Free Therapist Training›Family Therapy Toolkit›Ecomap Template
Last updated: November 11, 2026
An ecomap is a diagram of a family and its environment. The household is drawn in a circle in the center, every important connection outside it, from grandparents and former partners to schools, workplaces, health care and faith communities, gets a circle of its own, and the line between the household and each circle shows what kind of connection it is. Ann Hartman, a social worker, described the ecomap in a 1978 article, and social workers, family therapists and counselors still use it to see on one page where a family's support comes from and where its stress does.
The template below has the line key, a blank ecomap and a list of the systems to ask about, and a completed ecomap for an invented family follows it. Print the PDF to draw by hand, or copy the Google Slides or Google Docs version to work on screen. The template is part of the Sentio MFT program's free family therapy toolkit.
An optional template from the Sentio MFT program's family therapy toolkit, free to adapt.
Download the PDFCopy in Google SlidesCopy in Google Docs
Systems to ask about
| System | Ask about |
|---|---|
| Extended family | Grandparents, siblings and other relatives: who helps, who interferes, who is out of contact. |
| Former partners and coparents | Parenting schedules, child support, how decisions about the children are made. |
| Work | Hours, shifts, stress, income and how work affects time at home. |
| School and childcare | Attendance, grades, discipline, special education, relationships with teachers. |
| Health and mental health care | Physicians, therapists, psychiatrists, hospital stays, unmet health needs. |
| Friends and neighbors | Who each person can call, and who calls them. |
| Faith and cultural community | Membership, support, conflict, and changes in involvement. |
| Recreation | Sports, clubs, hobbies and the people met through them. |
| Services and benefits | Social services, housing, benefits, immigration services. |
| Legal system | Courts, custody proceedings, probation, child protective services. |
| Online communities | Gaming, social media and other online groups that matter to a member. |
Questions that fill in the map
- Who do you turn to when something goes wrong?
- Which of these connections gives you energy, and which takes more than it gives?
- Where does money, time or help come from, and where does it go?
- Who would you like more contact with, and who less?
- What has changed in these connections over the last year?
What Does a Completed Ecomap Look Like?
The ecomap below belongs to the Hale-Carter family, the invented blended family used throughout the toolkit, drawn at intake in October 2026. The table under it records what each line means, which is the part of an ecomap that is easiest to forget and most useful later.
| Connection | Line | What it means for the family |
|---|---|---|
| Diane, Jenna's mother | Strong; help flows in | Childcare three afternoons a week, and daily advice to Jenna on discipline that Chris resents. |
| Jenna's work | Stressful; energy flows out | Night shifts since August. Jenna sleeps during the day and is at work most evenings. |
| Ava's high school | Stressful | Missed first periods, two failing grades and a meeting with the vice principal. |
| School counselor | Strong; help flows in | Meets Ava weekly and referred the family. |
| Ben's soccer team | Strong | Ben's main source of friends. Chris drives him to practice. |
| Pediatrician | Tenuous | Ben's yearly visit; no contact about Ava this year. |
| Church | Tenuous | The family stopped attending after the move in 2021. |
| Nicole, Tyler's mother | Tenuous | Arranges Tyler's schedule with Chris by text. |
| Chris's parents | Tenuous | Holiday visits only. |
| Mark, Ava and Ben's father | Stressful; money flows in | Pays child support and calls the children every few weeks, often later than promised. |
| Chris's work | Strong; energy flows out | Long days as a contractor; a steady income. |
The map shows a household whose strongest outside ties run through one adult at a time, with several stressful ties converging on Ava and few connections the new family shares. That pattern points to two questions for treatment: where Jenna and Chris can get support as a couple, and which connection could help Ava most.
How Do You Make an Ecomap?
- Draw a large circle in the center and put the household inside it, as a small genogram or a list of names.
- Ask the family who and what they deal with outside the household, and draw a circle for each: relatives, a former partner, schools, workplaces, health care, services, friends, faith and cultural communities, sports and other activities.
