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Clinical Executive Function Specialist Program
Two Board Credentials. One Program. One Examination.
You know the client: insight in session, a plan they agreed to, and nothing started by the next appointment. This program was built for the clinician in that room.
Earn Board Certified Clinical Executive Function Specialist for the work you do with clients now, and Board Certified Executive Function Coach for wherever you take it, now or later. Requires a master’s degree or higher in a clinical or allied health field.
TuitionPaid in full, or $605 a month for 12 months under the NBEFC® Installment Plan150 hours · Two board credentials · Board examination included · 100% online
Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time
Where You Are Now, and Where You Want to Go
The program meets you where you are, with your clients, and it is there when you are ready to work beyond your clinical role. You do not have to choose between the two, and you do not have to come back for a second program later.
Board Certified Clinical Executive Function Specialist
For the executive function work you do with clients in your practice: assessment, intervention within your license, and coordination with families, schools, and other providers. The curriculum is written in clinical scope, by profession, for the license you hold.
Board Certified Executive Function Coach
For executive function coaching as a career of its own, whenever you are ready for it: clients outside your clinical role, a coaching service alongside your practice, or a coaching practice built with the NBEFC Business Blueprint. Earned in the same program, through the same examination.
Your Credential Should Reflect Your Education and Experience
You have earned a graduate degree and a license. Board certification recognizes both. The NBEFC-CS designation is reserved only for Board Certified Clinical Executive Function Specialists, and every one of them holds a master’s degree or higher in a clinical or allied health field. That degree is a prerequisite for the specialist credential and is verified after you pass the board examination.
Same credentials. Different paths. Built for the professional you already are.
Why I Built This Program
Every clinician knows the gap between insight and action. The client understands exactly why they avoid the task, agrees to a plan, means it, and comes back next week with nothing started. That gap is executive function, and I have lived on both sides of it.
I am AuDHD. For 21 years I have coached C-suite clients through high-stakes financial decisions, people with every resource and still unable to act when it counted, and what they needed was not more insight. It was a next step they could take. For 11 years I also sat in IEP meetings as a special education advocate, watching clinicians who could name the problem precisely have nothing to hand the family afterward.
I built this program for the clinician who is done referring executive function out. It is written in your scope, by profession, so what you learn is what you are licensed to do. And it earns the coach credential at the same time, because some of the people who need this work are not therapy clients, and you should not have to come back for a second program to serve them.
Michele Nusbaum
Founder and Board Chair
National Board of Executive Function Certification
What Is a Clinical Executive Function Specialist?
A Board Certified Clinical Executive Function Specialist is a licensed clinician with verified competency in addressing executive function in clinical practice. Executive function is the set of mental skills behind planning, organization, time management, task initiation, working memory, and emotional regulation. In practice, it decides whether a client can carry a plan from the session into the week, follow through on the homework, and recover when the plan falls apart.
What does a Clinical Executive Function Specialist do?
They identify where executive function breaks down for a particular client, choose a technique for it, teach the technique’s steps in order, adapt it to the client and the setting, and measure whether it works. They work within the scope of their own license: psychologists, licensed counselors, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists may treat within their license and training; occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and board certified behavior analysts work within their discipline and coordinate for mental health treatment; only prescribers address medication. They recognize when a strategy is sound but a belief or emotional barrier is keeping it from being used, and they know when to refer.
How is it different from a coach?
The specialist credential fits the license you hold. The coach credential, earned in the same program, is for executive function coaching outside that role. The program teaches both scopes and how to keep them separate, including not coaching current therapy clients, so you can use the specialist credential in your practice and the coach credential in a coaching engagement without mixing the two.
How to Earn Both Credentials
1. Confirm the prerequisite and enroll
The Clinical Executive Function Specialist credential requires a master’s degree or higher in a clinical or allied health field. There is no application. You enroll directly, and your degree is verified after you pass the board examination. Candidates who do not hold a master’s degree or higher in a clinical or allied health field qualify for the Board Certified Executive Function Coach credential only, not the specialist credential.
