NAME:_______________________________________________________
HUS 201: HUMAN SERVICES SEMINAR I
WORKBOOK 4
This assignment will be handed in to your instructor. You will be invited but not required to
share relevant discoveries with the class.
1. Read the assignment in your text and the attached handout on how to draw a genogram.
On a separate sheet of paper draw a genogram of your family. Try to include at least
three 3 generations. Attach the genogram.
2. Make a list of all the family members (including yourself) in your family of origin (the
biological, foster, adoptive or other family in which you grew up) and another list of all
the members of your current family. If you are living in the same family, there may be
little difference between the two.
FAMILY OF ORIGIN
CURRENT FAMILY
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NAME:_______________________________________________________
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3. Briefly describe the role(s) each of these members played or play in the family i.e. what is their
place or function in the family system? (Some possible roles – there are others, be
creative and descriptive: disciplinarian, peacemaker, clown, adult-child, rebel, caretaker,
authoritarian, placater, absent, nurturer)
FAMILY OF ORIGIN
NAME
ROLE
CURRENT FAMILY
NAME
4. How are you the same or different in these two families?
ROLE
NAME:_______________________________________________________
5. How was affection expressed in your family of origin? How were other "positive" emotions
e.g. joy, approval, pleasure expressed?
6. How was anger expressed in your family of origin? How were other "negative" emotions e.g.
sadness or disapproval expressed?
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NAME:_______________________________________________________
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NAME:_______________________________________________________
7. How are affection, anger and other strong emotions expressed in your current family?
8. How did your family of origin express a cultural identity or cultural values? What were your
family traditions? Consider religious celebrations, holiday traditions, foods, events (e.g.
dinner together or annual camping vacations) values taught, family mottoes, etc. as
possible forms of cultural identification.
9. How does your current family express cultural identity or values?
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NAME:_______________________________________________________
10. Identify three events from your childhood that you feel influenced who you are today.
11. Identity three events from your adulthood that you feel are influencing who you are today.
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NAME:_______________________________________________________
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12. Identify 5 important things (either positive or negative) that you learned from your
experiences in your family of origin.
13. If any of these are the focus of personal changes that you wish to make, how are you working
toward the changes?
NAME:_______________________________________________________
14. Reflecting on your assigned reading and your responses to the preceding questions, how are
your past and current family experiences likely to influence you as a helping
professional? Be specific in analyzing the impact of your history on your ability to help
effectively.
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NAME:_______________________________________________________
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Genograms
From: Generalist Social Work Practice an Empowering Approach, 6th Ed., by Miley, et. al., 2009, pp 282-283
Genograms visually represent family chronology (Hartman, 1978, reprinted in 1995; McGoldrick
& Gerson, 1985, 1989). As schematic diagrams, genograms provide summaries of information
about family history, marriages, deaths, geographic locations of family members, structure, and
demographics (Figure 10.3). Completed genograms look somewhat like family trees, especially
when they include information about several generations. Workers and clients annotate
genograms to communicate information about "the sources of nurturance, stimulation, and
support that must be available in the intimate and extended environment to make possible growth
and survival" (Hartman, p. 113).
By highlighting familial information, genograms aid our understanding of relationship
patterns, transitional issues, and life cycle changes. To gather information for genograms,
workers ask clients to share family stories and traditions. Adding chronological information
about nodal family events furnishes additional information about family transitions and identifies
points where families have coped with change over the course of time. To incorporate a
multicultural perspective, one can add dimensions of diversity to genograms by including "stories
of generation, gender, ethnicity, race, class, and migration" (McGill, 1992, p. 344). Genograms
are also useful to identify multiple cultural influences, trace intercultural blending through the
generations, and emphasize the unique cultural history of any family (Congress, 1994;
McCullough, et al., 2004). Additional modifications incorporate a solution focus (Zide & Gray,
2000), dimensions of spirituality (Frame, 2001; Hodge, 2001b;), and a socially constructed view
of family (Mercier & Harold, 2003; MilewskiHertlein, 2001).
