Salus Case & Incident Management

04/16/2026

Every year, 600,000–700,000 people return home from prison.
Over 90% want to work—but face major barriers.

The result?
➡️ 27% unemployment (5x higher than average)
➡️ Fewer callbacks, fewer hours, lower wages

At the same time, the U.S. has 6+ million unfilled jobs—especially in trades, construction, and health services. Employers aren’t just looking for perfect resumes—they need people who can show up and do the work.

We’re overlooking a workforce that’s ready.

At Salus, we believe supporting returning citizens is key to both stronger communities and a stronger workforce. That means investing in what works:

Expanding Second Chance Act funding (education + job training)
Providing coaching during reentry
Creating real pathways to employment

And pushing for broader reforms:
• Temporary income support upon release
• Automatic record expungement
• Employer tax incentives
• Ending blanket hiring bans
• Occupational licensing reform

If we’re serious about solving labor shortages, this isn’t optional—it’s essential.

04/14/2026

The focus isn’t intake.
It’s everything after—ongoing casework, coordination, and actually seeing outcomes.

04/01/2026

From our CEO, Brad Kain:

What's Your 'Why'?

Last Saturday, Jodie and I joined 180,000 others on the Boston Common. The crowd was incredible; everyone was friendly, hopeful, but also committed to protecting vulnerable communities. I realized that when we started Salus three years ago, this was our 'why', to support social and human services professionals as they help others. Whether it's our immigrant community, refugees, returning citizens, veterans, or the homeless, we are committed to being part of the solution. My favorite quote of the day: "If America has not broken your heart, you have not loved her enough."

Plus, the Dropkick Murphys were a blast as always.

03/17/2026

“AI isn’t the hard part… figuring out what to do with it is.” That was one of the biggest takeaways from this conversation with Alicia Morrison at Mercy Corps.

Everyone is being told to adopt AI right now. But inside real organizations — especially ones with limited resources — the reality looks very different:
- Teams are smaller
- Expectations are higher
- And “just experiment” isn’t actually an option because experimentation isn’t free.

This clip touches on why AI adoption is proving harder than expected — and why most organizations are still trying to find what actually works.

The full conversation goes much deeper into:
• where AI is creating real value
• why ROI is so difficult to measure
• and what’s missing from most vendor conversations

If you're navigating this right now, it’s worth a watch. https://lnkd.in/ebeA58np

03/06/2026

“None of this data surprised me.” - Said ALL the panelists at yesterday's “One Year In: Massachusetts Nonprofits Charting a Way Forward,” hosted by Massachusetts Nonprofit Network and Boston Foundation, reviewing data from 500 nonprofit leaders gathered by The MassINC Polling Group.

One moment from the panel that has stuck with me is Natanja Craig Oquendo, Executive Director of the Boston Women’s Fund, said: “None of this data surprised me. If we knew these challenges were coming…why weren’t we having this conversation sooner?”

Despite the pressure, nonprofit leaders continue to show up. But resilience shouldn’t be mistaken for unlimited capacity.

If the challenges nonprofits are facing today weren’t surprising, what conversations should we have started sooner — and what conversations do we need to start now?

02/23/2026

In this clip, Ron Waddell, Executive Director of Legendary Legacy, shares If we want stronger funding, we have to strengthen the way we frame our work.

Too often, organizations position their mission purely as a moral imperative. While the heart of the work absolutely matters, funders, policymakers, and cross-sector partners are also listening for something else:

- What is the measurable impact?
- What is the economic return?
- What problem does this prevent — and at what cost savings?

Ron reframes reentry and prevention work not just as “the right thing to do,” but as:

• A public safety strategy
• A workforce development solution
• An economic growth opportunity
• A smarter investment than incarceration

For nonprofit leaders navigating funding pressure in 2026, this is a powerful reminder:

- Story matters.
- Framing matters.
- Data + mission together are unstoppable.

Worth the listen if you're thinking about how to position your organization for sustainable, diversified funding.

02/17/2026

Happy Random Acts of Kindness Day! Thank you, Save the Children US, for sharing the BINGO card as a reminder that Kindness is Contagious!

