Ecomap and Genogram
At a first intake, a social worker often ends up drawing two pictures of the same family. One looks down into it; the other looks out from it. The genogram traces the bloodline — three generations of who married whom, who raised whom, who stopped speaking to whom. The ecomap drops that household into the middle of a page and draws spokes to everything pressing on it from outside: the school, the clinic, the probation officer, the church, the part-time job. Same family, two questions. Confusing them is easy, and the fix is one line: a genogram is the family; an ecomap is the family's world.
An ecomap — the household at the center, connected to its outside supports.
The genogram: the family across generations
A genogram maps the family itself, going back three or more generations — parents, children, partners, the marriages and divorces and deaths between them — in the standardized notation your supervisor reads at a glance. Squares for men, circles for women, a double line for an over-close bond, a jagged one for conflict. On top of structure it carries the medical thread: the grandfather's heart disease, the aunt with depression, the pattern of early loss. It answers two questions at once — who is in this family, and what keeps repeating across it.
The ecomap: connections to outside systems
An ecomap starts the opposite way. Put one person or one household in a circle at the center, then ring it with the systems they actually touch — work, school, extended family, friends, healthcare, the faith community, the agencies and benefits and case managers. Now draw the line back to the middle, and let the line do the talking. The convention most caseworkers learn:
- Solid or thick line — a strong, supportive connection. The grandmother two doors down who picks the kids up.
- Dashed or thin line — a tenuous, weak, or uncertain tie. The estranged sibling; the job that may not last the month.
- Hatched or slashed line — a stressful, conflicted connection. The landlord; the ex; the school that keeps calling.
- Arrows — which way energy and support actually flow: into the family, out of it, or both.
Read at a glance, the ecomap answers what the genogram cannot: what is holding this family up, and what is wearing it down.
Why both, and in what order
The genogram and the ecomap are an intake pair for a reason — neither tells the whole story. A clean family tree can hide a household one eviction away from crisis; a crowded ecomap means little until you know who is inside the circle. Build the genogram first to settle who the family is. Then pick the client or household that sits at the heart of the case, plant them in the center of a fresh page, and grow the ecomap outward from there. The same notation discipline carries across both: consistent symbols, a dated legend, names a colleague can pick up cold.
Build your genogram first
Map the family with the full symbol set, then pair it with an ecomap of outside supports.
Open the genogram makerFrequently asked questions
- What is the difference between an ecomap and a genogram?
- A genogram looks inward — it maps the family itself across three or more generations, including relationships and medical history. An ecomap looks outward — it maps one person or household's connections to outside systems like work, school, friends, healthcare, and community supports.
- Do you use a genogram and ecomap together?
- Often, yes. In social work especially, a genogram and an ecomap are paired: the genogram shows the internal family system, and the ecomap shows the external supports and stressors around it. Together they give a fuller picture of a client's situation.
- Which should I make first, the genogram or the ecomap?
- Usually the genogram first — it establishes who is in the family. The ecomap then places that family (or an individual in it) at the center and draws lines out to the systems they interact with.
Related: genograms in social work.