Everything about ecomaps, in one place.
Definitions, line styles, clinical examples, AI tools, and HIPAA-conscious workflow. Built for social workers, therapists, counselors, and case managers.
Guides & references
Conceptual background, conventions, and comparisons.
What is an ecomap?
Step-by-step guide to building one.
ReadEcomap in social work
How practitioners use ecomaps in client assessment.
ReadEcomap symbols & legend
Every line style and arrowhead convention.
ReadEcomap examples (10 cases)
Composite walkthroughs across clinical domains.
ReadEcomap history (Hartman 1978)
The origin story of social work's most visual assessment tool.
ReadEcomap vs genogram vs family tree
Three diagrams, three purposes.
ReadGenogram vs ecomap (pairwise)
Side-by-side comparison guide.
ReadUsing genogram + ecomap together
When clinicians combine both diagrams.
ReadBy clinical domain
Domain-specific playbooks and starter templates.
FAQ
What is an ecomap?+
An ecomap is a visual diagram developed by Dr. Ann Hartman in 1975 that shows how a person or family connects to the systems in their environment — family, work, school, healthcare, community organizations, faith, friends. Line styles convey the quality of each relationship (strong, weak, stressful, conflictual) and arrows show direction of energy flow.
What is GenogramAI's ecomap tool?+
A full ecomap canvas with AI generation (from text or from a photo of a hand-drawn ecomap), drag-and-drop editing, Hartman-standard line styles, system categorization, PDF export, and HIPAA-conscious Clinical Mode. Works as a peer to our genogram tool — pick which one via the dashboard pill chooser.
Where do I start?+
If you have a case in mind, go straight to the AI ecomap generator and paste a description. If you want to learn first, read the "what is an ecomap" guide. If you have a paper ecomap to digitize, use the from-image flow.
Free Downloadable Guides
Print-ready PDFs you can reference anytime — no sign-up required.