Free Therapist Training›Family Therapy Toolkit›Genogram Template
Last updated: November 11, 2026
A genogram is a diagram of a family across at least three generations. It records who belongs to the family, how each person is related to the others, the births, deaths, partnerships and separations in its history, and how close or distant the important relationships are. Family therapists, social workers, counselors and psychologists use it to see a presenting problem in the context of the family's history and to find patterns that repeat from one generation to the next.
The template below has a symbol key, a blank three-generation layout and a checklist of what to record, and a completed genogram for an invented family follows it. Print the PDF to draw by hand, or copy the Google Slides version to draw on screen; from the File menu you can download it as PowerPoint or PDF, and the Google Docs version downloads as Word. 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
What to record
| Item | What to record |
|---|---|
| People | Everyone in at least three generations, living and dead: partners and former partners, children, pregnancies and pregnancy losses. |
| Names, ages and dates | First name, age or year of birth, and the year and cause of any death. |
| Partnerships | Marriages, partnerships, living together, separations and divorces, each with its year. |
| Children | In birth order, oldest on the left, including adoption, fostering and guardianship. |
| Household | Who lives together now, including anyone who lives there part of the time. |
| Health | Serious physical or mental illness, disability, and alcohol or drug problems. |
| Work and school | Occupations, education and school difficulties. |
| Culture and migration | Countries of origin, migration, languages, religion and other identities members name. |
| Relationships | Who is close, very close, distant, in conflict or cut off from whom. |
| Key events | Births, deaths, moves, losses and illnesses, especially around the time the problem began. |
| Patterns | What repeats across generations: roles, symptoms, conflicts, cutoffs and ways of coping. |
Start with the household, then each adult's family of origin. Ask everyone present, and when accounts differ, note both. Date the genogram, because it will change as the family tells you more.
What Does a Completed Genogram Look Like?
The genogram below was drawn at the first session with the Hale-Carter family, an invented blended family referred by a school counselor because 15-year-old Ava had been missing her first-period class two or three times a week and was arguing with her stepfather most evenings. The key dates and the patterns noted under it show what the drawing adds to the referral.
Key dates
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1979 | Gary and Linda marry. Gary drinks heavily through Chris's childhood and stops in 2010. |
| 2008 | Chris and Nicole move in together. Their son Tyler is born in 2009. |
| 2009 | Jenna and Mark marry. Ava is born in 2011 and Ben in 2014. |
| 2014 | Chris and Nicole separate. Tyler divides his time between their homes. |
| 2016 | Jenna and Mark divorce, with joint legal custody. Mark moves to Arizona in 2017. |
| 2019 | Jenna's father Ray dies of a heart attack. Ava, then 8, was close to him. |
| 2021 | Jenna and Chris marry. Jenna, Ava and Ben move into Chris's house, where Tyler lives half-time. |
| August 2026 | Jenna starts night shifts at the hospital. Chris takes over evenings for the first time. |
| September 2026 | Ava's angry outbursts at home and missed classes begin. |
| October 2026 | The school counselor refers the family for family therapy. |
Patterns to explore with the family
- Ava's outbursts began a month after Jenna started night shifts, which put Chris in charge of evenings for the first time.
- Jenna is close to Ava and very close to her own mother, Diane. When Chris sets a rule, Ava turns to Jenna, which suggests a triangle of Ava, Jenna and Chris.
- Chris grew up with a father who drank heavily, and he describes avoiding conflict until he loses his temper. His distance from Gary may bear on how he handles conflict with Ava.
- Ava lost her grandfather at 8 and sees her father a few times a year. How the family talks about those losses is worth asking about.
These are hypotheses to test with the family, not conclusions. The genogram suggests questions; the family's answers decide which ones matter.
How Do You Draw a Genogram With a Family?
Start the genogram in the first or second session and keep adding to it. Tell the family why you are asking: the questions help you understand the problem in the context of the family's history, and they often help the family see that history differently. Then work outward from the people in the room.
- Start with the household: who lives there, their ages, and how each person is related to the others.
- Draw each adult's family of origin: parents, brothers and sisters, and their partners and children where they matter.
- Add the grandparents' generation, with dates of death and causes where the family knows them.
- Ask about events: births, deaths, moves, illnesses, migrations, separations and job losses, with the year of each.
- Ask about relationships: who is close to whom, who argues, who no longer speaks to whom.
- Ask about the problem across generations: has anyone else in the family struggled with something like this, and how did the family respond?
Keep the pace gentle around deaths, losses and secrets, and leave out what a family member does not want written down. When two people tell the story differently, record both versions; the difference is information. Date the genogram, because it will change as the family trusts you with more.
What Do the Genogram Symbols Mean?
