Waiting for Tearah

A Connecticut family struggles to navigate America’s mental health care system.

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Funding Initiative
Diversity Development Fund
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Director & Producer

Juliana Schatz Preston

Juliana Schatz Preston is a Colombian American documentary director and producer. She started her career at the award-winning investigative series FRONTLINE, where she contributed to 12 public affairs documentaries -- including two Emmy Award winners and one Peabody Award winner. Her work with the GroundTruth Project covering the Egyptian… Show more revolution was nominated for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and the Foreign Press Association of London recently recognized her films with Al Jazeera English's flagship environmental program, earthrise. Juliana is a graduate of Northeastern University and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband. Show less

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The Film

At 16, Tearah, who suffers from mental illness, remains stuck in a hospital month after month, as her mother struggles to navigate America’s mental health care system. As Shayna, a single parent of three girls, fights to get Tearah residential treatment, she faces the possibility of losing her home and even custody of her daughter.

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