Introduction
Unlike the diagnostic assessment, the functional assessment focuses only on the consumer’s current status and functioning in specific domains. Functional assessment documents the external, observable functioning that may or may not be linked to the person’s experience with his/her mental illness, substance use or co-occurring disorders.
Unlike the diagnostic assessment, the functional assessment includes little information regarding a consumer’s history because functionality is about current activity. History is included in initial functional assessments but only to give context to the consumer’s current functioning.