Teachers are frontliners too: Promoting mental health literacy among teachers in low-and middle-income countries

There is a strong advocacy for the promotion of mental health among youth. Most of these youth attend school and spend a great deal of time interacting with and learning from their teachers. Hence, it can be contended that schools are a primary context for mental health promotion, with teachers as key agents. To be able to fulfill this role, it is imperative that teachers possess mental health literacy (MHL), or the skills and abilities essential for mental health promotion (Jorm, 2012). However, teachers’ role in mental health promotion receives relatively little attention, and studies on teacher MHL are rather scarce. In this correspondence, we argue that MHL is a necessary competency teachers must develop. We also provide insights on mental health promotion in the context of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).