About Us | KKH Rehab | Addiction Treatment in Kailua-Kona, HI

Our Story

KKH Rehab did not start as a treatment center. It started as a single counselor's small outpatient practice in Kailua-Kona, helping a handful of local families navigate addiction one conversation at a time. Word spread the way it does on the Big Island — through ohana, through neighbors — and the practice quickly outgrew its few rooms.

As demand grew, so did our scope. We added medical detox, residential beds, and a full clinical team, becoming the complete continuum of care our community had been traveling off-island to find. But we carried the original spirit with us: every patient known by name, every family treated as part of the work.

That heritage still shapes KKH Rehab today. We are large enough to provide hospital-grade care and small enough to remember that recovery is personal — and that on this island, no one heals alone.

Our Mission

Our mission is to end the shame that keeps families silent. On a close-knit island, the fear of being judged can stop people from seeking help for years. KKH Rehab exists to change that — to make asking for addiction treatment as ordinary and respected as care for any other illness, and to walk alongside entire families, not just individuals, on the road to recovery.

Treatment Philosophy

Our care rests on three pillars. First, neuroscience: we treat addiction as a brain condition, using what research reveals about reward, stress, and memory to guide every clinical decision, from medication to neurofeedback. Second, a trauma-informed approach: because substance use so often grows from unhealed wounds, we create safety first and treat the trauma beneath the surface with methods like EMDR.

Third, creative expression. Healing reaches places words cannot, so art, music, and experiential therapy give patients new ways to process pain and rediscover themselves. Woven together — and always involving the family — these pillars treat the whole person, not just the diagnosis.

Our Team

Keoni Makua, LMHC

Founder & Executive Director

Keoni opened the small Kailua-Kona counseling practice that became KKH Rehab. A licensed clinical counselor and lifelong Big Island resident, he still sets the family-first tone that defines our center.

Dr. Leilani Kahale, MD, FASAM

Medical Director

Board-certified in addiction medicine, Dr. Kahale oversees detox protocols and medication-assisted treatment. She returned home to Hawaii to bring hospital-grade addiction care to the communities of the Kona Coast.

Dr. David Kimura, PsyD

Clinical Director

Dr. Kimura directs our neuroscience-based and trauma-informed programming, integrating CBT, DBT, and EMDR so the psychological roots of addiction are treated alongside the substance use itself.

Noelani Akana, LCSW

Director of Family Programs

Noelani leads the family therapy and education at the heart of our approach, helping loved ones move from enabling to genuine support and rebuilding the trust that addiction strains.