It really depends on the patient. Remember that, right now, we are not assessing people for sole mental illness, but rather using patients on track two as examples. I can expand on how that might apply.
The first step is always gathering the information provided by the person referring the patient to me. That takes a lot of work: reading through all the person's previous charts provided to me, and the reasons for the referral. Then there is a meeting with the patient. The initial meeting is usually two hours, and that's usually not the only time we meet. I suspect, for sole mental illness, it will be much more than just a few meetings—probably several two-hour meetings over the span of months or possibly years. It could be a very lengthy time span, as it has been with track two.
In between steps, one wants to look at whether a patient has been offered appropriate treatments and has seriously considered them. This can involve having them go through certain interventions—not just medical treatments, but interventions involving finance, housing and social supports. All of that takes time to put into place. These serial assessments would occur over a long period of time, in my view.
I hope that helps.