My name is Leilani Maxera and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and therapist. I use she/they/ʻo ia pronouns and am a daughter of the Hawaiian diaspora. I was raised in Martinez, California by the Carquinez Strait and in the shadow of Mount Diablo. I grew up in the homeland of the Karkin and Muwekma Ohlone Tribes and was called home to Hawai’i in 2014. I spent the majority of my time in Honolulu living in Mānoa Valley by the Mānoa stream, at the base of Pu’upia of the Koʻolau Range. In 2025 I moved to Tacoma, WA, home of the Puyallup Tribe, with Commencement Bay and Tahoma looming in the distance.
I have a Master of Public Health degree with an emphasis in Aging from the University of California – Berkeley and a Master of Social Work degree from Hawaiʻi Pacific University, where I wrote my thesis on home funerals and their effects on grief.
I am a grief and death worker who started on this journey in 2006 after seeing my maternal grandmother suffer needlessly from lack of competent and compassionate end-of-life care. I am on the Board and teaching crew of A Sacred Passing based in Seattle, WA and facilitate support groups through them.
I have worked and volunteered in harm reduction since 2007 and feel strongly about reducing the stigma of drug use. I previously managed a statewide syringe exchange and overdose prevention program, and currently work with other syringe exchange and service organizations to support their staff. I co-founded Hawai’i Opioid+ Consumer Alliance (HO+CA) with the intention of spreading overdose prevention and harm reduction knowledge among people who use drugs, and currently volunteer with 253 Harm Redux.
