NDIS Assessments
Functional Capacity Assessments
+ Comprehensive Needs Assessments
We offer two types of NDIS assessments, depending on where you’re at in your NDIS journey and what kind of support you need:
-
Functional Capacity Assessments completed by our Occupational Therapists
-
NDIS Comprehensive Needs Assessments - completed by our Psychologists
Do you already have an NDIS plan?
No - I would like to apply to become a participant of the NDIS
Yes - I am already a participant of the NDIS
Comprehensive Needs Assessment (psychology)
Functional Capacity Assessment (OT)
NDIS Comprehensive Needs Assessments
For people applying to the NDIS or needing updated evidence of their support needs or eligibility
This is a psychological assessment that provides detailed written evidence about how your disability impacts your everyday life, in exactly the way the NDIS wants to see it.
One of our Psychologists will meet with you to understand your life and your support needs, and then translate that information into a structured psychological report that communicates your 'functional impairments' in a way our buddies over at the NDIS recognise and approve of.
👋 Do we personally believe in defining people by their impairments? Absolutely not.
📄 Do we know how to write a report that gets you through the door anyway? Absolutely yes.
🧠 What’s involved?
We’ll meet with you on a telehealth call to understand your life, your support needs, and the barriers you face day-to-day — even if you’ve found creative ways to cope or mask them. We’ll then translate that information into a structured psychological report that communicates your 'functional impairments' in a way our buddies over at the NDIS recognise and approve of.
This is often the missing piece when someone has a diagnosis (e.g. Autism, ADHD, mental health condition) but still gets knocked back from the NDIS due to “not enough functional evidence.” We’re here to fix that.
This assessment is useful if:
-
You’ve been diagnosed, but were rejected from the NDIS due to insufficient evidence or documentation
-
You have only a short diagnostic letter, or one that doesn’t address daily support needs
-
You want to avoid having to redo an entire Autism assessment just to get NDIS access
-
You need help showing that your disability significantly affects multiple areas of daily life
💡 Why have we called it a “Comprehensive Needs Assessment”?
The NDIS is shifting away from the old “access request” model. They now recommend a skilled needs assessor gathering holistic information about someone's life and daily living skills.. That’s exactly what this is, and we believe in giving our NDIS buddies what they want!
💰 Fees: $1,500–$2,000 (payment plans available)
📍 Conducted by psychologists, 100% telehealth
📄 Includes: 1–2 interviews, structured needs assessment, analysis of daily support needs, and a formal report written in plain English.
A helpful note for our most literal Autistic readers:
-
When we say “our buddies at the NDIS”, we are being low-key sarcastic.
-
This is not a warm and glowy friendship.
-
No one is baking each other banana bread.
-
And they probably wouldn’t consider baking us banana bread to be reasonable or necessary anyway. (IYKYK)
Functional Capacity Assessments
For current NDIS participants who need their plan to match their actual support needs
Functional Capacity Assessments (or FCAs, if we’re on nickname terms) are one of the most important documents you can have in your NDIS toolkit. Whether you're brand new to the NDIS or gearing up for a plan review or change of circumstances, these reports do the heavy lifting when it comes to showing exactly how your disability impacts your day-to-day life.
And — let’s be honest — the NDIS loves these assessments when they come from an OT. We don’t make the rules, but we definitely know how to play the game. In fact, it’s super common for the NDIS to approve someone for a plan and then immediately request they get an FCA to justify their future funding. Yep, even after you’ve already jumped through all the hoops.
💡 FCAs are essential for:
-
Brand new NDIS participants: Just got your plan? The NDIA might ask for an FCA to figure out what supports should be funded long-term.
-
Plan reviews: Need to update your plan so it reflects your actual life (not your “NDIS-approved ideal version”)? We got you.
-
Change of circumstances: Things changed? Lost informal supports? We help document that properly.
📋 What’s actually in an FCA?
Our Occupational Therapists will work with you to understand your functional capacity across the core NDIS domains — like communication, mobility, social interaction, learning, self-care, and self-management. We gather information from you (and the people who support you), use standardised assessment tools, and then write a professional report that translates your support needs into NDIS-speak.
We don’t believe in deficit-based thinking, but we do know how to describe things the way the NDIS expects to hear them. That means your report won’t be all sunshine and coping strategies — we’ll gently highlight the areas where support is necessary, even if you’re great at masking it.
Our OT reports are:
-
Thorough (like, forensic-level thorough)
-
NDIS-ready (written in the exact format and tone the NDIS prefers)
-
Telehealth-friendly (you don’t have to leave home to get an excellent report)
-
Neurodivergent-friendly (we understand executive dysfunction, burnout, sensory needs, and demand avoidance — and we’ll work with you, not against you)
What happens now?
Join our waitlist, and our admin team will walk you through the whole process — no phone calls required (unless you want them). We’ll gather some background info and match you with the assessor best suited to your needs.
📥 Join the Waitlist
📬 Questions? Email admin@veryhelpfulchats.com.au