The core symbols in the template follow the format in Monica McGoldrick, Randy Gerson and Sueli Petry's Genograms: Assessment and Treatment, a book many family therapists learn from: a square for a man or boy, a circle for a woman or girl, an X inside the symbol for a death with the years of birth and death beside it, a solid line for a marriage and children in birth order. The rest of the key follows common practice. The index person, usually the client whose problem brought the family in, has a double outline, and in this key a living person's age goes inside the symbol.
Lines between partners show the kind of relationship: a solid line for marriage, a dashed line for living together, one slash for a separation and two for a divorce, each with its year. Children hang from their parents' line in birth order, oldest on the left, with each generation on its own row. Shading the lower half of a symbol marks an alcohol or drug problem, with a note on recovery where it applies. Sources differ on the lines for adopted and foster children and on how to mark a household; in this key a dashed line marks an adopted child, a dotted line a foster child, and a dashed outline the people who live together now.
Relationship lines vary most between sources and software. This key uses two parallel lines for a close relationship, three for a very close or fused one, a dotted line for distance, a zigzag for conflict, and a broken line for a cutoff, when two people have stopped contact. Conventions for gender identity and sexual orientation vary too: a 2022 standard for genetic pedigrees draws each person by gender identity and uses a diamond for a person who is not solely male or female, while some practitioners propose a single symbol for everyone, with gender written beside it. Whatever you use, keep the key with the genogram and write the term each person uses for themselves.
How Many Generations Should a Genogram Show?
Three generations is the usual minimum: the client's generation, the parents' and the grandparents'. Patterns that matter, such as a role one child plays in every generation, a history of early deaths or a series of cutoffs, rarely show in fewer. Add a fourth generation when grandchildren are part of the household or when the family's history reaches further back in a way that bears on the problem.
A genogram shows the family from the inside. An ecomap shows its ties to the world around it, such as school, work and relatives outside the household, and a structural map shows how the family is organized around the problem right now. Many clinicians draw all three in the first few sessions.
Using Genograms in Social Work, Counseling and Training
Genograms are used well beyond family therapy. Social workers use them alongside ecomaps in family assessments and child welfare work, counselors and psychologists use them to take a family history, and many graduate programs ask students to draw one as an exercise in seeing a family as a system. The same template works in each setting; adjust what you record to the question you are trying to answer.
Practice next: staying out of triangles
A genogram often shows a triangle: two people in conflict and a third drawn in, as Jenna is drawn into the conflict between Ava and Chris in the example. The first test of a therapist in that family is an invitation to take a side.
Watch episode 13: Avoiding TriangulationSystemic therapy pagePractice set in the toolkit
Rehearse responses to the triangle statements in the toolkit's practice set until you can decline a side warmly and hand the question back to the people concerned.
Keep reading
Ecomap Template, the family's ties to school, work, relatives and services, with a completed example
Structural Family Therapy Mapping, a mapping key adapted from Minuchin, with a map of the same family at assessment and a goal map
Circular Questions in Family Therapy, 64 questions that fill in a genogram's relationship lines
Free Family Therapy Toolkit, all eight templates on one page
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a genogram?
A genogram is a diagram of a family across at least three generations. It shows who belongs to the family, how they are related, the major events in its history and the quality of key relationships, using standard symbols such as squares for men and circles for women.
How many generations should a genogram include?
At least three: the client's generation, the parents' and the grandparents'. Add a fourth when grandchildren live in the household or when earlier history bears on the problem.
What do the lines on a genogram mean?
Lines between partners show marriage (solid), living together (dashed), separation (one slash) and divorce (two slashes). Lines down to children show birth order, adoption (dashed) and fostering (dotted). Relationship lines show closeness (two or three lines), distance (dotted), conflict (zigzag) and cutoff (a broken line).
How do you show someone who is not a man or a woman on a genogram?
Sources and software differ. One option, from a 2022 genetic pedigree standard, is a diamond for a person who is not solely male or female, with the term the person uses written beside it. Whatever you choose, show it in the key so anyone reading the genogram knows what it means.
Is there a Word or PDF version of this genogram template?
Yes. The PDF prints on letter paper. The Google Slides version can be downloaded as PowerPoint or PDF from the File menu, and the Google Docs version as a Word file.
Can social workers use this genogram template?
Yes. The template follows the conventions family therapists and social workers share, and it pairs with the ecomap template for a family assessment.
References
Bennett, R. L., French, K. S., Resta, R. G., & Austin, J. (2022). Practice resource-focused revision: Standardized pedigree nomenclature update centered on sex and gender inclusivity: A practice resource of the National Society of Genetic Counselors. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 31(6), 1238–1248. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.1621
McGoldrick, M., Gerson, R., & Petry, S. (2020). Genograms: Assessment and treatment (4th ed.). W. W. Norton & Company.
