Mental health literacy is vital for promoting young people's mental well-being. This paper explores how mental well-being is conceptualised and experienced by frontline educators in China and Thailand and investigates their role in promoting students' mental well-being. The China study recruited a convenience sample of six frontline educators (five female, one male) from three secondary schools in the Tianjin Municipality and Zhejiang Province. The Thailand study recruited seven secondary school teachers (six female, one male) in urban areas using convenience and snowball sampling. This cross-cultural research shows that although China and Thailand have made significant progress in tackling mental health issues, many problems remain unaddressed. Treatment gaps in both areas reflect a historical neglect of mental illness owing to limited insurance coverage, individual financial difficulties, lack of trained personnel, and limited understanding of mental illness.