Purpose of a genogram in social work how to#

It shows the patterns and the history that make a person who they are. Is there violence, mistrust, or even a family feud? Perhaps there is abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse.Īll of these little bits of information come together to paint a picture of how a person’s family and relationships affect them. Are the relationships harmonious? Are there friendships or even best friends? Are they in love? Perhaps there is even hostility in the relationship. Dating is a dotted line etc.įinally, we need to look at the emotional nature of the relationships. Marriage is a solid line, divorce has two strokes through it. Otherwise, we just have a bunch of shapes on a page. The next step is for us to add how the relationships are brought together. We can add as much personal information as is needed. At this point, we can add ages, names, dates of birth, and death. Pets even get a jersey! The shapes begin to tell us how many people and what sex they are. Squares are males, circles are females, and triangles are pregnancy related. So what is in a genogram?Ī genogram uses shapes to convey meaning. It is a great tool for showing the changes and progress on their healing journey. It is then that I show them their old genograms and ask what has happened to make these changes happen. After a few months, we revisit and there are a few less squiggly lines and a few less colours. Colour everywhere and squiggly lines as far as the eye can see. Their genograms often look like a child got hold of the textas. When I work with families, it is often when they are on the brink of an all-out war. They are a picture of what is happening now. It can also help them see their own struggles using a strengths-based way of working through the issues.

Many young people who are being abused struggle to speak about it, however showing them how to draw a genogram can lead them to draw the abusive relationship which opens the dialogue. Genograms also help our clients to put a framework together that explains their circumstances. Because of the pictorial nature of genograms, it easily shows issues and concerns that might not be spoken about usually in a non-threatening manner. It can also help us to see patterns within those relationships and generational patterns which are affecting our clients. Why would I use a genogram?Ī genogram is a really useful tool for helping us to understand the key people and relationships in a client’s life.

Most social work practitioners in personal and family therapy use genograms alongside sociograms for personal records and/or to explain family dynamics to their clients. Genograms are now used by various groups of people in a variety of fields such as medicine, psychology, social work, genetic research, education, and youth work to name but a few. This new system visualized the client in the context of other relatives including parents, grandparents, spouses, siblings, children, nephews, and nieces. Genograms were first developed in clinical psychology and family therapy settings by Monica McGoldrick and Randy Gerson and popularized through the publication of a book titled Genograms: Assessment and Intervention in 1985. It goes beyond a traditional family tree allowing the creators to visualize patterns and psychological factors that affect relationships. In qualitative research of the supportive and nonsupportive interactions experienced by male family caregivers, the interactive use of genograms and ecomaps (a) facilitated increased understanding of social networks as a context for caregiving, (b) promoted a relational process between researcher and participant, and (c) uncovered findings such as unrealized potential in the participant's social network that may not be revealed with the use of the genogram or ecomap alone, or the noncomparative use of both.A genogram is a picture of a person’s family relationships and history. Although development and utilization of genograms and ecomaps is rooted in clinical practice with families, as research tools they provide data that can enhance the researcher's understanding of family member experiences. A genogram is a graphic portrayal of the composition and structure of one's family and an ecomap is a graphic portrayal of personal and family social relationships. This article argues for the concurrent and comparative use of genograms and ecomaps in family caregiving research.

Purpose of a genogram in social work how to#