Life Paths (or Life Rivers) are a way of helping people map out the path they have taken in their lives and provide an overview. Draw your own window using different styles to see what they can convey. Such effective communication tools are thus an intervention even when the aim is information gathering.Īs with the other creative tools, do practise their use first. This is quite a vivid way of enabling the person not only to show you how things are, their aspirations and fears, but it also enables them to really see and explore these for themselves. If someone is very uncomfortable sketching they could find existing pictures to stick into each space, or even just write words in there. In the third square they should sketch how they would want their future to look and, in the fourth, what they fear it may be like. In another square, they can draw how things are for them in their life right now. In one square they should draw or sketch 'the view' of their past. Encourage the person to look at their life through this window. The window is a creative opportunity for people to consider their feelings about their past, present and future (Sunderland and Engleheart, 1992: 22). For some useful guidance on genograms click here. Finally, practise helping someone like a trusted friend or colleague to construct theirs before you use this with a service user or carer (Walton and Smith, 1999). Secondly, map out on the genogram of a family known to you on your own. First construct your own genogram from your family of origin so you gain a sense of its power. We would strongly urge you practise this method before using it with someone in your work. These can be a powerful tool and workers must be sensitive in their use, providing sufficient time to round off the session and being available for further support or reflection where painful issues have been triggered. Prompts and open/focused questions are particularly helpful, although some closed questions may be needed to check information out.

of divorce, suicide, miscarriage or abuse). People can be encouraged to share memories and anecdotes about relatives and think about patterns that emerge over generations (e.g. Genograms can be an effective way of engaging collaboratively and dynamically with service users and carers to share, describe and explore their family histories and relationships. Lines may then be used to indicate formal relationships between people.Ĭlicking on the link here will take you to a Department of Health document which sets these symbols out on p. a circle to denote a female and a square to indicate a male. This is shown as a diagram using particular symbols, e.g. Genograms (sometimes called family trees) are an effective way of mapping out family structures over several generations. Then practise helping someone like a trusted friend or colleague to construct theirs before you use this with a service user or carer. First construct your own ecomap so you gain a sense of its power.

figures in a sandtray, or buttons of different size, shape and colour.ĭo practise this method before using it with someone in your work. Some people might prefer using 3D imagery instead of pens and paper, e.g. Pictures, images or photos could be used as symbols. Colours could be chosen to convey positive or negative feelings. Distance from the centre might represent emotional distance. You can also encourage people to develop their own system. On page 30 of The Assessing children in need and their families: Practice guidance is an example of an ecomap. Use different types of lines to indicate the nature of the link or relationship: Draw lines between circles where connections exist.Identify important people or organisations and draw circles as needed.Department of Health Guidance (2000: 30) suggests the following: They can then use a variety of ways to convey the relationships between themselves and other people, groups or communities. Ask the adult or child to place themselves in a circle at the centre of the page. They can be constructed in a very basic way, just using paper and pens. Ecomaps are a simple and visual way of helping people convey their own view/subjective impression of their networks and supports.

Importance of genograms in social work