2. Complete the 150-hour program
Work through the online, self-paced curriculum written for clinicians: eight domains of illustrated lessons, audio lessons, companion study guides, reflection questions, and five full practice examinations. The 150 hours include assignments, practice examinations, and exam preparation. You have 365 days of access from enrollment.
3. Pass the independently proctored board examination
One examination earns both credentials. It is delivered and proctored online through an independent third-party: 150 questions in 120 minutes, with 75 percent required in each of the eight domains. The exam fee is included in tuition.
4. Receive your credentials and designations
On passing, and once your degree is verified, you are a Board Certified Clinical Executive Function Specialist with the NBEFC-CS designation, reserved only for this certification, and a Board Certified Executive Function Coach with the NBEFC-T designation, with a unique credential ID and a listing in the NBEFC public registry.
5. Maintain your board certification
Complete 40 hours (4 CEU) of professional development every two years and renew for $575, which keeps your credentials current and listed in the registry. Graduates keep access to the NBEFC continuing education library, the Neurocognitive EFTech System, the EF techniques library, and the NBEFC Business Blueprint while their credential is active.
Why the Clinical Executive Function Specialist Program
Written in Clinical Scope, by Profession
Every domain is written for licensed clinicians: executive function and mental health, intervention approaches within your license, coordination with families and other providers, and the techniques you can use with a client tomorrow. The Neurocognitive EFTech System comes in its Clinical Specialist Edition, with each technique manual written for clinicians and clinical practice.
Two Board Credentials, One Enrollment
The specialist credential for the work you do now and the coach credential for the work you may do later, earned together through one program and one examination. No second program, no second exam.
Verified by Examination
Board certification is issued when you pass an independently proctored competency examination, not when you finish the lessons. That is what a clinic owner, a referring provider, or a client can verify in the NBEFC public registry.
Counts Toward Your Own Continuing Education
NBEFC issues documentation at completion that you can self-submit for 15 CEU (150 CE hours) with your licensing board. Private practices, clinics, hospitals, and agencies fund NBEFC programs as professional development, paying at enrollment or reimbursing you after.
Everything Included in Tuition
$6,950 tuition includes the complete path to both board credentials
Your Complete Certification Package
- ✓ 150 Hours of Training Written for Clinicians: Eight domains of illustrated lessons, audio lessons, and companion study guides covering executive function foundations and neuroscience, executive function in clinical practice, beliefs and behavior, applied strategies, ethics, cognitive and emotional influences, and coaching practice
- ✓ Unlimited access to the Neurocognitive EFTech System™, Clinical Specialist Edition: The 64-item Functional Skills Screener, 137 techniques across four tiers (58 Essential Techniques, 37 Synergy Protocols, 32 Integration Triads, and 10 Intensive Sequences), and unlimited personalized handouts, with every technique manual written for clinicians and clinical practice
- ✓ 5 Full Randomized Practice Exams: Exam simulations that mirror the board examination format and difficulty
- ✓ Independently Proctored Board Examination Included: One exam for both credentials, delivered and proctored through an independent third-party, with the exam fee covered in tuition
- ✓ Two Board Credentials and Two Designations: Board Certified Clinical Executive Function Specialist with the NBEFC-CS designation, reserved only for this certification, and Board Certified Executive Function Coach with the NBEFC-T designation
- ✓ 2 Years of Public Registry Listing: Both credentials verified through NBEFC’s searchable public registry with your unique credential ID
- ✓ 15 CEU Documentation: Documentation issued at completion that you can self-submit for 15 CEU (150 CE hours)
- ✓ Code of Ethics & Professional Standards: Operate with the guidance and protection of established professional guidelines
- ✓ 100% Online, Asynchronous, and Self-Paced: Study when it fits your schedule while keeping your current position. Text and audio lessons, ADA compliant with closed captions, designed for neurodivergent learning
- ✓ 365 Days of Access to Training Materials: Full access to all course content for one year from purchase
- ✓ NBEFC Business Blueprint Included: A complete practice-building framework covering product development, online platform setup, client acquisition, and retention strategies, with access from the day you enroll
- ✓ The White Label Business Vault: A full library of unbranded, editable materials ready to carry your own logo
- ✓ ESA, HSA, and FSA Provider Pathway: A specialty course on education savings account, health savings account, and flexible spending account funding pathways, with 16 lessons, 15 editable forms, and an annually updated State Annex. A $950 value.
