A family genogram goes beyond a traditional family tree by visually mapping relationships, health patterns, and emotional dynamics across generations. This guide explains what a family genogram is, how to create one step by step, and its practical uses in therapy, education, and healthcare. It also highlights the key benefits of building a genogram and introduces Creately as a simple, effective platform for designing your own.
Family Genogram Definition
A family genogram is a powerful visual tool that captures the deeper layers of family history and dynamics. It offers rich insights into the emotional and social fabric of the family, helping individuals understand how generational influences shape present-day behaviors and relationships. Think of a family genogram as a dynamic diagram that helps identify recurring themes within a family, such as mental health challenges, inherited conditions, or relationship struggles. By highlighting these patterns, it becomes an essential resource for professionals in social work, counseling, and healthcare, and a valuable tool for anyone exploring their personal history.
Family Genograms Templates with Explanation
Below are a few templates of family genograms with explanations, each tailored to different use cases—showing how these diagrams go beyond names and dates to uncover deeper family insights.
1. Simple Family Genogram Templates
A simple family genogram might consist of three generations, showing basic information like names, birth years, and marital status. For example, grandparents are shown at the top with children, and their children with spouses. This can go back to many generations helping to discover family stories.
This genogram helps visualize immediate family connections and is often used as a starting point in therapy or school assignments to map out lineage and identify basic patterns.
2. Three-Generation Family Genogram Templates
A three-generation family genogram is one of the most common and insightful formats. It includes grandparents, parents, and children, giving a broader view of familial patterns and inherited traits.
A family genogram covering three generations is ideal for identifying long-standing patterns, such as generational health issues, emotional dynamics, or recurring behavioral themes. It’s widely used in therapy, education, and medical consultations to provide a holistic view of family influences.
3. Medical Genogram Templates
In a medical family genogram, health conditions are added to each individual. For example, heart disease may appear in multiple family members on the paternal side. By visualizing this pattern, a healthcare provider can assess hereditary risks and recommend early preventive care.
This type of genogram is especially useful for understanding the inheritance of diseases like diabetes, cancer, or mental health disorders.
4. Emotional Relationship Genogram Templates
An emotional family genogram shows the quality of relationships using different lines and symbols. For instance, an individual may have a close bond with their mother but a conflicted or distant relationship with their father. Conflict lines, cut-off indicators, and alliance markings help depict this emotional landscape.
Therapists use emotional genograms to identify patterns such as enmeshment, unresolved trauma, or recurring conflicts passed through generations.
5. Career Genogram Templates
In a career family genogram, the professional paths of each family member are tracked—showing, for instance, that three generations worked in education, while a recent shift toward entrepreneurship appears in the youngest generation.
This is a useful tool in career counseling, helping individuals explore inherited career influences and make more conscious career choices.
6. Spiritual Genogram Templates
A spiritual family genogram maps the religious beliefs, values, and spiritual practices of family members across generations. For example, grandparents may have followed Catholic traditions, while their children transitioned to non-denominational Christianity or explored other spiritual paths such as Buddhism or agnosticism.
This type of family genogram is often used in counseling, ministry, and spiritual direction to explore how spiritual beliefs influence personal identity, family traditions, and even generational conflict or harmony. It helps individuals understand how spiritual values are transmitted (or resisted) through generations and how that impacts their current worldview.
These templates demonstrate that a family genogram isn’t just a chart—it’s a powerful visual narrative that uncovers patterns, connections, and influences that often go unnoticed. Whether used for medical, emotional, or professional insights, genograms provide a clearer understanding of how our family histories shape us.
How to Create a Family Genogram
Creating a family genogram may seem complex at first, but with the right steps and tools, it becomes an insightful and even enjoyable process. Whether you’re using it for therapy, medical history, or personal exploration, here’s how to create a family genogram that’s accurate and meaningful.
Step 1. Gather Detailed Family Information
Start by collecting essential data about your family members. This includes:
- Full names
- Birth and death dates
- Marriage and divorce details
- Career paths
- Known medical conditions
- Emotional relationships (e.g., conflict, closeness, estrangement)
Step 2. Choose a Family Genogram Template
Select a family genogram template that suits the purpose of your diagram. Creately offers customizable templates for different types of genograms, whether you’re focused on medical, emotional, cultural, or career-based histories. A good template helps you structure your diagram clearly and saves time.
Step 3. Plot Family Members Using Standard Genogram Symbols
Start plotting from the oldest generation downward. Use universal family genogram symbols:
- Squares for males
- Circles for females
- Horizontal lines to indicate marriage or partnerships
- Vertical lines descending to children
Step 4. Indicate Relationships and Dynamics
Now, draw connections between individuals to represent various relationships. Use different line styles to show:
- Solid lines for strong bonds or marriages
- Dotted lines for separations or divorces
- Zig-zag or jagged lines to indicate conflict, abuse, or emotional strain
Step 5. Annotate Patterns and Key Traits
Add notes or symbols to highlight recurring traits, such as:
- Repeated medical conditions like heart disease or diabetes
- Common career paths across generations
- Emotional patterns, such as cycles of estrangement or trauma
Step 6. Review, Collaborate, and Finalize
Once your family genogram is built, review it for accuracy. Creately’s real-time collaboration tools make it easy to involve family members or professionals for additional input. Sharing the diagram can surface new stories, corrections, or missing details.
