education Week - February 5, 2025 - 7

Why Stressed-Out Teachers Should Heed
New Health Warnings About Alcohol
Teachers are at particular risk for misusing alcohol. Here's what you should know
By Elizabeth Heubeck
To those who worked with former
middle school teacher Jessica Dueñas,
she appeared to be thriving.
In 2019, Dueñas received the Kentucky
Teacher of the Year award while
working as a special education teacher
and team leader at Oldham County
Middle School in La Grange, Ky.
At the time, Dueñas announced
that she planned to use her platform
as Teacher of the Year to " go to bat for
struggling students. " But soon afterward,
Dueñas realized that she could
no longer take a lead role in supporting
her struggling students, as her
own life was spiraling out of control.
Privately, Dueñas was enduring a
vicious, daily cycle of alcohol abuse
that lasted for many of her 13 years as
a teacher.
" As soon as dismissal happened
and those school buses left the parking
lot, I would grab my stuff, get in
my car, and then I would go find a
different liquor store to go to every
single day, because I was scared that
even the liquor store owners would
figure out that I had a problem, "
Dueñas said.
Once at home, Dueñas said she
would drink until she passed out,
then wake in the middle of the night
to create lesson plans, grade assignments,
and get ready for the next day
of teaching.
" I was in that cycle for years, "
she said.
A year after being honored with the
Kentucky Teacher of the Year award,
Dueñas stepped away from a career
she had dreamed about since she was
in kindergarten. She was 35.
" I 100 percent envisioned myself
retiring from a public school, " said
Dueñas who in 2021 founded Bottomless
to Sober, which provides
support for people recovering from
alcohol abuse.
Dueñas' story may seem extreme.
But countless teachers put their students,
and their work, before their
own health while enduring high
levels of professional stress-a leading
risk factor for alcohol abuse. In
fact, educators `rank` among the top
10 professions most likely to abuse
alcohol, according to data collected
between 2008 and 2012 by the Substance
Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration, with an estimated
5 percent of educators surveyed
reporting heavy alcohol use
within the previous month.
Further, new warnings from
health officials indicate that even
modest alcohol consumption poses
health risks. U.S. Surgeon General
Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory
on Jan. 3 drawing a direct link
between alcohol consumption and
the increased risk for at least seven
types of cancer. While the advisory
did not impose specific limits on alcohol
consumption, several health
experts have weighed in, suggesting
that a few drinks per week could increase
health risks.
This news might hit teachers especially
hard, whether they routinely
celebrate happy hour with colleagues
or have a drink or two at home after a
stressful workday.
Teachers, stress, and a society
centered around alcohol
Anna Shchetinina, a social epidemiologist
at the Harvard T.H. Chan
School of Public Health who studies
alcohol abuse and its effects on
women of reproductive age, is not
surprised by the statistics that show
educators are among the professionals
most likely to suffer from
alcohol abuse.
" Teachers have really high levels
of education and soft skills and emotional
intellects and all those great
qualities that make them healers, "
Shchetinina said. " But it [teaching]
also requires a lot on their end, and
there is this expectation that they will
show up for others, potentially taking
time away from self-care. "
Teachers may not even realize the
full extent of how much stress they're
under. " I did not realize how hard
teaching was, " Dueñas said. " I knew
it was difficult because obviously I
was in it, but teaching was the only
job that I ever had. "
It took stepping away from the
classroom for her to recognize the
stress of teaching.
" Every minute of every day is structured.
You barely have a planning period.
Now, with teacher shortages, your
planning periods are often dedicated
to helping cover the building, " she
said. " Your lunch is maybe 25 minutes,
not even an hour, which is standard in
other places. And so there is this constant,
constant stress of not having
any flexibility. And what you're being
taught is being more and more dictated
from external sources. Not only
that, but then your students and their
performance is tied sometimes to your
perceived worth as a teacher. "
In Dueñas' experience, teachers
often turn to alcohol to celebrate
both the end of a rough week in the
classroom or a good day of teaching.
" There's so much celebration and
so much community building that
revolves around alcohol and bars for
educators, " she said.
Of course, centering events around
alcohol consumption is not unique to
educators.
" It's interesting that alcohol is such
a socially accepted substance, but it's
also one of the most harmful things
that exist, " said Harvard's Shchetinina.
It's also a common " go-to " for people
seeking relief from job-related
stress, she notes.
" Substance use is a really common
coping mechanism, unfortunately.
It's very easily accessible. And it's
easier to have a glass of wine after a
long day of work than go for a fivemile
run, " Shchetinina said.
"
Women are at higher risk
for health problems
Alcohol consumption is on the rise,
especially for women, who make up
77 percent of the K-12 public teacher
workforce.
Shchetinina led a 2024 national
study of the effects of alcohol use
disorder on women of reproductive
age (18-49). She found that women
with alcohol use disorder-defined
by the National Institutes of Health
as an impaired ability to stop or control
alcohol use despite adverse social,
occupational, or health consequences-are
susceptible to several
negative health effects, including
but not limited to liver and cardiovascular
disease, breast and other
cancers, sexual violence, and mental
health problems.
The study, which included data
from thousands of participants,
concluded that about 13 percent of
women age 18 to 49 who are not pregnant
or parenting suffer from alcohol
use disorder.
Between 2005 to 2012, binge
drinking in the United States rose 17
percent, according to national selfreported
data. Among women, the
increase was far steeper-more than
seven times the rate among men. A
more recent study found that binge
drinking among women ages 30-44
without children rose from 21 percent
in 2006 to 42 percent in 2018.
Binge drinking is defined as four or
more drinks for women, or five-plus
drinks for men, on a single occasion
at least once in the past month.
The pandemic made things
I just realized
it was not
sustainable
for me to teach
the way that
I wanted to
teach, and also
recover from
addiction.
JESSICA DUEÑAS
Former middle school teacher
Jessica Dueñas
worse. Dueñas reported that, for
her, teaching remotely during the
turmoil and isolation of the pandemic
exacerbated her struggles
with recovery.
" I just realized it was not sustainable
for me to teach the way that I
wanted to teach, and also recover
from addiction, " she said.
Researchers also observed an uptick
of alcohol use disorder during
the pandemic. " I think COVID was
just the catalyst for this, because we
were in a very unique situation with
a lot of stress, a lot of anxiety and
isolation and access to substances, "
Shchetinina said.
Suffering in silence
Shchetinina notes that many people
with alcohol use disorder fail to get
treatment. In her study, only about 5
percent of women who self-reported
as having alcohol use disorder sought
professional treatment, she said.
The stigma of acknowledging a
problem with alcohol can prevent
people from seeking help.
" I think that the stigma is absolutely
still there, " said Dueñas. " But
silence keeps us sick. "
She adds that teachers shouldn't
be ashamed to reach out for help
and that, now, with the proliferation
of online support communities, it's
easier to maintain privacy.
As for Dueñas, she pushed away
for years the " intuitive voice " that
told her she needed help. Being such
a successful teacher made it easier for
her to bury it.
" I was showing up, and I was
doing all these great things for my
students, which so many teachers
do on a daily basis, " she said. " But
the reality is that, at the end of the
day, we are all replaceable, and it's
so important for teachers to get the
help they need. "
EDUCATION WEEK | February 5, 2025 | www.edweek.org | 7
E+
http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - February 5, 2025

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - February 5, 2025