Numerous areas of practice consider genograms essential for assessment. Constructing
genograms with older adults affords them opportunities for life review. Practitioners working in
medical settings use genograms to trace patterns of health and wellness. And, genograms adapt to
many aspects of child welfare as they can be used to trace adoption histories or record foster care
placements or short term, in-home family-preservation services (Walton & Smith, 2001).
Genograms offer clues about intergenerational relationships and propose sources for family
support, especially in relation to end-of-life care (Waldrop, 2006). Consistent with the strengths
perspective, genograms can also reveal the patterns of family strengths over time and highlight
exceptions to family legacies considered problematic (Kuehl, 1995).
A genogram illustrates family structure and relationships. Genograms list family members in at
least two generations, including their names, ages, and dates of marriages and divorces. Workers
and clients can also annotate genograms with other information to meet their specific purposes.
NAME:_______________________________________________________
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FIGURE 10.3 Genogram of Fiona Grant’s Family
Dotted line around individuals denotes a household.
NAME:_______________________________________________________
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The Family: Context for Development of Self
FROM: Cournoyer, Barry in The Social Work Skills Workbook, Brooks / Cole
Social workers (Hartman & Laird, 1983) have long recognized that a person's family of origin
powerfully influences his or her social, psychological, and even biological development. Family
and childhood experiences significantly affect people's attitudes, beliefs, values, personality
characteristics, and behavioral patterns. Unless you, as a social worker, are keenly aware of the
way in which your family of origin has influenced you, you may inadvertently or unconsciously
play out a family role or pattern in your work with clients and colleagues. Among the common
family roles (see Satir, 1972; Wegscheider-Cruse, 1985) that occur in the backgrounds of social
workers are rescuer, peacemaker, hero, and parental child. Of course, sometimes it is entirely
proper for you to use a part of your family-based self in social work practice. In all such cases,
however, it should be for a clearly identified social work purpose, and you should be fully aware
that you are doing so.
One means through which people become more aware of the ways their family of origin1
has influenced them is the use of a genogram. A family genogram is a graphic representation of
one's family tree. It provides a picture of the parties involved and a chronology of significant
events or themes. Additionally, a genogram may be used as a subjective interpretive tool"
(McGoldrick & Gerson, 1985, p.2), to develop hypotheses about a person's psychosocial
characteristics or a family's interactional patterns.
Certain symbols are commonly used in the preparation of a family genogram (MeGoldrick
& Gerson, 1985). Males are usually characterized by squares and females by circles. Spousal
relationships are represented by bracket lines. A solid bracket line ( I____I ) reflects a married
couple; a dotted bracket line (I_ _ _ _I) reflects an unmarried relationship. A line extended
downward from a relationship bracket line indicates a pregnancy or offspring from that
relationship. Separations and divorces are indicated by one and two slash marks (land I!)
respectively, cutting across the relationship line. Pregnancies and births from each relationship
are placed in order from earliest to latest, proceeding from left to right. Deaths are indicated by
an X symbol placed within the circle or square. Names of persons and dates, if known, for birth,
marriage, separation, divorce, and death are written alongside the symbols. For example, just
above or beneath a bracket line indicating a marriage relationship might be written "m.3/18/67."
This reflects the date of marriage as March 18, 1967. If this same relationship later results in
separation by "s. 4/23/74." A subsequent divorce could be shown by "div. 5/7/75.", that event
could be indicated
In addition, you may describe characteristics of individual persons and relationships with
brief notations. For example, one family member may have served in the military during a war,
and perhaps another suffered from diabetes. Significant events, such as major accidents, injuries,
crimes, and changes in residence or occupation, may also be recorded. Additional symbols or
notations may be used to characterize the nature of selected relationships (McGoldrick & Gerson,
1985). Very close relationships, those that are emotionally cool, those that arc strained, and those
that involve conflict may be identified. Toward the bottom of the genogram are placed the date
and the person or persons who provided the information upon which it was based, as well as the
name and title of the person who prepared the genogram.
