PraxisCounsel & Consult

Sønderborg | København

What We Do

Praxis provides reflective counselling and institutional consulting to support clarity and sense-making for individuals and organizations navigating uncertainty, complexity, difficulties, and change.

Counsel

Counselling at Praxis supports adults in making sense of periods of uncertainty, strain, emptiness, or transition. The approach is reflective and non-pathologizing, emphasizing clarity, values, and thoughtful decision-making over diagnosis and clinical treatment.Our counselling draws on established social-psychological approaches within a broader existential perspective and is intended for individuals seeking space to reflect, reorient, and engage more deliberately with their life and their circumstances.

Consult

Consulting by Praxis supports organizations in making sense of complex human and organizational challenges that emerge during periods of change, pressure, or reorientation. The approach is reflective and analytical, with an emphasis on understanding context, relationships, and institutional dynamics rather than troubleshooting or purely technical interventions.Our consulting work draws on organizational psychology and social theory and is intended for institutions seeking to engage thoughtfully with questions of culture, responsibility, and practice in their everyday operations.

Counselling at Praxis

Who We Counsel

This counselling work is well-suited for adults who are functioning in their lives but experiencing persistent uncertainty, strain, a sense of loss, chronic emptiness, or dissatisfaction that has become difficult to ignore. Common starting points include work-related stress, stalled decision-making, relationship difficulties, life or career transitions, or a sense of misalignment between one's values and their everyday life.The work is particularly appropriate for individuals who prefer thoughtful dialogue over directive approaches and who want to better understand what is happening in their lives rather than simply manage symptoms. Many clients are professionals or English-speaking internationals navigating complex personal, cultural, or institutional contexts. Danish clients who are comfortable working in English are also welcome.

How the Work Is Structured

Sessions are conversational, reflective, and collaborative. The work is informed by existential psychology and existential philosophy, with attention to questions of meaning, responsibility, freedom, and limitation as they arise in everyday life. Rather than following a fixed program, sessions unfold in response to the concerns brought into the room and the patterns that emerge through dialogue.Counselling draws on several psychological frameworks as working tools rather than fixed protocols:Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to clarify values and support flexible responses to difficult thoughts and emotionsRational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) to examine how beliefs and interpretations shape experience and actionTransactional Analysis to explore recurring relational patterns, roles, and expectationsThese approaches are integrated according to the needs of the conversation and the questions that develop over time.

What to Expect

Counselling at Praxis is paced and deliberate. Early sessions focus on clarifying what brings you to the work, how you understand your situation, and what feels most at stake in the questions you are facing.Over time, sessions may involve examining patterns in thought, action, and relationship, reflecting on values and commitments, and considering possible directions for change. The work is collaborative and adaptive, with attention to both immediate concerns and the broader contexts in which they arise.Progress in this form of counselling is often non-linear. Insight and change tend to develop gradually through sustained reflection rather than through prescribed techniques or short-term interventions.

Scope, Role, and Limits

Counselling at Praxis is offered within a reflective, non-clinical framework. It is not a substitute for medical, psychiatric, or emergency mental health care. This practice does not provide diagnosis, psychological testing, clinical treatment, crisis intervention, or emergency services. The work we do is complimentary and adjacent to clinical services.The practitioner is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist. Counselling is provided by a US-trained social worker and social scientist, and focuses on dialogue, sense-making, and thoughtful engagement with life circumstances rather than clinical interventions. We do not diagnose or treat clinical pathology.Information about the practitioner’s professional background, training, and experience is available in the About Me section.Counselling is conducted in English, which is used as a descriptive and working language. Services are available to both international clients and Danish clients who are comfortable working in English.If it becomes clear that different or additional forms of support are needed, we will discuss them and encourage appropriate referrals.

Consulting by Praxis

Our Orientation

Praxis works with organizations operating in increasingly digital, accelerated, and performance-driven environments that are seeking to bring human considerations back into everyday business and operational decision-making.The work supports organizations in clarifying shared values, responsibilities, and expectations, and in understanding how people actually experience their roles, demands, and constraints. Rather than treating human concerns as separate from strategy or operations, Praxis helps institutions integrate psychological and social realities into how work is designed, managed, and carried out.The aim is to support organizations in adapting to market and institutional demands in ways that are mutually beneficial, sustaining both organizational viability and the people who make the work possible.

