Table of Contents
How to Make a Simple Genogram [5+ Templates to Download]
Since their development and clinical popularity in 1985, genograms have been very useful to people who want something more detailed than a simple family tree. They have been especially beneficial to mental health and medical professionals in identifying mental and physical illness patterns. Genograms can differ significantly in terms of how much you want to find out regarding your history or that of someone else in the family.
7 Steps to Make a Simple Genogram
Step 1: Identify Your Purpose
Why do you want to create a genogram knowing the amount of detail it requires? Understanding the purpose of your genogram will help you focus on the information you want to get. It also helps you decide who gets to share the finished project with you since there are information that might be too disturbing to some family members.
Step 2: Know What You’re Looking For
Whether it’s for research, personal use, a patient’s mental health assessment or school project, you need to have a good understanding as to why you want this kind of chart completed. Knowing your end-goal can help you fill out your genogram better. Genograms are like family trees to some extent but with everyone else’s biological and emotional connections.
Step 3: Decide How Many Generations You Want Include
Decide how much information you need to also check how many generations you can show. This gives you a great starting point to interview or approach the right people and whether it’s possible to include basic details such as age and location. Start drawing lines and symbols from the oldest generation and trace it to the present.
Step 4: List Questions You Need To Ask
Make a draft of questions to ask yourself and your family members. Think of the things you want to find out and get from your genogram so you can come up with the right questions and collect as much information as possible. For instance, you can ask how your great-grandparents met, lived, died and what their ethnicity was.
Step 5: Focus On Your Research Effort
It’s been established that a genogram is inherently complex and you still might want to go above and beyond but it pays to be picky in researching significant simple family facts. A common and effective strategy also used in family trees is treading sideways, making use of chart symbols and documenting branches with living relatives and family members.
Step 6: Be Open-Minded
Understand that when you dig deeper into your family or bloodline’s history, you could find out things that might change or disappoint you. You need to prepare yourself because no family has a perfect past. You just have to focus on the bigger goals or reason on why you have embarked in this project in the first place.
Step 7: Organize Data
With the amount of information and the complex process a genogram demands, it’s easy to be overwhelmed. It’s also easy to place everything you’ve managed to collect just anywhere or try to know everything overnight but you won’t have much use for a chart that leaves out the most important details. Learn to fact-check and organize the information you’ve collected.
5+ Simple Genogram Templates
1. Free Basic Genogram Template
Not familiar with genograms? No need to worry because we have enough genogram templates to get you covered in creating your own diagram. Study your genealogy with this simple and easy to print genogram template available in all versions of MS Word, Pages and PDF file formats.
2. Free Genogram Template
If you’re not contented with a basic family tree and wants twice the challenge of researching your family through another diagram, this sample genogram can come in handy. Download this accessible genogram template and customize according to the required amount of information you need to fill in. Print easily anywhere, anytime!
3. Sample Genogram Template
Do you have questions you want to ask yourself and your relatives regarding your family’s past? Go ahead and download this free genogram template and make use of the comprehensive design by our graphic artists. It’s available in Pages, MS Word and PDF. Download for free right now!
4. Free Simple Genogram Example
Document your family’s biological, medical and social history or any aspect of their lives and relationships with each other using this sample genogram. The editable template comes with a simple structure that you can modify according to what your own diagram should be. Get this template now for free and print in your preferred format!
5. Simple Genogram Template
Are you trying to complete a genogram project for school, research or for personal use? Get this genogram template and take advantage of its carefully organized layout suited for the complexity of an ideal diagram. It also comes in an easy-to-understand outline that you can customize for your own genogram’s needs.
6. Family Genogram Sample
onecirclefoundation.org Download Now
Gather information from family records and organize them to have a full genogram. Use this genogram template which comes in a flexible document. Make changes as you see fit and feel free to just click on the download button! Be ready with your data and fill them in when you customize the file and print in any compatible device.
More in Family Tree Templates
