An ecomap (or eco-map) is a diagram of a family and the world around it: work, school, friends, extended family, church, health care, social services and anything else that supports or strains them. The family sits in a circle in the middle, each outside system gets its own circle, and the lines between them show the kind of connection.
Social worker Ann Hartman introduced the ecomap in 1978, in "Diagrammatic assessment of family relationships" (Social Casework), as a way to see a family's situation at a glance. It is still a standard tool in social work, counseling, nursing and early intervention.
Ecomap symbols
| Line | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Strong connection: a solid line; the thicker the line, the stronger the tie. | |
| Moderate connection: a thin solid line. | |
| Weak or tenuous connection: a dashed line. | |
| Stressful connection: a line crossed by short marks. Some textbooks draw it as +++ or a zigzag. | |
| Flow of energy or resources: an arrow shows which way the support, time or money goes. Arrows at both ends mean it goes both ways. |
Hartman's original asks you to describe each connection with a word or a type of line, and to draw arrows for the flow of energy and resources. Because the details vary between textbooks, always add a key.
How to make an ecomap
- Draw the household in the center, as a large circle. Inside, draw the members with genogram symbols (a square for a man, a circle for a woman) or write their names.
- Add a circle for each system that matters to the family: work, school, extended family, friends, faith community, health care, mental health services, recreation, social services, child care, the legal system.
- Connect each system to the whole family or to the member it involves, with a line that shows how strong or stressful the connection is.
- Add arrows for the direction of support or demands.
- Add notes inside the circles: the name of the school, the job, the agency.
The ecomap maker draws all of this from a short form and adds the key, and you can download a blank ecomap template to fill in by hand during an interview.
An example
In the example ecomap on the ecomap maker page, a family of four has strong ties to extended family and to the father's job, a stressful connection to the mother's hospital night shifts, and weak ties to friends and church. Arrows show that the grandmother's help flows both ways, while the mother's job takes more than it gives. A social worker reading it would ask about the stress at work and look for ways to strengthen the weak supports.
Ecomap or genogram?
A genogram looks inside the family, across generations: who is related, who is close, what runs in the family. An ecomap looks outward at one moment in time: what supports the family and what drains it. Social workers often make both, and draw the household in the center of the ecomap as a small genogram.