Men To Watch Awards 2026 honors Dr. Raheem Lay

Dr. Raheem Lay is a licensed clinical social worker supervisor with over two decades of service in behavioral health, military mental health leadership, and higher education. He holds advanced training in emotional intelligence and empathy. He specializes in trauma, emotional regulation, and applied social intelligence in clinical and organizational settings. His work centers on the 5 Button Framework, a practical model that helps individuals understand their emotional drivers across five categories, Control, Rejection, Abandonment, Failure, and Shame. This framework informs his teaching, research interests, and ongoing development of emotional accountability tools for adults, military communities, and families.

Dr. Lay teaches courses in psychology, communication, and the social sciences. He focuses on helping students build strong critical thinking skills and emotional awareness. His professional interests include emotional intelligence education, military family systems, and evidence informed strategies that support resilience and interpersonal effectiveness. His background includes twenty-three years of military service, extensive clinical practice, and a growing body of work on emotional intelligence applications across diverse populations. An interesting fact about Dr. Lay is that he hosts the EQ Conversations podcast, where he explores emotional intelligence and real-life relational challenges with the public.