Due to family conflicts on my dads side of the family, I have limited information.

My family history shows it to be a relevant topic. Alcoholism and other addictive behaviors are often seen running through family histories. Many problematic behaviors tend to be passed on through generations, and some are even corollary thought to be hereditary. This fact can be even more drastically seen when the breadth of view is increased to my grandparent’s brothers and sisters and their family lines. My own family has a rich history of cancer. Cancer has a highly hereditary correlation that makes mapping it out in a genogram a valuable characteristic to chart when working with clients.

With increased life span, cancer has become a relevant and fearful factor in people’s lives. In America and around the world people are living longer lives. It would be interesting to take a deep look at what family circumstances might have contributed to this phenomenon.

This is true of all my aunts on my mom’s side. My aunt Barbra Dirks works for a non-social service business, but has done numerous advocacy programs involving gay rights, and is a member of the national board of NOW (National Organization for Women). Roxanne Brown is currently working as a clinical counselor and case manager for County Corrections in Tacoma Washington. My aunts on that side have all either been employed in social services or done that in their private life. Growing up, she was a clinical counselor, branch director of a social service agency, case manager, and started a couple of community programs. My mom has had many social worker professions (she has a BA of Applied Behavioral Psychology). My family would be an example of that family career happening not by design. This even happens in modern times, most of the time not by design. Many traditional cultures used the concept of apprenticeship, having the child participate in the family trade. It examines whether family members name, birth date, date of death (if applicable), year married, alcoholism, cancer, and work in social services.įemale with History of Social Service Work It displays an genogram of Jacob Campbell’s family for his article onGenogram & Eco-map. Figure 1įigure 1 is a graphic I created in Adobe Illustrator (different from the the version in the original article). Along with describing family relationships, I have also looked at a few other aspects of my family history (see “Figure #1) first is family members who are involved in social services (generally social work type jobs), then cancer, and finally alcoholism. Even looking introspectively at my own life I can see some of the ways my family history has influenced me. Genograms contribute to the concept of dealing with the person in the context of their environment. This history is that is described in a genogram is different for each individual or family. For example, they often trace cancer, longevity of marital relationships, or alcoholism in the family’s history. They focus on looking at specific traits, characteristics, and behaviors that go through generations of a specific family. Genograms tend to be more specific and detailed in information then common family trees. A genogram is more commonly known as a family tree.

Social work family genogram