Halla Maher immigrated to the United States, with her family, when she was eight years old to escape Christian persecution and violence in war-torn Iraq. Her parents understood that they would need to leave everything behind in order to build a better future for their children and upon their arrival in the United States, they quickly embraced American values and never took their newly found freedom for granted. Her father was able to become a small business owner in the city of Chula Vista, raising his family in California.

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Halla earned her B.A. in Sociology from San Diego State University and went on to complete her Master’s in Social Work at the University of Southern California (USC). Shortly after graduation, she began her career with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health and held multiple, specialized roles within the organization including Disaster and Emergency Liaison in which she was responsible for building relationships and collaborating with surrounding cities, counties, the State of California and the Federal Government.  

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During her tenure with Los Angeles County she led her team through several presidentially declared disasters as well as becoming a Senior Disaster Analyst providing clinical mental health services.  Halla has also had the opportunity to develop and oversee the creation of several multi-jurisdictional plans and procedures including work with the Operational Area’s Exercise Design Team where she planned, executed, and evaluated many county-wide exercises. She has extensive knowledge about Emergency Field Mental-Health Operations, Family Assistance Centers, Emergency Operation Centers, Department Operation Centers, Points of Dispensing, and multi-agency plan development.  Halla  co-published “Psychological Effects of Patient Surge in Large-Scale Emergencies; A Quality Improvement Tool for Hospital and Clinic Capacity Planning and Response” published in the Pre-hospital and Disaster Medicine (v. 25, no. 2, Mar.-Apr. 2010, p. 107-114), and co-developed a training program for mental health and hospital staff to respond to hospitals and clinics following a large-scale emergency, such as pandemics and terrorist attacks.

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Halla is a mother to two boys and married 12 years to Martin Maher, a Battalion Chief with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Due to the challenges presented during the pandemic, Halla chose to homeschool her children while working full-time remotely at home. As an immigrant, from a third-world socialist country, a mother of two boys, an accomplished career woman who has a dedicated history and vested interest in finding solutions that have positive results, Halla has decided to run for city council in order to bring her expertise, knowledge, and thought-provoking ideas to Thousand Oaks and the people of this city.  She understands that what we do locally can have a national impact and believes in limited government, common sense, and a unified people.