- ✓ xTiles for Coaches and Clients: A full course on the workspace system, plus a custom coach template and a custom client template built for NBEFC through our partnership with xTiles
The White Label Business Vault
Earning the credential is the start. The Vault is what you use the following Monday.
Every program includes a library of client-ready materials built for executive function coaching: teaching decks you present in session, the paperwork a practice runs on, workshop material for reaching parents in your community, and report templates for summarizing progress. Everything is white label, meaning it arrives unbranded and editable, so you add your logo and contact details and it becomes your practice’s material rather than ours.
Unbranded and editable, ready for your logo.
ESA, HSA, and FSA Provider Pathway
Families are increasingly paying for coaching through funded accounts. This course covers how those pathways work.
Education savings accounts, health savings accounts, and flexible spending accounts each have their own rules about what they will fund, how services are categorized, and what documentation they expect. This in-depth specialty course walks through all three across 16 lessons and 5 modules, with 15 editable forms organized into two tracks and a State Annex maintained annually as state programs change. A $950 value, included in tuition with every program.
Included in tuition with every NBEFC program.
xTiles for Coaches and Clients
A workspace for your practice, a shared workspace for every client, and a template already built for each.
xTiles gives you a private planning space for your own practice and a separate shared workspace for each client. This course walks through both from the ground up, written for coaches who have never used the software, and pairs our lessons with video training xTiles produced specifically for NBEFC. Through our partnership with xTiles, it also includes a custom coach template and a custom client template, so you are not building your workspace from a blank page.
Built through our partnership with xTiles. Included in tuition with every NBEFC program.
What the Clinical Specialist Examination Covers
The National Board of Executive Function Certification Clinical Specialist examination is built on a blueprint of eight core domains. Together, these domains ensure that credentialed clinicians share a comprehensive, research-based foundation of knowledge. To succeed, you will need to go beyond surface familiarity and truly understand how executive function works across populations, clinical presentations, and the scope of each licensed profession.
1. Foundations of Executive Function
You will learn the essential definitions, models, and components of executive function, including working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility, and how they show up in daily functioning. You will follow how executive function develops from the preschool years through later adulthood, and how stress, culture, and environment shape it. Grasping these basics is critical because they form the lens through which every other domain is understood.
2. The Neuroscience of Executive Function
This domain explores the brain systems that make executive function possible: the prefrontal regions, the large-scale networks, and the neurotransmitter systems involved. You will also study the research methods and plasticity principles that determine how far that knowledge can be trusted and applied in treatment. A solid grounding in neuroscience lets you choose interventions based on the process behind a behavior, not just the behavior itself.
3. Executive Function in Clinical Practice
Here you will see how executive function intersects with mental health, across three modules: Executive Function and Mental Health, Clinical Intervention Approaches, and Populations, Ethics, and Scope. You will learn cognitive-behavioral techniques for executive function, executive function in adults with clinical needs, and the ethical and scope considerations of clinical contexts, with every intervention framed by profession: what a psychologist, counselor, clinical social worker, or marriage and family therapist may treat within their license, what an occupational therapist, speech-language pathologist, or board certified behavior analyst does within their discipline, and what belongs to prescribers alone.
4. Beliefs, Behavior, and Executive Function
This domain examines what happens between a strategy being taught and a strategy being used. You will study how clients’ beliefs, predictions, and self-talk decide whether a planner, starting routine, or organization system lasts beyond the session. You will learn how clinicians respond through instruction, accurate feedback, and structured starts, and when a pattern calls for treatment rather than a strategy.
5. Applied Executive Function Strategies
Here you will learn to choose a technique for a particular client in a particular setting, teach its steps in order, and adapt it to the client and the presentation. You will also learn to measure whether it works and keep it within the scope of your license. The techniques come from the Neurocognitive EFTech System, each with its own Clinical Specialist Edition manual written for clinicians and clinical practice.
