Are you a friend, community or family member of someone who chose MAiD or VSED?
We are grateful you found your way here and want to honor the journey that brought you. This is not a space for medical providers, death doulas or employed caretakers, but a supportive space for partners, friends, family, and beloveds of someone who has chosen the MAiD or VSED process. If you join this group as a professional seeking to learn from the space, you will be asked to leave- no exceptions.
Our Medical Aid in Dying (MAiD) and VSED Grief Group is a free of cost, virtual drop in group where friends, family and community members can come together in conversation and care. Join us every first Sunday of the month 7:00pm-8:30pm PST/5:00pm-6:30pm HST
Please complete the registration form below, We look forward to having you join us!
Meet our Facilitators:
MAiD Facilitators:
Leilani Maxera (she/they) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She is a daughter of the Hawaiian diaspora raised in Martinez, California. Leilani was called home to Hawai’i in their early 30s and currently lives in Mānoa Valley on Oʻahu. Leilani is a therapist, death educator, and grief worker with her own private practice, Kaipuokaualoku Therapy + Death Work + Consulting (kaipuokaualoku.com). Leilani worked and volunteered in harm reduction for 14 years, including managing a syringe exchange and an overdose prevention program where she conducted training and education with other social service organizations to teach about overdose prevention and response and to reduce stigma around drug use.
Joy Rodriguez (she/her) is a bedside End of Life Doula. She racially identifies as hapa and grew under the tall redwoods of the Santa Cruz mountains. She raised her children under the pines and cedars of Eastern Washington and now thrives on Oʻahu. When not serving as a doula or a parent, she works in construction management and plays in the mountains and on the beaches of a beautiful island.
VSED Facilitators:
Lashanna is an intentional tender, a tender of people and spaces, a recovering corporate employee and avid learner. A mistake maker, community lover, consensual hugger, garden witch, and mother; a midwest-grown University of Michigan graduate, published author, artist, facilitator, and holder of heavy things. Creating space for belonging is at the core of their work, from teaching medical professionals to working with youth, from shrouding a community member to hand-grinding herbs for tea. Lashanna lives and works in the intersections of death, art, education, and love. As a member of multiple community and national boards, she gathers, guides, and supports efforts to remain purposeful, creative, sustainable, and free from the anti-Black patriarchal Western structures currently in place. Lashanna is a Scorpio, which means they were born an agent of change and has lived that life.
Andera Fenwick is an End of Life Doula, Andrea provides support, guidance, resources and advocacy by exploring and creating end of life plans that reflect unique lives and wishes. She has witnessed in others how having solid support, choice and preparing for the journey can create a more peaceful and meaningful living and dying. Andrea has been privileged to serve many individuals and families through her work with End-of-Life Washington, VSED Resources Northwest, and Hospice.
If you have any additional questions, please contact us at info@asacredpassing.org