Who We Serve

Consulting by Praxis is designed for organizations and institutions experiencing human or organizational strain that is not being resolved through existing systems, policies, or technical fixes. This includes public institutions, educational settings, nonprofits, mission-driven organizations, and professional teams operating under sustained pressure or complexity.Organizations often seek this work when issues such as burnout, disengagement, moral strain, role ambiguity, or breakdowns in communication are present, but where the underlying dynamics are difficult to name clearly or address responsibly. The work supports institutions that want to better understand what is happening in practice and how to respond without introducing further fragmentation or performative change.

Custom-Tailored Service Tracks

Praxis offers consulting and support services through three core service tracks, which can be engaged independently or in combination, depending on where an organization is currently struggling.Some institutions begin with analysis because they lack shared understanding. Others already have evaluations or recommendations but struggle to translate insight into practice. Still others require immediate, embedded support for staff under strain. The service tracks are designed to address these distinct needs.

Track One - Research and Analyses

This track supports organizations that sense something is not working but lack a clear, shared account of why. The focus is on understanding how institutional structures, cultures, roles, and everyday practices shape experience, behavior, and decision-making.The work is informed by organizational psychology, social theory, and applied qualitative research methods, and may include:*Exploratory interviews or facilitated conversations*Qualitative analysis of organizational experience and work practices*Review of policies, procedures, and institutional materials*Research-informed evaluation of existing programs or initiativesThe purpose of this track is to support collective sense-making that connects psychological experience with organizational design, responsibility, and constraint, providing a grounded basis for future action.

Track Two - Translating Research and Evaluation into Practice

Many organizations already possess insight, evaluations, or recommendations, but struggle to turn them into meaningful and sustained change. Track Two focuses on translating research and evaluation insight into practice through implementation, training, and advisory support.This work draws on organizational psychology to support learning, role clarity, and adaptive practice, while remaining attentive to institutional realities such as capacity, mandate, and culture.Activities may include:*Facilitated workshops or reflective training sessions*Advisory support for leadership or project teams*Support for the implementation of revised practices or frameworks*Ongoing training during periods of organizational changeThe emphasis is on thoughtful adjustment, psychological realism, and permanent institutional learning rather than rapid transformation or standardized change models.

Track Three - In-House Mental Health Support

Some organizations face ongoing staff strain that cannot be adequately addressed through HR processes, external consultants, or clinical services alone. Track Three provides embedded, non-clinical mental health support for organizations seeking accessible, psychologically informed support within everyday work contexts.In-house mental health support may include:*On-site or embedded reflective support for staff*Individual or small-group conversations focused on work-related strain, role pressure, and sense-making*Support for teams operating in high-pressure or morally complex environmentsThis work is designed to complement, not replace, external clinical services or employee assistance programs. Its purpose is to support early response, containment, and reflection before strain escalates into crisis, disengagement, or attrition.

What to Expect

Consulting engagements typically begin with exploratory conversations to clarify what the organization is experiencing, what questions are emerging, and where existing approaches are falling short. From there, the work is shaped collaboratively, with attention to institutional responsibilities, psychological realities, and organizational constraints.Some engagements remain focused within a single service track, while others move deliberately from research and evaluation into implementation, advisory support, or in-house mental health provision. Throughout, the emphasis is on supporting clarity, shared understanding, and responsible action under real-world conditions.Organizations are also free to select any track or combination of tracks they believe is appropriate for their situation. Our goal is to make your organization work better for all stakeholders, from clients to investors to employees and managers.

Scope, Role, and Limits

Consulting and in-house mental health support by Praxis do not involve clinical services, diagnosis, or individual psychotherapy. The work is advisory, analytical, and reflective in nature, oriented toward organizational understanding, psychological insight, and responsible institutional practice rather than compliance, performance management, or therapeutic treatment.All services are provided by a social worker and social scientist with training and experience in peer-reviewed academic research, organizational psychology, institutional analysis, and applied support work. Information about professional background, training, and experience is available in the About Me section.Consulting engagements and in-house support are conducted in English. Services are available to Danish institutions and international organizations that are comfortable working in English.

