Xavier Tramaine Duckett is a community leader, artist, entrepreneur, traveler and mentor from Roanoke, VA.

Lessons in Love

Xavier was born in December of 1990 in Roanoke, where he was raised in a culture of service, generosity, and love for community.

At a young age, he participated in youth mission trips, and worked with several mentorship and advisory programs across the state of Virginia throughout high school and college.

Xavier founded the Imagine Me Mentoring Program in 2013, as a commitment to youth education and empowerment.

The program took some time to establish: Xavier persevered for several years before it would finally take off, and didn’t win an official contract until August 2018. “It takes time to build something that’s going to last,” explains Xavier.

Spreading the Love

In 2015, Xavier moved back to Roanoke after finishing his football career at ODU, with the mission to not only give back to his community, but to uplift it.

He recognized the need for local youth empowerment programs, and founded a nonprofit organization in October 2015 with that in mind: The Humble Hustle Co. This successful nonprofit offers events and programs to underprivileged families in Roanoke, including an outdoor exposure and education program for black youth, a leadership development program for young black girls, along with coat drives, back to school drives, and food drives for children in the community.

Inspiring the Love

Xavier has leveraged his diverse background to impact youth and inspire others. His work continues to uplift his community and its members.

“He’s a visionary when it comes to helping other structure their dreams into goals,” says Douglas Pitzer, an educator, mentor, and IT specialist in Roanoke.

By empowering tomorrow’s leaders to create change in their lives, they’ll be able to impact and uplift their own communities.

“Everywhere in life, the true question isn’t what we gain, but what we do.” 

Xavier Tramaine Duckett

Resume

Skills

  • Work with children ages 3 to 18 with mental diagnoses and disorders

  • Work with adults and children battling with substance abuse, mental illness, and emotional impairment

  • Knowledge of theories, practice, and techniques of supportive counseling and group interaction

  • Establish and maintain rapport with consumers and clients

  • Accurate written records of clients care including assessments

  • Knowledge of principles and techniques of behavioral management

  • Knowledge of factors, which contribute to social dysfunction; general knowledge of relevant community resources and services

Work Experience

    • 40 hours per week

    • Recorded and submitted all documents in a timely fashion

    • Performed after-school home consultations with families to appraise progress towards Individualized Service Plan (ISP) goals

    • Made family contact weekly

    • Provided on-call crisis management

    • Conducted individual and group youth services in a school setting

    • Resolved school problems, reinforcing child behavior, crisis intervention, and acting as a role model

    • Collaborated with supervisor to insure consistency of work inside Individualized Service Plan (ISP) for each consumer.

    • Collaborated with school administration and faculty to insure consistency of services provided inside the Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), and any Behavioral Management Plan (BMP) in place.

    • Promoted a healthy professional relationship between counselor and client.

    • Attended school faculty meetings that directly involve the clients that we serve.

    • Signed off on all ISP’s and filed them in chart, Also keeping track of due dates, for quarterly’s, annuals, monthly’s, and weekly’s.

    • Ensured Medicaid compliance, timely completion of paperwork, quality assurance and attendance.

  • Therapeutic Day Treatment Counselor

    • Performed a minimum of 40 hours per week unless otherwise scheduled.

    • Documented all services provided and submitted all documentation in a timely fashion.

    • Performed after school home consults with the families/consumers to apprise them of progress towards Individualized Service Plan (ISP) goals.

    • Made family contact weekly

    • Provided on-call crisis management as needed.

    • Provide individual and group services to youths in a school setting. Services include accompanying a child/adolescent to classes, hall time, lunch, and transitional times.

    • Participated in the resolution of school problems; reinforcing the child when having behavioral difficulties, crisis intervention, and, in general, acting as a role model for the children involved.

    • Collaborated with supervisor to insure consistency of work inside Individualized Service Plan (ISP) for each consumer.

    • Collaborated with school administration and faculty to insure consistency of services provided inside the Individualized Educational Plan (IEP), and any Behavioral Management Plan (BMP) in place.

    • Promoted a healthy professional relationship between counselor and client.

    • Attended school faculty meetings that directly involve the clients that we serve.

    • Signed off on all ISP’s and filed them in chart, Also keeping track of due dates, for quarterly’s, annuals, monthly’s, and weekly’s.

    • Made home visits as needed.

    • Ensured Medicaid compliance, timely completion of paperwork, quality assurance and attendance.

