{"id":19141,"date":"2026-04-16T12:41:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T16:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/?page_id=19141"},"modified":"2026-04-23T13:55:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:55:34","slug":"tealeaf","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/suicide-prevention-institute\/our-programs\/tealeaf\/","title":{"rendered":"Tealeaf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Program Overview<\/h2><\/h2>\n

Tealeaf stands for\u00a0Tea<\/b>chers\u00a0Lea<\/b>ding the\u00a0F<\/b>rontlines \u2013 Mental Health. The program leverages existing community resources and extends their roles to address mental health. This model is called community initiated care (CIC). In North Carolina, the project team uses the CIC model to train and equip teachers with knowledge and skills to address mental health in real-time, class-based settings. They use techniques distilled from evidence-based therapies, which are reformatted for use in the classroom.<\/p>\n<\/som-cell>\n

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Program Impact<\/h2><\/h2>\n
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\"\"Many communities want to address youth mental health in a meaningful way. Yet they also lack enough trained professionals to meet the demand for services. Tealeaf helps change that narrative and engages existing community resources to meet the challenge. This program first launched in 2011 in Darjeeling, India and the Suicide Prevention Institute brought it to North Carolina in 2022. In Tealeaf, teachers first understand mental health through behavior theory and think of needs (attention, escape, sensory, tangible) instead of diagnoses. When they identify student needs, teachers choose from a list of options on how to interact with students to meet those behavioral needs. This approach empowers teachers to advocate for youth who have mental health concerns.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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