Austin McNeill BrownMSW|PhD

My Story

First and foremost, I am a person living in long-term recovery from substance use disorder. My own lived experience has deeply influenced my interests in helping others through both practice and research.I am also an international living in Denmark who came here after completing a doctorate in social science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. My professional background includes many years of work in clinical and institutional settings in the United States, where I practiced as a clinical social worker and provided counselling alongside ongoing research and academic work.Over time, I became less interested in clinical social work as it is typically practiced and more focused on the broader conditions shaping people’s lives, work, and institutions. While clinical counselling can be valuable, I found myself increasingly drawn to questions that extended beyond diagnosis and treatment toward how social, organizational, and cultural contexts produce strain, limit agency, or allow lack of meaning and other difficulties to persist.Having lived and worked in Denmark, I have come to better understand the specific pressures faced by individuals and institutions here. Many aspects of Danish society function remarkably well, yet the combination of digitalization, administrative complexity, and performance demands often leaves limited space for reflection on how people actually experience their roles, responsibilities, and everyday work. Praxis emerged in response to this gap, bringing together counselling, consulting, and research-informed work in a way that remains attentive to human experiences.

An Interdisciplinary Background

My work is grounded in an interdisciplinary background spanning psychology, social work, social science, and organizational inquiry. This training reflects a sustained interest in how individual experience is shaped by social context, institutional design, and broader economic and political conditions.I began in psychology and clinical social work, developing a close understanding of distress, motivation, and meaning at the individual level. My work later expanded into social science research, focusing on how social structures, norms, and power relations shape everyday life, including work, recovery, and institutional participation.My approach is informed by existential philosophy and existential psychology, particularly their attention to meaning, responsibility, freedom, and limitation. These perspectives provide a way of engaging human experience without reducing it to pathology or performance.Alongside this, I draw on critical social theory, organizational theory, and political economy to understand how institutions operate in practice. These traditions help illuminate how administrative systems, digital infrastructures, incentives, and market pressures shape behavior, decision-making, and moral experience.Together, this interdisciplinary grounding supports work that is psychologically informed, socially grounded, and attentive to the institutional and economic realities in which people and organizations operate.

Brief Bio

I am a social worker and social scientist with over a decade of experience across research, clinical-adjacent practice, and institutional work. I hold a PhD in Social Science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, an MSW from the University of Vermont, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas Tech University.Since 2014, my work has included clinical counselling in social work settings, applied research, and the direction and coordination of student support and recovery-oriented organizations. Alongside this, I have provided consulting and advisory support to institutions since 2017, working at the intersection of mental health, organizational practice, and policy.My professional background spans academic research, applied social work, organizational leadership, and consulting, with experience working across universities, public-facing institutions, and nonprofit contexts.A full formal CV is available upon request.

Publications and Research

My published work spans social science, recovery and addiction research, ethnography, and institutional analysis. Across more than two dozen peer-reviewed and highly cited publications, my research examines how individual experience is shaped by social structures, institutional arrangements, language, and political-economic conditions.A significant portion of my work has contributed to the development of recovery science, including theoretical frameworks that conceptualize recovery as a social and relational process, analyses of recovery capital, identity transformation, and peer-based recovery support. This work has been widely cited and applied across interdisciplinary public health, social work, and recovery-oriented research contexts.Alongside this, my scholarship includes qualitative and genealogical social research that examines subjectivity, culture, and power, including work on suburban social life, political identity, and the social production of meaning in contemporary society. These projects draw on critical theory, organizational analysis, and political economy to understand how broader systems shape everyday experience.Together, this body of work reflects a sustained interdisciplinary engagement with questions of meaning, agency, responsibility, and institutional life.