  • Academic Advisor

    • Advise human services students

    • Helping student with career planning and goal setting

    • Transcript review

    • Resume critiques

    • Assistance and advice in time management

    • Help students with test -taking strategies

    • Help students with interview skills

    • Advocating and referring students

    • Establishing study skills with students

  • Intensive In-Home Counselor

    • Managed a small caseload of client families, providing services on an intensive basis and utilizing short-term, solution focused treatment strategies

    • Prepared written service plan, incorporating input from clients, involved service providers, and wraparound team members, and clearly identifying problem areas and needs, strategies, and service objectives

    • Provided direct clinical services to clients, including individual, family, couple, and group therapy, and issue-specific or educational groups (parenting skills, anger management, substance abuse interventions)

    • Responded to crisis situations with twenty-four hour a day availability

    • Prepares progress reports as required by referral source or service purchaser

    • Participated in Child Specific Team, Family Assessment and Planning Team, and other interdisciplinary, diagnostic, or planning meetings

    • Collaborated and coordinates with other case involved service providers and professionals, such as attorneys, school personnel, social workers, and probation counselors

    • Linked clients with external programs or services, such as health services, recreational activities, child care services, financial resources, employment resources, child care, AA/NA groups, transportation resources, and others

    • Attended court hearings when families are court-involved and presents testimony and treatment recommendations as requested by attorneys, referral source, the court, or clients

  • Head Summer Counselor

    • Pick up children from home and drop kids off at home

    • Facilitate psycho-educational group lessons (Sex-Ed, Healthy Eating Habits, Positive-Decision Making, Anger-management)

    • Assist in making lunch for the kids at the facility

    • Facilitate small group counseling sessions

  • Graduate Assistant and Conduct Officer (Office of Student Conduct)

    • Participated and conducted suspension level hearings with students

    • Sanctioned students for abusing school policies and rules

    • Utilize Old Dominion University’s Maxient website in addition to consultations with the assistant director of OSCAI

    • Respond to student inquiries or concerns about the conduct process in a timely fashion

    • Send timely, complete and accurate correspondences to students via Maxient

    • Completed Audits for Residence Hall Directors and Assistant Hall Directors

    • Tally assessments for coworker’s presentations notating if effective or not.

  • Guidance and Administrative Assistant (Summer Internship)

    • Shadowed Principal and Administrative staff

    • Shared daily duties of high school guidance counselors

    • Answered phones, Filed, Faxed, and Printed Documents

    • Counseled students with mental health problems

    • Counseled students with Substance abuse problems

    • Analyzed SOL scores and reports

Honors & Awards

  • Four time Dean’s list recipient

  • Member of the Omega Psi Fi Fraternity

  • Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Services; Minor in Sociology from Old Dominion University

  • Currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Social Work

  • C.C. Williams Award for Community Service by the Urban Professional League of Roanoke (2018)

  • UBU award for community service and the Community Placemaker Award (2018)

  • Community School Local Hero Award by the Community Schools of Roanoke (2020)

    The Community School Local Hero Award

    Feb 2020  Community Schools (Roanoke, VA) Each year, Community School recognizes people and organizations who have been influential in the community, demonstrated kindness, social consciousness, and are active in making Roanoke a great community to live in. These people embody the characteristics that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. exemplified. Known as the Local Hero Award, the program began in 1996 as a way to honor the legacy of Dr. King. The award has been presented continuously over the past 18 years.

    The Community Placemaker Award

    Oct 2018  City Works Xpo The City Works (X)po starts conversations that can change the world by providing a platform for sharing big ideas. Speakers and attendees collaborate throughout the annual gathering, and lifelong relationships form. We know this from experience: (X)po is a place for thinkers and dreamers, doers and leaders. Each year Xpo gives out awards in the following categories: Education Placemaker Award;Business Placemaker Award; Government Placemaker Award; Nonprofit Placemaker Award;Community Placemaker Award; Placemaker of the Year.

    The C. C. Williams Community Service Award

    Feb 2016  Urban Professional League Roanoke The Urban Professional League promotes professionalism, networking, and community service while enhancing the quality of life in Roanoke City. Each year, in honor of Black History Month, UPL provides awards for the following categories: Education, Community Service, Business, and Citizen of the Year.

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Photography by Xavier Duckett | Cape Town, South Africa (Chapman’s Peak)

Photography by Xavier Duckett | Cape Town, South Africa (Chapman’s Peak)