- For each circle, ask what the connection is like and draw the line: strong, ordinary, tenuous or stressful.
- Add arrows where help, money, time or energy flows mostly one way, and connect a circle to the one member it involves when it does not involve the whole household.
- Note what each line means in a sentence, and date the map.
Drawing the map with the family, rather than from your notes afterward, lets members disagree about a line, and the disagreement often says more than the line. Redraw the ecomap at a treatment review: a stressful line that has become an ordinary one is a change the family can see.
What Do the Lines on an Ecomap Mean?
Hartman's ecomap uses three kinds of line: a solid line for a strong connection, a dashed line for a tenuous one, and a hatched line, a line crossed by short strokes, for a stressful one. Hartman also used arrows to show the direction in which energy and resources flow, as in a grandmother who provides childcare or a job that takes more than it gives. Later adaptations vary the width of a line to show the strength of a tie, and this template adds a thin solid line for an ordinary connection. The key uses all of these, and the map is easier to read later when each line also has a short note.
Ecomap or Genogram?
The two diagrams answer different questions. A genogram looks back across generations at the family itself: its members, its history and its relationships. An ecomap looks outward at the present: the people and systems the family depends on or struggles with now. Drawing a small genogram of the household inside the ecomap's central circle ties the two diagrams together.
Ecomaps in Social Work and Family Therapy
In social work, ecomaps are often used in family assessment and case planning, because they show at a glance which supports a family can draw on and which systems are adding strain. In family therapy they help a therapist decide where outside help could make a difference, such as a school meeting, a coparenting conversation or a renewed connection with a community the family has drifted from. Clients often find an ecomap easier to talk about than a list of questions, because they can point to it.
Practice next: holding boundaries
An ecomap often shows someone outside the household acting inside it, as Diane's daily advice on discipline does in the example. Helping the family decide where that line sits is boundary work.
Watch episode 14: Systemic BoundariesSystemic therapy pagePractice set in the toolkit
Rehearse the boundary statements in the toolkit's practice set, including the grandparent who wants to stay for the whole session.
Keep reading
Genogram Template, the family across three generations, with a symbol key
Structural Family Therapy Mapping, how the family is organized around the problem
Family Therapy Intake Form, the questions that open the ecomap and the genogram
Free Family Therapy Toolkit, all eight templates on one page
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an ecomap?
An ecomap is a diagram of a family and its connections to the people and systems around it, such as relatives, school, work, health care and community groups. The household sits in a central circle and each connection gets its own circle, joined by a line that shows whether the connection is strong, tenuous or stressful.
Who created the ecomap?
Ann Hartman, a social work scholar, developed the ecomap in the 1970s and described it in a 1978 article in Social Casework, which was reprinted in Families in Society in 1995.
What do the lines on an ecomap mean?
In Hartman's ecomap a solid line shows a strong connection, a dashed line a tenuous one and a hatched line a stressful one. This template draws a strong connection as a thick line and adds a thin line for an ordinary one. Arrows show which way energy or resources flow, and a short note beside each line records what it means.
What is the difference between an ecomap and a genogram?
A genogram maps the family itself across at least three generations. An ecomap maps the family's present connections to the world outside the household.
Can I make an ecomap in Google Docs or Word?
Yes. Copy the Google Slides version to draw on screen, or copy the Google Docs version, which downloads as a Word file from the File menu.
References
Hartman, A. (1978). Diagrammatic assessment of family relationships. Social Casework, 59(8), 465–476. https://doi.org/10.1177/104438947805900803
Hartman, A. (1995). Diagrammatic assessment of family relationships. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 76(2), 111–122. https://doi.org/10.1177/104438949507600207
Manja, V., Nrusimha, A., MacMillan, H. L., Schwartz, L., & Jack, S. M. (2021). Use of ecomaps in qualitative health research. The Qualitative Report, 26(2), 412–442. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4565