6. Ethics in Executive Function Practice
Ethics is the backbone of professional practice. You will study the seven core principles of the NBEFC Code of Ethics, along with:
- your own profession’s code of ethics, licensure, and scope
- dual and multiple relationships and boundary crossings
- informed consent and assent
- HIPAA, releases of information, and mandated reporting
- cultural competence
- structured ethical decision-making
This ensures every certificant represents the Board’s standards of integrity and professionalism.
7. Cognitive and Emotional Influences on Executive Function
This domain explores how clients’ beliefs about the task, and the emotional states around it, shape whether an executive function strategy can be used at all. You will study the Executive Function Performance Cycle, learned helplessness and self-efficacy, and how to tell a strategy that failed from a barrier that kept a sound strategy from being used. You will then apply the Five-Step Integrated EF Coaching Decision Framework across complex client profiles.
8. Executive Function Coaching Practice
Domain 8 prepares clinicians to work as executive function coaches. You will learn the scope of coaching and how to keep the clinical role separate from the coaching role, including not coaching current therapy clients. It covers the core coaching skills, intake and assessment, designing and running a coaching engagement, and coaching clients from childhood through adulthood, including parent coaching and virtual coaching.
Key Point for Candidates: These eight domains are the heart of the exam. Each domain ensures that you not only pass a test, but also carry forward the knowledge, judgment, and credibility expected of a nationally credentialed professional.
What the Coach Credential Opens When You Are Ready
The specialist credential serves your practice today. The coach credential is already yours for the day you want more. Coach income falls into two distinct paths.
Path One: Employed at an EF Coaching Company
Salaried positions at established companies like Beyond BookSmart and similar organizations. Steady income, structured caseloads, no client acquisition burden. The employer sets rates and handles marketing.
National Average: $122,000/year
Top Earners (90th percentile): $312,000/year
Source: ZipRecruiter, March 2026. Individual results vary.
Path Two: Private Practice / Per-Session
Independent practice where the coach sets rates, defines niche, and builds their own client base. Income scales with credential, experience, and pricing strategy rather than a salary band.
Established Companies: $150 to $337/hour
Solo Practitioner Range: $200 to $400+/hour
Sources: published company rates and industry data. Individual results vary.
Add Coaching Alongside Your Practice
Many clinicians add a coaching service alongside their practice, for clients who need executive function support rather than treatment. The coach credential, the NBEFC Business Blueprint, and the White Label Business Vault are already in hand from this program, so the move from specialist to coach happens on your timeline, not a second program’s.
Common Questions (And Honest Answers)
“Am I really qualified to do this?”
Almost everyone asks some version of this before enrolling. Therapists ask it. OTs and SLPs with full caseloads ask it. Here is the honest answer: if you hold a master’s degree or higher in a clinical or allied health field and you already see executive function challenges in your clients, you are exactly who this program was written for. The program teaches the system. What you bring is the part no program can teach: you already know what it looks like when a client agrees to a plan in session and cannot start it on Tuesday.
“I’m a clinician, not a coach. Is this really for me?”
Yes. The program was built for licensed clinicians and is written in clinical scope, by profession. The specialist credential describes the professional you already are, with added executive function expertise for the clients you treat now. The coach credential is there for whenever you want it, now or later. You do not have to choose, and you do not have to come back for a second program.
“Am I eligible?”
The specialist credential requires a master’s degree or higher in a clinical or allied health field. Psychologists, licensed counselors, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, board certified behavior analysts, and school psychologists typically hold one. There is no application; you enroll directly, and your degree is verified after you pass the board examination. If you do not hold a master’s degree or higher in a clinical or allied health field, you qualify for the Board Certified Executive Function Coach credential only, not the Clinical Executive Function Specialist credential.
“I don’t have time for 150 hours.”
The program is self-paced and 100% online, with no class times and no live sessions. Study between sessions, after the last appointment, or on Saturday mornings. Most candidates complete it in 3 to 5 months while working full time, and you have 365 days of access.
“What if I don’t pass the board exam?”
Five full practice exams are included to prepare you. If you do not pass, you can retake the exam, and you keep your full year of access to the training materials to strengthen weak areas before retaking.
“$6,950 is a lot of money.”
