Short Research Article: RESEED – the perceived impact of an enhanced usual care model of a novel, teacher-led, task-shifting initiative for child mental health Setareh Ekhteraei 1 , Juliana L. Vanderburg 2 , Choden Dukpa 3 , Priscilla Giri 3 , Surekha Bhattarai 3 , Arpana Thapa 3 , Catherine Shrestha 3 , Bradley N. Gaynes 4 , Molly M. Lamb 5,6 , Michael Matergia 5,7† & Christina M. Cruz 2,4† 1 University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA 2 School Psychology Program, School of Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA 3 Darjeeling Ladenla Road Prerna, Darjeeling, India 4 Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA 5 Center for Global Health, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA 6 Department of Epidemiology, Colorado School of Public Health, Aurora, CO, USA 7 Broadleaf Health and Education Alliance, Stroudsburg, PA, USA Background: Task-shifted, teacher-led care may begin to bridge the child mental health care gap in low- and middle-income countries by improving mental health literacy. We explore the perceived impact of RESEED (Responding to Students’ Emotions through Education), an abbreviated version of Tealeaf (Teachers Leading the Frontlines). Methods: After classroom implementation of tools from a 3-day training on child mental health and cognitive behavioral techniques in Darjeeling, India, 29 teachers participated in focus group discus- sions (FGDs). Results: Inductive content analyses of FGDs demonstrated RESEED’s acceptability, positive overall impact, and barriers. Conclusions: Stepped levels of teacher-led care may support child mental health in resource-limited settings through mental reframing. Key Practitioner Message What is known? • Child mental health needs in low- and middle-income countries remain unmet. What is new? • Stepped levels of teacher-led care may be able to address different levels of child mental health needs. • RESEED, as a resource-minimal intervention, was perceived by teachers to have an overall positive reported impact on students and teachers. What is significant for clinical practice? • Stepped levels of teacher-led, task-shifting initiatives may provide a multilayered approach to addressing the global child mental health care gap across children’s varying levels of need. Keywords: Mental health; school; teachers Introduction Mental health disorders affect 10%–20% of children and adolescents globally (Fazel, Patel, Thomas, & Tol, 2014). In low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), the availability of care for youth with mental health concerns is marginal compared to the burden of these conditions, defined as a ‘care gap’ (Fazel et al., 2014). Task shifting may bridge the care gap as it trains community members to deliver care as lay individuals. When child mental health has been task shifted, teachers have served as lay counselors given their experience with child development and schools’ unique position to facilitate and support task-shifted care in a † Equal contribution. Ó 2023 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Child and Adolescent Mental Health Volume **, No. *, 2023, pp. **–** doi:10.1111/camh.12673