One of the human service professionals I would like to discuss is Necia Freeman. Who is a christian that live in Huntington, Virginia and goes to church regularly and sees the personal struggles of Huntington residents every day. One day she read in a article that a prostitute had been discovered dead in a corn field near Huntington and then that was the end of the story. There wasn’t a follow up of the killer, how the lady died, nothing and it tore Necia Freeman up inside enough to the point where she started to drive around the city. Necia thought she was just gonna “take brown bag lunches and put a gospel tract in them and find some prostitutes and hoping they will sit read a track, get food and get jesus and everything will turn out good” but it was way more complicated than she first though. She is in a town where so many people need help, doing nothing was not an option for Necia Freeman
Values involve what you consider important and what you do not and what has worth and what does not. They also involve making judgements or decisions about relative worth. Common values include promotion of client well being, client empowerment, promotion of social and economic justice. In Necia Freeman work she exhibits values such as social justice which is the reason she got into helping prostitutes because she felt the lady who was killed was not treated fairly, she did not receive justice because no one bothered to look further into the case.
Another value is dignity and worth of the person. In the documentary Necia gets a call from an inmate in jail which is one of the girls she been helping and she continues to help the girl even while she is in jail, looking for a rehab for her. Necia treats the girls with respect and she encourages opportunities for the girls to enhance their well being. Also the value importance of human relationship, because Necia is involved in working with systems that include individuals, groups, and organizations like the church and rehabs. Necia actually cares for people, she wants her clients to be treated fairly and she goes over and beyond looking for people to help.
Necia Freeman intervenes at the micro, mezzo and macro practice. Necia helps prostitutes though every step to help their well being which means she practices with individuals and that is considered intervening at the micro level. For example, Belinda who Necia has been looking for a new rehabilitation center for her while she is in western regional jail. Necia then works at a mezzo level working with families she offers help to women who are mothers, sisters, daughters in Huntington. To get them on track and getting their lives back together for they can reconnect with their family. Also she works with groups such as the children who she delivers backpacks and brown bag lunches to the local schools. Necia works with organizations in particular like the mission, the church, the rehabilitation centers, and the department of education. The type of communities she reaches out to is poor children and women on the streets which is working at a macro level.
There are two theories, ecological theory and a system theory. The theory that applies most to Necia Freeman work is system theory which is a structure of complex systems, such as how parts relate to each other and to the whole system. Meaning, understanding how individuals relate to each other and to their society as a whole. Also understanding the connection between individuals, families, institutions and societies. For instance, when Necia helped Najah who was one the women on the streets, Necia went through the whole process of picking her up in the street, helping her with resources like food, counsling, a place to sleep, a place to go for rehab. Necia went through a whole process with all of the girls.
