By Niasha Fray, MA, MSPH | CEO, Niasha Fray Consulting LLC and Suzanne Mun,
Content Marketing Specialist
In over 20 years of working in public health and addressing health disparities, I have seen the strong connection between education, emotional well-being, and health outcomes. While my work has focused on behavioral health, public health, and population health, especially for marginalized communities, the importance of the Black SEL Framework (Black Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) has become increasingly clear. Black SEL is important not only for children and youth but also for young adults and professionals. It matters because it brings together cultural pride, self-advocacy, and emotional intelligence to empower Black children and their communities, building a foundation for long-term health, well-being, and validation.
The Connection Between Black SEL and Health Equity
In my work with Black women battling breast cancer, I’ve seen how important self-advocacy is when navigating complex healthcare systems. In a 2018 NPR interview, I talked about how many Black women struggle to continue follow-up breast cancer treatments due to systemic biases and personal stress. This issue goes beyond healthcare—it’s deeply emotional and psychological, rooted in how Black communities are conditioned to interact with systems of power.
In my experience, it is common for a Black woman with a history of cancer, newly unexplained heavy vaginal bleeding, and abdominal pain to feel anxious. When she shares her fears of a cancer recurrence and asks to be taken seriously, especially as a Black woman in the southeastern U.S., her doctor is likely to try to “calm her” by pausing and shrugging off her concerns. The doctor is prone to say that race has nothing to do with her health issues. This reaction can make her feel unsafe, unheard, and unsure if she can trust this doctor to take her concerns seriously and preserve her health and well-being.
Now, she faces a difficult choice: Should she continue with this doctor and hope everything turns out as simply as he says? Or should she leave without resolving her potentially life-threatening health issue, hoping to find another doctor who will respect her feelings and value her as the expert of her own health journey? If she chooses the latter, the system is likely to label her as “non-compliant.” The choices that Black women in these situations are faced with and the labels that can be placed on them are contrived by a healthcare system that is not designed to sustain Black health and wellness.
Black SEL addresses these challenges early on by helping Black students develop the emotional resilience and advocacy skills they’ll need throughout their lives. In my research on Black women’s self-advocacy in healthcare, many women voiced frustration with being dismissed or ignored by providers. Similarly, Black students in educational settings often feel unseen or unheard. For example, when I was in middle school in North Carolina, I learned that when Black boys stood up against our classmates, who were the children of white KKK members, they were carted off by the police in handcuffs while the white boys who instigated the racially motivated fight were allowed to return to class. Those Black boys were labeled as bad, violent, hood, ghetto, mean, and it was not encouraged for any of the “good” kids to befriend them or they would also acquire the same labels and treatment. No one thought about how this would affect the Black self-concept of the boys who were taken away by the police or the Black children who witnessed it… or maybe they did? Black SEL provides children with the tools they need to assert their needs and build confidence in educational settings, just as I have witnessed with the women I’ve supported in healthcare.
Black SEL: Building Skills for Life
Black SEL is transformative because it extends beyond academic goals, equipping young Black people with the emotional intelligence and self-advocacy skills needed to confront systemic inequities. For example, just as I have seen Black women gain the confidence to advocate for their health, Black SEL equips students to navigate environments where their voices are often marginalized. It teaches them to not only survive in these spaces but to thrive by embracing their cultural identity and developing resilience.
The Black SEL Framework affirms this with three core elements: power, individual action, and sustainability. It acknowledges the strength within Black cultural experience and history and promotes using that power to foster self-determination, healthy behaviors, and emotional intelligence. That power is especially important in the development of self-determination, health behaviors, and emotional intelligence within each Black individual. Being able to sustain health and wellness is not something we can do simply by knowing our history and being self-determined. We all need our culture, organizations, and civil society to be structured to protect and facilitate our long-term health and wellness for generations to come.
Holistic Wellness Through Black SEL
My work in health equity has consistently demonstrated that systemic change must be both culturally relevant and community-driven. Black SEL aligns with these principles, empowering students to develop emotional and social skills that are deeply connected to their cultural experiences. Whether navigating school systems or the healthcare landscape, Black individuals benefit from tools that allow them to approach systemic challenges confidently and assertively. The Black SEL framework provides those tools.
At Niasha Fray Consulting LLC, we are committed to a comprehensive approach to wellness. Black SEL complements broader health equity initiatives by addressing the emotional and psychological aspects of well-being, alongside the social and physical. By incorporating Black SEL into our work, we can help create a future where Black communities not only succeed but also lead healthier, more empowered lives.
A Call to Action
To create lasting change, we must invest in frameworks like Black SEL that prioritize cultural relevance and self-advocacy. By giving Black students and communities the tools they need to navigate systems of power, we can foster both educational and health equity.
For those boldly embracing health equity, Black SEL, and systems change, let’s work together to create accountable, community-informed, anti-racist, and prosperous behavioral health, public health, and population health entities that foster emotional authenticity and inclusive environments.
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About the Authors:
Niasha A. Fray, MA, MSPH, is a public health expert with advanced degrees in Clinical
Psychology, Public Health, and Health Behavior. She is especially proud to be a Florida A&M University alumna. As CEO of Niasha Fray Consulting LLC, she collaborates with partners to develop community-informed solutions to health equity challenges, focusing on areas like community engagement, patient advocacy, health equity research, and diversity in clinical trials. Niasha also hosts the “Questions You Didn’t Ask” podcast, which aims to uncover unasked questions, break silence, and confront ignorance that often leads to stigma, fear, and poor health outcomes. Through her work, she is dedicated to advancing health equity and improving well-being in marginalized communities.
Suzanne Mun has a background in psychology from Georgetown University and digital marketing from freelancing and her current work. She enjoys working with brands in various digital marketing areas, especially with email marketing, writing, editing, and graphic design on Canva. She loves supporting female business owners who have a mission to make a difference in their communities, especially those centered around mental health, personal growth, and education. She is currently building her freelancing business while working as a content marketing specialist during the day. Outside of work, she enjoys bouldering and spending time with her friends and two dogs.