Executive Functioning Training Videos

Utah Department of Workforce Services commissioned the Public Consulting Group to develop two videos about executive functioning to be used in employment counselor trainings. The short videos can be used with employment counselors or case workers in any human services program that want to develop their capacity to recognize and respond to executive functioning challenges among their customers.

The first video, An Overview of Executive Functioning (10 minutes), provides a short primer on the brain science of executive functioning and explains how the concept pertains to the lives of adults in poverty. The video seeks to normalize executive functioning challenges, helping viewers recognize their own weaknesses and strengths, and encourages employment counselors to think about how they can help customers navigate rough situations.

The second video, How to Build Executive Functioning Skills (13 minutes), provides employment counselors with ideas about how to help customers. It explains how to build executive functioning through strategies that many employment counselors are already using, (e.g., coaching, Motivational Interviewing, and trauma-informed care). It offers advice on how to talk to customers about executive functioning challenges and motivate them to improve, and then natural exercises to build skills. It concludes with examples from human services agencies across the country that are implementing executive function-informed models.