Case study: Functional Capacity Assessment for Psychosocial Disability.

An adult in their 30s, lived experience of severe and enduring psychosocial disability (treatment-refractory depression and complex PTSD). Capacity varies dramatically week-to-week — during good weeks, semi-independent in community-based activities. During low weeks, bed-bound for 2-3 days at a time. Previous plan-review approved supports for the participant's good-week functioning, leaving them under-supported during the weeks they needed the most help.

Episodic-functioning pattern documented over four weeks of structured diary self-report plus collateral from a support worker. WHODAS 2.0 administered twice — once during a higher-capacity period and once during a lower-capacity period — with both scores reported and the difference explained. Life Skills Profile-16 anchored daily living capacity. Recovery Star anchored the participant's stated recovery goals. Functional observation captured what the participant could do during the assessment AND what the participant explicitly reported was inaccessible during low weeks.

The NDIA accepts episodic-functioning framing when it is documented rigorously. We documented it. Recommendations were calibrated to the participant's lower-capacity weeks — the weeks supports actually need to land. Recovery Framework alignment was explicit; the language of 'capability building' (a recovery framework term) was mapped to Capacity Building (NDIS taxonomy) so the two systems spoke to each other.

All names, ages, locations and biographical details have been changed or removed. No real participant data is shown. Funding outcomes are illustrative — no NDIS outcome is guaranteed by FCA Reports Australia.