'Not all people have traditional, biological families of origin. Many children grow up in foster care settings, children's institutions, or hospitals.
In such circumstances, some adaptation of the genogram may he necessary in order to identify significant persons in the individual's childhood.
In some circumstances, an eco-map (see next section) may be more applicable than a genogram.
NAME:_______________________________________________________
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A family genogram may be as brief or as extensive as the person organizing the
information desires. Some people pursue its creation with great zeal, spending hours interviewing
parents, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. They may even contact distant relatives and former
neighbors. However, others base their genogram solely upon information they personally recall.
Usually, the amount of energy expended in collecting data and preparing genograms varies
according to the purposes for which they are created. In addition, genograms may be prepared in
the present tense--the family as it is now--or on the basis of how it existed at some point in the
past. Many people find it useful to take genogrammatic snapshots of the family as they remember
it at significant points in their development (e.g., beginning and graduating from school, leaving
home, entering military service or college, marrying, or giving birth to or adopting children).
As an illustrative example, consider the case of Mrs.Lynn Chase. Later, additional
information about her situation will be presented, but at this point we are primarily concerned
with presenting a typical genogram, as shown in Figure 2.1. Susan Holder, the social worker who
prepared the genogram from Mrs. Chase's perspective, put together a considerable amount of
information in readily accessible form. There are concise notes regarding some major
intergenerational family themes and patterns. This genogram will be an important reference in
Susan's service to Mrs. Chase.
NAME:_______________________________________________________
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EXERCISE 2-1: FAMILY GENOGRAM
As a part of an effort to enhance your understanding of self, prepare a genogram of three
generations of your own family. Use a large piece of paper. if possible, include your grandparents
and parents as well as yourself and your siblings. If you have children, you may include them as
the fourth generation. For this exercise, use primarily your own memory, rather than seeking a lot
of information from other family members. Try to include the approximate dates and categories
of significant family events such as births, deaths, marriages, divorces, separations, graduations,
military service, hospitalizations, changes in place of residence, injuries, and traumatic
experiences. If you do not remember details, enter question marks instead of facts. Develop a
succinct synopsis of the personal characteristics of each of the most significant family members
in your experience. In addition, briefly characterize the nature of the various relationships within
your family.
NAME:_______________________________________________________
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FROM: Zastrow, Charles
The Practice of Social Work, 5th
Edition
Brooks/Cole, 1995
The Genogram
The genogram is a graphic way of investigating the origins of a client's or client family's
presenting problem by diagramming the family over at least three generations. The client and the
worker usually jointly construct the family genogram, which is essentially a family tree. Murray
Bowen is the primary developer of this technique (Kerr & Bowen, 1988). The genogram is a
useful tool for the worker and the family members to examine problematic emotional and
behavioral patterns in an intergenerational context. These patterns tend to repeat themselves;
what happens in one generation will often occur in the next. Genograms help family members
identify and understand family relationship patterns.
Figure 8.4 shows commonly used genogram symbols. Together, the symbols provide a
visual picture of a family tree, for at least three generations, including: who the members are;
their names, ages, and gender; marital status; sibling positions, and so on. When relevant,
additional items of information may be included, such as emotional difficulties, behavioral
problems, religious affiliation, ethnic origins, geographic locations, occupations, socioeconomic
status, and significant life events. The use of the genogram is illustrated in the case example on
page 231.
NAME:_______________________________________________________
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NAME:_______________________________________________________
Additional symbols for either a genogram or ecomap. Not always used in the genogram.
Accessed 7/18/09 at
http://www.hhs.state.ne.us/Children_Family_Services/safety_rfb/a1FGenSym.pdf
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