Therapy Case View
Frames the family structure around the main counseling or therapy focus.
Therapy Genogram
Key Relationships
Shows partners, parents, children, and siblings involved in the case.
Interaction Patterns
Leaves room to note conflict, closeness, distance, or support.
Session Context
Keeps discussion points visible for assessment and follow-up.
Generational Links
Connects current concerns with relevant family history.
Caregiver Roles
Clarifies caregiving, custody, parenting, or support responsibilities.
Team Review Ready
Supports shared review before deeper clinical notes are added.
Editable Case Map
Can be extended as the conversation reveals more family context.
Map multigenerational family structure, partner status, supportive bonds, conflict, estrangement, abuse, and other emotional dynamics using this therapy genogram on Creately Clinical.
About the Therapy Genogram
This therapy genogram combines a detailed multigenerational family structure with emotional relationship patterns that can support assessment, formulation, reflection, and collaborative treatment planning.
The example maps 20 people across four family levels. It includes married couples, a divorced couple, and a cohabiting couple, along with siblings, children, partners, and extended-family branches. The broad structure helps users see how current relationships sit within a larger family system.
Seven labeled dynamics add therapeutic context. Supportive connections include Friendship / Close and Best Friends / Very Close. Other relationships are marked Discord / Conflict, Cutoff / Estranged, Indifferent / Apathetic, Physical Abuse, and Distant / Poor. Viewing strengths and difficult experiences together creates a balanced starting point for exploring patterns, resources, boundaries, attachment, communication, and change.
- Maps 20 people across four family levels
- Includes marriage, divorce, and cohabitation
- Identifies close and very close supportive relationships
- Highlights conflict, estrangement, indifference, abuse, and distance where relevant
Who Should Use This Example?
This therapy genogram can help therapists, supervisors, and clients organize family systems and emotional relationship patterns in one clear view.
Individual, couple, and family therapists
Support intake, assessment, formulation, reflection, and treatment planning.
Clinical supervisors and care teams
Review patterns, strengths, safety needs, and therapeutic themes together.
Students and educators
Practice multigenerational family-systems and relationship notation.
Clients and families
Collaboratively map important people, supportive bonds, difficulties, and goals for change.
Symbols Used in This Genogram
Standard family symbols establish the structure, while colored and patterned relationship lines describe emotional dynamics and partner status.
Square
Male family member
Circle
Female family member
Horizontal partner line
Marriage or partner relationship
Red status marks
Divorce
Blue status marker
Cohabitation
Vertical descent line
Parent–child relationship
Green relationship line
Close, very close, or supportive connection
Red dashed relationship line
Discord, conflict, cutoff, or estrangement
Blue zigzag line
Physical abuse or another harmful dynamic, as defined in the legend
Black dotted line
Indifferent, apathetic, distant, or poor relationship
When to Use This Example
Use this example when therapy or counseling would benefit from a shared systems view of family structure and emotional relationships.
- During individual, couple, or family therapy intake and assessment.
- For exploring attachment, boundaries, communication, conflict, caregiving, and family roles.
- When identifying repeating patterns, protective relationships, losses, and turning points.
- For case formulation, supervision, treatment planning, and collaborative review.
How to Customize This Genogram
- 1
Map the family structure
Add the focus person, relatives, partners, former partners, children, households, important dates, and family transitions relevant to the work.
- 2
Add supportive relationships first
Mark close bonds, trusted people, caregiving, friendship, resilience, and other strengths that can support therapeutic change.
- 3
Describe significant difficulties
Add conflict, distance, estrangement, harmful behavior, interrupted contact, or other concerns using consistent notation and appropriate context.
- 4
Connect patterns to therapy goals
Use the map to identify themes, exceptions, resources, boundaries, communication goals, safety needs, and practical next steps agreed with the client or family.
Creately Clinical Capabilities for This Example
Creately Clinical supports therapy genograms with structured family-therapy fields, a broad relationship library, collaborative sessions, and report-ready outputs.
- Relevant field pack: Family Therapy fields for emotional bonds, attachment, communication, coping, roles, trauma history, treatment, and goals.
- Best-fit view mode: Relationship Dynamics view for emotional connections within the wider family structure.
- Clinical notation: 71 relationship subtypes across 9 categories support consistent, clearly labeled mapping.
- Collaboration and reporting: Use AI-assisted drafting, comments, role-based sharing, auto-save, and PDF or DOCX reports.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I include in a therapy genogram?
Include the family structure, important relationships, partner status, household context, major events, losses, caregiving, strengths, emotional dynamics, and themes relevant to the therapeutic purpose.
Do I need to map every family member?
No. Begin with the people and generations most relevant to the client’s concerns and goals. Expand the genogram when additional relationships help explain a pattern, resource, or important experience.
How should sensitive information be recorded?
Use neutral and specific language, distinguish reported from observed information, record dates and sources where useful, follow consent and safety procedures, and limit access according to professional requirements.
How can Creately Clinical support therapy-genogram work?
Custom fields, notes, relationship markers, and visual categories can keep therapeutic themes and family context organized. Shared editing, comments, version history, and exports support formulation, supervision, and coordinated updates.
Start in Creately Clinical, then deepen the therapy view
Edit the genogram to map the family system, add supportive and difficult relationship patterns, and create a shared visual for reflection, formulation, and therapeutic change.