A theoretical understanding of social versus psychological art is outlined. To get the best use of the genogram, you need to have a meaningful, productive discussion with clients and their families about its role and value as well as the process of developing a genogram. Ways to overcome these challenges and to utilize the benefits were discussed. Most clients and families will not have heard of a genogram before, and genograms can be confusing without an explanation of their appearance and purpose. Challenges were the unfamiliarity of art language and fear of being “diagnosed” through art.

The findings point to the usefulness of including creative genograms in family social work contexts to intensify information, engagement, and stimulation and to re-perceive calcified problems through new visual terms. This participatory research gathers the self-defined, phenomenological experience of family social workers who experienced creative genograms firstly on themselves and then administered it with their clients: Examples are analyzed within the text. Creative genograms enable families to phenomenologically self-define recurring themes and issues, thus combining both historical, but also, experiential data on the same page. Genograms are widely used in family therapy as a way of visually mapping out systems and recurring family patterns.

Publishing since 2012 as Social Work Helper. Research on Social Work Practice, Ahead of Print. SWHELPER Digital Mag publishes articles on social work careers, social work education, social work ethics, technology, books, and more.

Genogram family social work