About The Center for Praxis

The Center for Praxis is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening therapeutic work by bridging theory and real-world practice. We partner with clinicians, organizations, and communities to develop, deliver, and evaluate clinically grounded services and programs that are responsive to real contexts.

At the Center for Praxis, we believe that effective therapeutic work does not live only in textbooks or ideal models, but it is shaped in real settings, informed by community needs, and refined through lived experience and reflection. Praxis is the active exchange between what we know and what we do: where theory informs practice and practice, in turn, deepens understanding.

Our Story: Why Praxis Matters

Many programs and organizations recognize the value of therapeutic insight but lack the infrastructure or clinical foundation to implement services responsibly. Others find that traditional models of training and practice don’t fully prepare clinicians for the complexity of real-world work.

The Center for Praxis was created to bridge these gaps by supporting high-quality clinical care, deepen reflective practice, and help organizations meaningfully integrate therapeutic elements into their work.

We work across multiple domains of therapeutic practice so that care is:

  • Thoughtfully designed

  • Responsibly implemented

  • Grounded in best practices

  • Responsive to real human and organizational contexts

Through this approach, we help programs deliver services with integrity — and we help funders and partners understand the logic, accountability, and impact behind them.

Meet the Founder

The Center for Praxis was founded by Charla Yearwood, LCSW, a therapist, educator, and researcher whose work focuses on bridging therapeutic theory and real-world practice.

Charla founded the Center for Praxis in response to the persistent gap she observed between how therapy is taught and how it unfolds in practice. Her work centers collaboration, reflection, and the development of clinically grounded approaches that are responsive to real-world contexts.

She is currently pursuing a PhD in Clinical Social Work, further deepening her commitment to practice-informed research and theoretically sound therapeutic work.