Matthew Madaus, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 35 years of senior leadership and consulting experience in behavioral health systems serving highly acute and system-involved populations. He is the Principal of Madaus Consulting LLC, where he provides expert witness consultation and testimony on behavioral health standards of care for both plaintiffs and defendants throughout the United States and Canada. His work focuses on mental health, substance use treatment, residential treatment, crisis services, and child-serving systems of care.

His consulting practice also includes consultation to behavioral health organizations, schools, and government systems in the U.S., Canada, and Australia, with a focus on program design, trauma screening, and standards of care for highly acute and system-involved youth. In this capacity, Mr. Madaus served as Interim Director of Campus Operations at Casa Pacifica for Children and Families, overseeing multiple residential treatment programs and an emergency shelter, advised First Nation schools in Canada on mental health screening and suicide prevention, and consulted with the New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice on the design of high-acuity residential treatment programs.

Mr. Madaus actively consults with behavioral health organizations, schools, and government systems in the U.S., Canada, and Australia. His consulting work has included advising on program design, trauma screening, suicide prevention, and standards of care for youth with the highest levels of acuity and risk. He served as Interim Director of Campus Operations at Casa Pacifica for Children and Families, overseeing multiple residential treatment programs and an emergency shelter. Internationally, he advised First Nation schools in Canada on mental health screening and suicide prevention and consulted with the New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice on the design of high-acuity residential treatment programs. Mr. Madaus serves as Executive Director Emeritus of the Behavioral Health Collaborative of Alameda County, an association of nonprofit mental health and substance use treatment providers whose member agencies deliver services to more than 175,000 children, youth, and adults annually across mental health, substance use treatment, primary care, housing, foster care, and education systems. This honorary role followed Mr. Madaus’ five-year tenure as Executive Director and reflects his continued affiliation with the Collaborative. Previously, Mr. Madaus served as CEO of Edgewood Center for Children and Families in San Francisco and as Clinical Director of The Home for Little Wanderers in Boston, providing executive and clinical leadership across residential treatment and community-based programs.

Over the course of his career, he has held senior roles including Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer, Residential Treatment Director, Director of Community Mental Health, and Program Director. He is also a co-founder of Give Me Five, an international clinical software firm that developed a web-based mental health screening and monitoring tool now implemented in multiple countries.

Mr. Madaus is the author of No Crash Landings: Upholding the Standard of Care in Behavioral Health Services from Childhood through Young Adulthood, published by Oxford University Press in 2025. Drawing on real-world case studies and leadership experience, the book examines systemic failures and provides practical frameworks for preventing adverse events and maintaining the standard of care across behavioral health settings. More information is available here.

Mr. Madaus has extensive experience designing, launching, operating, and accrediting residential treatment centers, group homes, substance use treatment facilities, crisis stabilization units, inpatient psychiatric programs, emergency shelters, foster care programs, and a wide range of community-based services in California and Massachusetts. He has taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels, served on regional, state, national, and international committees and boards, and presented at numerous professional conferences.

Education: 

• Master of Social Work, San Diego State University
• Bachelor of Arts, Trinity College
• Post Graduate Certificate in Family Systems Therapy, Family Institute of Cambridge