Collective Healing Through Connection
We believe in the power of shared experiences.
Our peer-led initiatives foster a supportive environment where recovery and cultural diversity thrive.
Through consultation, group facilitation, and engaging training sessions, we challenge harmful narratives and center the voices of those who have lived through them.
Join us in sparking meaningful conversations and embracing collective healing.
Meliu, LLC. was established from the urgent need for lived experience–driven harm reduction practices within Pacific Island communities, and from the ongoing lack of cultural competency and training around issues impacting our people.
Too often, systems meant to support healing operate without understanding our histories of colonization, military recruitment, migration, and displacement, resulting in care that feels disconnected, harmful, or inaccessible.
Meliu centers peer-led, community-informed approaches to recovery, mental health, and collective care. Our work is grounded in the belief that healing does not require perfection or compliance, but presence, culture, dignity, and choice.
Through peer consultation, peer-led group facilitation, cultural humility and diversity trainings, and intentional merchandise, Meliu creates spaces where lived experience is recognized as expertise and culture is treated as essential, not supplemental.
What is Meliu?
The name Meliu comes from a Palauan word (rooted in the language and tradition of the Pacific Island nation of Belau) — meaning 'to draw'. The word reflects a core truth: about chance, intention, pause, and readiness; you cannot control what is placed in your hands, but you can decide how to respond. This mirrors the principles of harm reduction and recovery: meeting people where they are, honoring survival, and understanding that healing is cyclical rather than linear.
And that meaning sits at the heart of Meliu.
Meliu’s visual identity reflects this philosophy. The moon symbolizes cycles, reflection, and guidance through darkness. The coconut tree represents resilience, sustenance, and adaptability, rooted deeply while bending with the wind. The ocean holds movement, memory, and connection, reminding us that change is constant and that our communities have always known how to navigate uncertainty.
This meaning reflects Pacific Island navigation and wayfinding traditions. Our ancestors did not rely on fixed routes or rigid maps. They read the stars, the wind, the ocean swells, and the changing currents, adjusting their course while remaining rooted in knowledge and relationship. Navigation required attentiveness, adaptability, and trust in collective wisdom rather than control.
Meliu carries this understanding into harm reduction and recovery work. There is no single path and no linear timeline for healing. People begin from different shores and move through different conditions. Progress often looks like staying alive, staying connected, and continuing to navigate even when the destination is unclear.
Whatever card you draw today, you are still here. And that matters.
Newsletters + Projects
Disclaimer:
Over the years, as new publishing websites came out and I learned more about life, my writing has evolved into so many different things and spaces.
I've loved writing since I was young and it has always spoken to me. I am unable to access some of my past work, but here is a collection of things I've written and continue to write.
As of April of 2026, I am unable to access Medium and Substack so doSubscribe and Follow me on LinkedIn or other Social Media platforms for posts on my latest work!
Misadventures of a Grieving Sailor
Collective of my lived experience, lessons, heartbreaks and stream of consciousness as I traverse this universe with grief as my island floats across the world away.
Ezra of All Trades
A Palauan in diaspora with a passion for art, writing, and cups of tea on rainy days. This is my collection of heartbreaks and love letters and the inception of my love for writing.
Alii, a ngklek a Ezra! (Hello, my name is Ezra!)(he/they)
I'm a Palauan — Community Advocate and Recovering Artist.
Some people find their calling.
Mine found me in the Kingdom of Tonga.
Long before I had a title or a career plan, I was barely 20 years old, standing in a room full of Pasifika leaders, representing the Republic of Palau at the 1st Pacific Human Rights Conference — advocating for PIDSOGIESC+ rights across a region where those conversations were just beginning. I was young, hopeful, I was Pasifika, and I already knew that showing up for community wasn't something I did — it was something I was.
That foundation has carried me through a lot. Active duty military service. Discrimination in uniform. My own recovery journey. Over a decade embedded in LGBTQIA+ communities, from the shores of Belias to the streets of Hampton Roads, building trust in spaces where trust is hard-won.
Now I channel all of it into the work.
As a Registered Peer Recovery Specialist, I walk alongside people in the LGBTQIA+, justice-involved, and Veteran communities — helping them access resources, find their footing, and tell their own stories on their own terms.
I'm a committed harm reduction advocate, which means I show up to every space with naloxone knowledge and no judgment attached.
What drives me hasn't changed since Tonga: the belief that lived experience is the most powerful advocacy tool there is. Institutions send clipboards, I send myself.
If you're building something real in the LGBTQIA+ space, the Recovery world, or the Pasifika community — let's talk story!
Healthcare
Supporting individuals through compassionate care, resource navigation, and recovery-oriented wellness — bridging the gap between people and the services they deserve.
Graphic Design
Bringing stories to life through intentional visuals that connect, inform, and inspire communities to take action.
Advocacy, Diversity & Inclusion
Championing equity and belonging by amplifying underrepresented voices and building spaces where everyone is seen and valued.
These are just a few of the folks I've worked with and support:
Let’s create together!
I’d love to hear from you!
Send me a message using the form below!
I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
