Genogram maker / Genograms in social work
Genograms in social work and therapy
For social workers, family therapists and nurses, the genogram is both an assessment tool and a conversation. This guide covers how it’s used in practice, the questions that fill it in, and how to record it responsibly.
How practitioners use genograms
- Child and family social work: mapping who is in the child’s network, identifying potential kinship carers, and recording histories of loss, abuse, domestic violence and substance misuse that affect risk and protective factors.
- Family therapy: exploring multigenerational patterns from Bowen theory (triangles, cutoffs, fusion, sibling position) and helping the family see a problem as part of a larger system.
- Individual counselling: helping a client understand where their expectations about relationships, conflict or caregiving came from.
- Nursing and primary care: family assessment (such as the Calgary Family Assessment Model), caregiving arrangements, and hereditary risk via a medical genogram.
- Supervision and teaching: presenting a case clearly, and the reflective “draw your own genogram” assignment common in social work and counselling programmes.
Genogram questions: an interview question bank
Move from facts to feelings: structure first, then events, health, and finally relationships. Draw as you go, and let the client correct the chart; being wrong about a detail is often the moment a story comes out.
Structure
- Who lives in your household right now?
- Who are your parents, and are they together?
- Do you have brothers or sisters, including half- or step-siblings?
- Were there any pregnancies that didn’t continue, or children who died?
- Who were your grandparents, and are they living?
Events and transitions
- When did your parents marry, separate or divorce?
- Who in the family has died, when, and how?
- Has the family moved or migrated? When and why?
- Were there times when children lived with someone other than their parents?
Health and behaviour
- Does anyone in the family have a serious physical illness?
- Has anyone struggled with depression, anxiety or other mental health problems?
- How does the family use alcohol? Has anyone had problems with drinking or drugs?
- Has anyone been in trouble with the law?
Relationships
- Who are you closest to in the family?
- Who do you find it hardest to get along with?
- Is there anyone who doesn’t speak to someone else?
- Who would you go to for help? Who comes to you?
- Has anyone in the family hurt someone else?
Strengths and patterns
- What is your family good at?
- Who do you take after?
- Does anything seem to repeat across generations?
- What would your grandmother say about your family?
Recording responsibly
- Consent and pacing. Explain what the genogram is for and who will see it. Clients can decline to discuss any part of their history.
- Source and date. Note who provided the information and when. Family members often remember differently.
- Only what you know. Record abuse and diagnoses as disclosed or confirmed, and use the “suspected” symbol where that’s all it is.
- De-identify copies. GenogramCraft’s export can replace names with initials or codes and swap dates for ages, and nothing you draw is uploaded. See privacy.
- Pair it with an ecomap. The genogram shows the family; an ecomap shows the supports and stresses around it.
Frequently asked questions
Why do social workers use genograms?
They show family structure, support networks, risks and strengths in one picture. In child and family services a genogram helps identify kinship carers, understand histories of abuse, loss or substance misuse, and explain the family to colleagues and courts quickly.
What is the difference between a genogram and an ecomap in social work?
A genogram maps the family across generations. An ecomap maps the family’s current relationships with the outside world: school, health services, work, friends, faith communities and agencies. Many assessments require both.
How are genograms used in nursing?
Nurses use genograms in family nursing assessments (for example the Calgary Family Assessment Model) and in community and primary care to understand family structure, caregiving and hereditary health risk. A medical genogram focuses on the health layer.
Should genograms be kept in the case file?
Follow your agency’s recording policy. Generally, a genogram in a case file should be dated, list its sources (who gave the information), and be updated as circumstances change. Share only de-identified copies outside the record.
Draw the genogram as you interview
Relatives, events and relationship lines in a few taps. Nothing is uploaded.