Screening Services & Assessment Options
Balance Centre for Mental Health's Screening Services help you understand your mental health and abilities better. We provide you with the tools to create a plan for ongoing support, NDIS applications, therapeutic interventions, and the next steps in your diagnostic journey.
We do this using two specialised types of Assessments, the Functional Capacity Assessment and the ADHD/Autism Screening Assessment. Learn more about these options below.
ADHD/ Autism Screening Assessment
This assessment is for people who suspect they might be autistic or ADHD and would like to learn more.
You will complete a comprehensive demographic intake form and several clinical screening tools which reflect traits and experiences of neurodivergent adults. While this screening assessment will not provide you with a formal diagnosis, it provides an in-depth, person centred and neurodivergent affirming evaluation across multiple domains, which will give you information to inform your next steps and if you wish to pursue further assessment.
This screening assessments includes 2 hours of behind the scenes data analysis and report writing plus a 1 hour interview session and 1 hour feedback session.
Cost? $350 per assessment screening.
Functional Capacity Assessment
Functional capacity assessments can be utilised in a variety of scenarios to assist people with disability to access the support they need. A comprehensive assessment involves an experienced mental health social worker conducting an interview and reviewing other relevant documentation to evidence the impact the disability has on a person’s function.
At Balance Centre for Mental Health we specialise in mental health and psychosocial disabilities; offering functional capacity assessments for people who would like to access NDIS and need evidence to support their application.
We also service NDIS participants who require a Functional Capacity Assessment when it is requested by NDIS in support of their standard review, review of circumstances or during the time of life transitions. For example, when embarking on changes in housing or care arrangements. The participants are also often asked to undertake a Functional Capacity Assessment when there is a concern that their challenges are not sufficiently addressed or when there is a need to verify the complexity of the situation so that funding can be increased.
What is being assessed during the Functional Capacity Assessment?
The purpose of the functional assessment is to assess functional capacity, strengths, challenges, and risks across many different areas. For example, physical health, mental health, decision-making capacity, motivation, emotional regulation, social interaction, community engagement, communication, daily activities, self-management, housing, finances, formal and informal networks, care arrangements, systemic and environmental issues.
We extend our assessment beyond the physical health and daily living function to provide a holistic evaluation of the person within the context of their family and environment, as well as in relation to other psychological, social, spiritual, cultural, and systemic factors. By assessing the situation from a holistic perspective we are able to demonstrate how psychosocial disability or mental health challenges can significantly affect the person’s function even in situations when there are minimal challenges in relation to physical health or function.
What is involved and how much does it cost?
The Functional Capacity Assessment is usually conducted over a period of 2-3 hours and may consist of 2 assessment appointments if needed. The Functional Capacity Reports take at least 2-3 weeks to complete as they are comprehensive documents of 20–35 pages on average.
The total cost for the Functional Capacity Assessment is $1500.
For privately paying clients, who would like to access NDIS but do not have the NDIS funding as yet, a payment plan can be negotiated. The full report would be released once the final instalment is received.