Uses of A Family Genogram
Family Genogram in Therapy - One of the most profound applications of the family genogram is in therapy and counseling. Mental health professionals and family therapists use genograms to identify intergenerational patterns that may contribute to a client’s psychological challenges.
Educational Uses of the Family Genogram - In education, the family genogram acts as a visual framework for exploring genealogy, cultural heritage, and social dynamics. Teachers and professors often use genograms in sociology, psychology, and anthropology courses to illustrate concepts such as family systems theory, role modeling, and hereditary behavior.
Family Genograms in Healthcare - In the medical field, family genograms—often referred to as medical genograms—are vital for assessing hereditary health risks. By charting physical and mental health conditions across multiple generations, healthcare professionals can identify genetic patterns and high-risk individuals within a family.
Family Genograms in Social Work - In social work, family genograms provide a comprehensive view of a client’s support system and relational context. Caseworkers use them to map out living arrangements, custody issues, emotional relationships, and histories of trauma or neglect. These genograms in social work enable more targeted and informed intervention strategies, particularly in complex family situations.
Career Counseling with Family Genograms - Career counselors use career genograms to help individuals explore how familial influences may have shaped their professional aspirations and career paths. These genograms track employment history, fields of study, and job satisfaction across family generations.
Helpful Resources
Discover everything you need to know about genograms, from what they are, how to create a genogram, to how to understand what they mean.
Explore our collection of genogram templates.
Learn how different types of genograms can help visualize important aspects of life.
Explore the essential symbols used in genograms to represent everything from basic family structures to complex emotional and medical relationships.
Why Creately Is the Best Choice for Creating a Family Genogram
When it comes to creating a family genogram, using the right tool can make all the difference. Creately offers an intuitive, flexible, and feature-rich platform tailored for professionals, educators, and individuals alike. Whether you’re mapping out family relationships for therapy, medical history, or personal discovery, Creately simplifies the process while giving you full creative control.
Here’s why Creately stands out as the best platform for building your family genogram:
1. Comprehensive Family Genogram Symbols Library
Understanding family genogram symbols can be challenging, but Creately simplifies the process with a complete, standardized symbol library. From gender and birth order to emotional and medical connections, these ready-to-use elements follow professional standards—making it easy to create clear and accurate genograms, whether simple or complex.
2. Professionally Designed Genogram Templates
Creately offers a wide range of customizable family genogram templates to help you get started quickly. Designed for various use cases like therapy, education, and healthcare, these templates make it easy to input data, apply accurate symbols, and visualize family connections using simple drag-and-drop tools.
3. Real-Time Collaboration
Creately’s collaboration features enable multiple people such as counselors, family members, and professionals to create and edit family genograms together in real time. With options to share, comment, and track changes, it’s perfect for therapy, academic projects, or social work, ensuring seamless teamwork and version control.
4. Centralized Data and Infinite Canvas
With Creately’s infinite canvas, you can expand your genogram without limitations—perfect for complex families or multi-generational diagrams. The platform also allows you to centralize related data like notes, documents, or medical records alongside the family genogram, giving you a more holistic view of your family system.
5. Easy Export to PDF, PNG, or SVG with Sharing Options
After completing your family genogram, Creately lets you export it in various formats like PDF, PNG, or SVG for use in presentations, reports, or therapy sessions. You can also embed diagrams into digital documents, making your genogram a dynamic, interactive tool that clarifies complex family relationships—ideal for professionals, students, educators, or anyone exploring their family history.
FAQs About Family Genogram
What is a family genogram used for?
How is a family genogram different from a family tree?
Can I create a family genogram online?
What is the genogram of a family chart?
How to analyze a family genogram?
What are the components of a genogram?
A family genogram typically includes several key components:
- Individuals represented by gender-based symbols (squares for males, circles for females)
- Generational hierarchy, showing multiple family levels
- Relationship lines to indicate marriage, divorce, conflict, etc.
- Medical and emotional markers that reflect physical and psychological patterns
- Annotations that provide context, such as career paths, education, or behavioral traits
These components work together to create a comprehensive view of family dynamics over time.
What are the Benefits of Using a Family Genogram?
- Reveal Patterns and Trends
- Therapeutic Insight and Emotional Awareness
- Strategic Family Planning
Resources:
Alexander, J.H., Callaghan, J.E.M. and Fellin, L.C. (2018). Genograms in research: participants’ reflections of the genogram process. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 19(1), pp.1–21. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2018.1545066.
Butler, J.F. (2008). The Family Diagram and Genogram: Comparisons and Contrasts. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 36(3), pp.169–180. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01926180701291055.
Puhlman, D., Shigeto, A., Murillo‐Borjas, G.A., Maurya, R.K. and Vincenti, V.B. (2023). Qualitative genogram analysis: A methodology for theorizing family dynamics. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 15(2), pp.276–291. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12496.
