Social Work Meets Reality TV
[ Author: G Wright | Original Article ]

Aracely Neeley has a new job some actors would kill to get. She will get to use her social work skills on camera in "Keeping up with the Joneses," an upcoming reality television show on Centric that follows entrepreneur Tracey Ferguson.

According to the Centric Web site, Ferguson is an "attractive fashionista" trying to build a magazine that serves affluent African American women in Houston.

"I'm still thinking it's a joke," Neeley, LCSW, said. "Did it really happen? Is it really real?"

Neeley is a licensed clinical social worker with a thriving practice in Houston. Producers of the show, which is scheduled to air on the Centric network in early 2010, found her through her Web site.

Show producers needed a professional to provide real-life grief counseling for Ferguson. They filmed several counseling sessions with Neeley and Ferguson.

"We did actual taping in our office — there was no script," Neeley said. "They said this is what we need for you guys to cover and we want it to happen organically."

"And I said 'I'm just going to do therapy like I do everybody else and they said that's exactly what we want.'"

Neeley is of Mexican descent and offers bilingual counseling service. She said being a minority was a plus in landing the role. She hopes her work with "Keeping up with the Joneses" will make more African Americans willing to try therapy to ease depression, family strife and other social issues.

"I think this show will depict therapy in a very down-to-earth way, and as a reality TV series has a good chance of (letting minorities know) therapy is an okay and acceptable treatment," she said.