Selected Works

McNeill Brown, A., Brennan Nanni, M., & LaBelle, O. P. (2020). Self-esteem in 12-step recovery: Theoretical history, evidence, and implications for future research. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 38(4), 456–473. https://doi.org/10.1080/07347324.2020.1846478McNeill Brown, A., & Ashford, R. D. (2019). Recovery-informed theory: Situating the subjective in the science of substance use disorder recovery. Journal of Recovery Science, 1(3). https://doi.org/10.31886/jors.13.2019.38McNeill Brown, A., & Ashford, R. D. (2020). Language, power, and recovery: Social dimensions of addiction and recovery discourse. Addiction Research & Theory, 28(6), 474–485. https://doi.org/10.1080/16066359.2019.1681137Watkins, N., McNeill Brown, A., & Courson, K. (2021). Identity transformation through substance use disorder recovery: Introducing the six-stage model. The Qualitative Report, 26(7), 2127–2151. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4918Ashford, R. D., McNeill Brown, A., Canode, B., Sledd, A., Potter, J. S., & Bergman, B. G. (2021). Peer-based recovery support services delivered at recovery community organizations: Predictors of improvements in individual recovery capital. Addictive Behaviors, 119, 106945. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106945Zhang, X., McNeill Brown, A. M., & Rhubart, D. C. (2023). Can resilience buffer the effects of loneliness on mental distress among working-age adults in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic? A latent moderated structural equation modeling approach. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 30(6), 790–800. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-023-10122-4McNeill Brown, A. (2022). America’s dark harbingers: A genealogical analysis of self-disposing right-wing subjects during the COVID-19 pandemic. Culture, Theory and Critique, 63(2), 133–149. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735784.2022.2098151McNeill Brown, A. (2023). Suburban subjectivities: A genealogical account of the American dreamscape (Doctoral dissertation, Syracuse University).

A full listing of all my research can be found here on Google Scholar.

Rates and Service Delivery

Counselling

SessionsCounselling at Praxis is offered with an emphasis on accessibility and fairness. Where possible, fees are adjusted on a sliding scale, taking individual circumstances into account. The aim is to make reflective counselling available without reducing it to a purely transactional service.Counselling formats currently include:*Single Sessions
Individual sessions focused on reflection, sense-making, and thoughtful decision-making.*Couples Sessions
Sessions supporting shared reflection, communication, and understanding within relationships.*Group Sessions
Small group sessions organized around shared themes or contexts, such as work-related strain, transition, or collective reflection.

SettingsCounselling may be provided in the following formats:*Office-based sessions*Mobile, in-person sessions, available by arrangement for a small additional fee depending on location and time availability*Online sessions, available at a reduced rate

PaymentCounselling services are privately provided and self-funded and are not covered by the Danish public health system or public insurance schemes.At the same time, this work is often a good fit given the current demands on public systems and the gaps that exist in accessible, timely mental health support. Praxis is intended to complement existing services by offering space for reflection and early support where other options may be limited or delayed.Specific fees are discussed directly and transparently during the initial contact. We are willing to work with whatever your financial situation may be.

Consultation

Consulting services and in-house mental health support are priced by engagement, rather than by a fixed hourly rate. Organizations are invited to make contact to discuss scope, duration, and context so that an appropriate proposal can be developed.Fees are set with attention to:*The nature and scale of the engagement*Time commitment and level of on-site presence required*Institutional context and capacityConsulting and in-house support may be delivered on site, remotely, or through a hybrid arrangement, depending on organizational needs.Pricing is competitive in Denmark and set at or below prevailing market rates for comparable services with regional competitors.We are also mindful of the limited resources of small firms, start-ups, NGOs, and nonprofits, and we will take this into consideration in pricing.We will provide a free in-depth proposal outlining the scope of work and itemized pricing for your review based on your organizational needs and goals.

Ready to Get Started?

If you are interested in counselling, consulting, or in-house support, the first step is to send a brief email inquiry. In your message, outline what you are looking for and how to contact you directly.If this is your first time reaching out for counselling, it is normal to feel uncertain about what to say or what the process will involve. There is no expectation that everything be clearly formulated at the outset. An initial conversation is simply a way to explore fit and clarify whether this work may be helpful for you.All initial communication is handled by secure email. Email correspondence is encrypted via Proton Mail, and all communications are treated as confidential.Please visit our Contact tab to send us an email!

Contact

We provide services throughout Denmark with a specific focus on Sønderjylland and the Capital Region. However, we can offer service to anyone in Denmark. We are based in Sønderborg.

Confidential and secure email (encrypted): [email protected]