01/21/2026

Join us for Measure What Matters: KPIs That Tell Your Story, a practical webinar designed for social and human services organizations that want to strengthen accountability, improve decision-making, and clearly demonstrate impact.

Webinar Details

Thursday, January 22, 2026
11:00-12:00 EST
Stephanie Shanler, Child Protection Specialist
Brad Kain, CEO - Salus

In this session, we’ll explore how to:

~ Define SMART, mission-aligned KPIs that support real improvement
~ Distinguish between process, output, impact, and outcome measures
~ Connect performance data to meaningful client and community outcomes
~ Use data to tell a clearer, more compelling story to funders and stakeholders

Participants will leave with a practical framework for selecting the right indicators—transforming numbers into narratives that support learning, funding, and organizational growth.

Date: 22 January 2026 Time: 11:00 am - Noon EDT Stephanie Shanler, Child Protection Specialist; and J. Bradford Kain, Salus The right KPIs help social and human services providers move beyond measuring activities to demonstrating true impact. In a data-driven world, leveraging key performance indica...

01/12/2026

In this clip, Carole Hussey—a longtime health and human services strategist—joins Brad Kain of Salus to talk honestly about what can go wrong with AI if we’re not thoughtful.

Key takeaways:

- AI is only as good as the data behind it
- Bias, poor data quality, and “hallucinations” are real risks
- Human-in-the-loop matters—AI should support people, not replace them
- Start small, measure outcomes, and use AI for good, not punishment

As Carole puts it: AI shouldn’t be about removing children or denying services—it should help families get heat, food, and support before a crisis happens.

If you work in health, human services, child welfare, or nonprofit leadership, this is a must-watch conversation on using AI responsibly and ethically.

Watch the clip and join the conversation

05/30/2025

May is Mental Health Awareness month, and we’re reflecting on services and supports for mental and behavioral health accessed online. In the decades since Mental Health Awareness month was observed in the United States for the first time in 1949, the entire landscape of mental health has shifted – perception, acceptable treatments, available technologies, and what’s considered standard knowledge for providers and the general public are all evolving. Each year more people come to understand the essential role that mental health plays in overall wellbeing. And in an era of rising costs and other barriers to care (both new and longstanding), the rise of mental health apps and tools for online therapy have seemed like the answer for many.

While these platforms have undoubtedly connected people to support, user experiences vary. Where platforms involve direct contact with a provider, questions have been raised from all angles: How are platforms ensuring provider quality and matching appropriate providers with users? Are they underpaying providers for their services? Does the expectation of around-the-clock support touted by some platforms place unreasonable expectations on providers (whether they’re operating through those platforms or not)?

Importantly, everything from basic meditation apps to those serving as vehicles for talk therapy have also been scrutinized over their handling of personal data amid concerns that data has been shared or sold in the past in inappropriate or undisclosed ways.

BetterHelp, one of the most recognizable names in online counseling and therapy, settled with the FTC in 2023 regarding past advertising practices. Though BetterHelp asserts that they simply used anonymized data to improve ad delivery and have never shared private information with advertisers or social media platforms, this situation is an example of the ways that platforms can make decisions with user data that affected users may not understand or appreciate.

In the case of both mental health services and data protection practices, when organizations get it wrong it can have significant, lasting consequences for their users. Online services are now an established part of the mental health landscape and, in the same way that we all benefit from the proliferation of accurate information about mental health, there’s a benefit to increasing users’ ability to understand and assess how each service uses the information provided to them.

Empowering consumers to recognize common tactics in terms, conditions, and disclosures and take steps to protect themselves (or even just to consent with a better understanding of what that means!) is important. This also requires platforms to be forthcoming and straightforward about how they process and share data.

At Salus, as data stewards, we believe that data belongs to our clients and their constituents. In the spirit of this year’s awareness month call to ‘Turn Awareness Into Action’ it’s worth considering how taking steps toward increased consumer literacy, or in service of ongoing commitments to robust protections and transparently communicated practices can also be contributions to good mental health.