It covers two board credentials, the full program, the proctored examination, the Neurocognitive EFTech System in its Clinical Specialist Edition, the Business Blueprint, the Vault, the ESA, HSA, and FSA Provider Pathway, and xTiles, in one tuition with no hidden fees. Pay in full, or choose the NBEFC® Installment Plan at checkout: $605 a month for 12 months. Private practices, clinics, hospitals, and agencies fund it as professional development, and the Tuition Reimbursement Packet gives your employer’s finance office everything it needs.
“Does it count toward my own professional development?”
NBEFC issues documentation at completion that you can self-submit for 15 CEU (150 CE hours) with your licensing board. Check your board’s rules for self-submitted hours; acceptance is not guaranteed.
Who This Program Is Built For
Licensed clinicians with a master’s degree or higher in a clinical or allied health field
Psychologists, Counselors, and Therapists
Psychologists, licensed counselors, clinical social workers, and marriage and family therapists who see executive function challenges in anxiety, depression, ADHD, and trauma presentations and want to treat them within their license instead of referring out.
Occupational Therapists and Speech-Language Pathologists
OTs and SLPs who address executive function within their discipline and want applied techniques, progress measurement, and a credential that fits the work they already do.
Board Certified Behavior Analysts
BCBAs who want an executive function system that works alongside behavior-analytic practice, with scope kept clear and coordination for mental health treatment built in.
School Psychologists
School psychologists who assess and support executive function across a building and want a credential written in clinical scope rather than a general coaching certificate.
Clinicians Adding a Coaching Service
Clinicians who want to offer executive function coaching alongside or beyond their practice, now or someday. The coach credential and the practice-building tools come with this program, so the move happens on your timeline.
Practices, Clinics, and Agencies
Group practices, clinics, hospitals, and agencies sponsoring clinicians as professional development. Call 1-844-306-2611 and press 3 for employer and group enrollment.
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Why Board Certification vs. Training Programs
Understand the difference before you invest
| Factor | Training Programs | NBEFC Clinical Specialist Program |
|---|---|---|
| Credential Type | Certificate of Completion | Two board certifications ✓ |
| How You Earn It | Attend classes | Pass an independently proctored competency examination ✓ |
| Written for Clinicians | Varies | Every domain in clinical scope, by profession ✓ |
| Prerequisite | Varies | Master’s or higher in a clinical or allied health field, verified after the exam ✓ |
| Professional Recognition | Training provider | National governing body ✓ |
| Public Verification | No registry | Searchable public registry with unique credential ID ✓ |
| Client-Ready Practice Materials | Varies | White Label Business Vault, unbranded and editable ✓ |
| Code of Ethics | Optional | Required & enforceable ✓ |
| Renewal | Varies | Every two years, 40 hours of professional development ✓ |
The Bottom Line
Training programs teach skills. Board certifications verify competency. When a clinic owner, a referring provider, or a client looks you up, they will find both credentials in NBEFC’s public registry with your unique ID. That is the difference between “I took a course” and “I’m a Board Certified Clinical Executive Function Specialist.”
Two Ways to Fund Your Certification
Pay in full or by installment at enrollment, or have your tuition covered by your employer.
Tuition
Pay $6,950 in full at enrollment, or choose the NBEFC® Installment Plan at checkout: $605 a month for 12 months. Standard payment methods are accepted.
Employer-Funded Tuition
Many NBEFC candidates have their tuition covered by their employer as professional development. Private practices, clinics, hospitals, agencies, and schools regularly fund NBEFC programs for their clinicians.
Your employer can pay NBEFC in full at enrollment, or you can pay in full and your employer can reimburse you. Employer-paid tuition for job-related training is generally not taxable to the employee, whether paid directly or reimbursed under an accountable plan.
Download the Tuition Reimbursement Packet for everything your employer’s finance office needs: program overview, curriculum, credentialing structure, payment options, and an administrator FAQ.
Download the Tuition Reimbursement PacketReady to Earn Both Credentials?
Board Certified Clinical Executive Function Specialist and Board Certified Executive Function Coach. One program, one examination, built for licensed clinicians.
Monday through Saturday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time