SOCIAL WORK GENOGRAM TEMPLATE SERIES

Genograms help to visually understand family patterns – including how substance use impacts generations, how one generation’s trauma impacts generations, even the ways that health and mental health diagnoses impact families. Because relationship patterns, behaviors, health problems, and addictions are at least partially shaped by our genes and relational environment, genograms can be a valuable tool in mental health, healthcare, and even in educational and vocational-prep settings.

In genograms, a series of symbols can help us to identify relational and behavioral patterns within family trees. However, genograms go a step further than genealogy. They connect people visually to one another through lines created by births, marriages, adoptions, sibling sets, etc. Genograms are very similar to family trees. For this reason, you’ll find plenty of blank space in this genogram template. Working collaboratively to create and use symbols in a genogram that feel appropriate and meaningful to our clients may, for some, be the most healing aspect of creating a genogram.

When you find yourself questioning which symbol to use, remember that all symbol-making is meaning-making, and meaning-making is the root of much of the change our clients come to us seeking.

The included basic shapes and symbols can be used as a jumping-off point for making symbols in a meeting with clients. Instead of cluttering the page with a futile attempt to be exhaustive, I chose the most basic symbols and paired them with blank spaces that you can use to either create your own symbols or bring in symbols you may have memorized from my far more inclusive genogram flash cards. I hesitated, knowing that no matter what I chose, some individuals would be excluded. It’s been sitting in my drafts, almost finished, as I thoughtfully considered what symbols to include and exclude in the finite space on the left-hand side of the page. This genogram template is being published about eight months later than I planned. You don’t have to be a fan of the show to recognize that this family (like all families) has complex relationships and patterns repeated through generations. That’s why I created this simple genogram example about a not so simple family: Arrested Development’s Bluth Family. Without knowledge of genogram symbols and how they can be used together, it can be difficult to create a meaningful visual family tree even with a blank template. The opportunity to see a finished genogram can be a helpful way to learn about the process of making your own. See a Sample Genogram filled out with a basic family treeĭownload a genogram key and flashcards for learning symbols. Purchase the printable blank template or the Jumbo Notebook

Read more about using this genogram template Table of Contentsīecause this article is on the long side, with multiple resources, here is a quick guide with direct links to important sections Whether your genograms track dysfunctional family dynamics, medical illnesses, substance use, or even how professional/vocational trends have shaped generations, genograms can bring clarity in much the same way that my own art does: when we take something in visually, we can often understand it in a different way than we would if we have learned by hearing or reading the same information.

This blank genogram template I developed in response to those requests is designed especially for therapists and healthcare providers who want to create genograms as part of their work, but need a little bit of help from grids and lines to maintain a readable page.

SOCIAL WORK GENOGRAM TEMPLATE SERIES

Social work genogram template