Understand your client’s complex ecosystem using our ready-made ecomap templates. Quickly figure out the connections and plan effective interventions to address both support and stress sources.
An ecomap is a visual representation of an individual's personal, social, and community connections. It maps relationships with family, friends, organizations, and institutions to assess support systems, identify stressors, and guide interventions. Symbols and lines illustrate the nature, strength, and stability of these connections.
An ecomap uses different lines to depict relationships and indicate whether they are strong, weak, stable or conflicted. Here are the most common types of lines used in an ecomap:
Our ecomap templates are designed following best practices, demonstrating all these lines and connections along with their legends for better understanding. Images, shapes, colors, lines and other elements are fully customizable. It's as simple as drag-and-drop to map relationships, either for an intricate network or a uniquely mapped ecomap.
Creating a complex ecomap can be challenging, but simplifying certain elements can improve clarity. Consider these strategies:
An ecomap may include informal support which represents unpaid assistance from close connections like family, friends, and social circles. Formal support comes from paid resources such as schools, daycare centers, doctors, and intervention programs.
There is no single set of questions to ask a client, but the following can serve as a general starting point.
Consider including the following elements in your ecomap:
Energy flow in an ecomap represents the quality of relationships, including support, harmony, and conflict.
Energy flow is represented in an ecomap as follows:
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