GenoPro : A practical solution for Social workers
GenoPro offers a solution for gathering family and psychosocial information
from your clients in an accessible format. As a result of using GenoPro, you
will have a better understanding of the background and the issues present in
a family unit, and you will be better prepared to help people find ways of
dealing with their mental health problems.
GenoPro allows you to create psychosocial genograms that illustrate the
emotional and social relationships in which your client is involved.
Psychosocial genograms help social workers acquire more objective and
consistent information from the client, underlining key issues to discuss in
client counseling. Genograms are central to the family history of each
client and can serve many purposes in client care.
Family
Genograms created with GenoPro provide a visual display of the family and the
complexities of family relationships. They provide a quick visual reference
of various categories of family information that can influence the physical
and emotional health of a client: family structure, pattern repetition in
families, family relationships, and family balance and imbalance. For
example, a genogram may demonstrate that a 16-year-old female client dealing
with suicidal thoughts lives in a family ridden with conflict, her parents
having recently divorced. Inquiring about family relationships communicates
strongly to the client that you believe family factors influence mental
health, that you are open to discussions on family matters. Your clients may
feel free to bring up concerns about sensitive issues such as domestic
violence more quickly than they would have otherwise done so.
Emotional relationships
GenoPro allows you to visualize emotional bonds between individuals composing
a family or social unit. Each type of emotional relationship is uniquely
designed and color-coded for easy assessment of the level of cohesiveness
within a family or a group. For example, a 78-year-old widowed woman who is
having difficulty with independent living and who has a son with whom she
has a hostile relationship and an estranged daughter who lives overseas will
require social assistance and placement in a community care centre as family
support cannot be expected.
Social relationships
GenoPro also allows you to include the social relationships in which your
client is involved. You can illustrate the places they attend such as
schools, churches, youth facilities, associations or senior residences. For
example, a 26-year-old male client living in a rehabilitation center because
of his alcoholism will require less intervention on your part than a
28-year-old gang member attending AA meetings. You can also illustrate the
people and places that relate to the clients work. With the use of
genograms, your ability to connect seemingly individual problems to
underlying family and social structures will allow you to have a helping
practice that moves beyond a narrow focus on individual pathology and victim
blaming.
Family patterns
Displaying family patterns in a genogram can pave the way for client education
about risky behavior. Highlighting a family tendency of alcoholism,
substance abuse, depression, or violence may encourage the client to be
particularly aware of these issues in their own lives and may help you lead
your client to empowerment and liberation. A genogram indicating that a
teenage client with no sense of consequences has a natural mother who was an
alcoholic will help you be on the lookout for other of Fetal Alcohol
Syndrome symptoms. These patterns may also show unresolved problems that
require attention such as bereavement or neglect.
Reports
Standard symbols and codes have been developed so that genograms can be read
and interpreted systematically. GenoPro also allows you generate detailed
reports with a simple click of the mouse. These reports will allow you to
incorporate family dynamics and psychosocial issues in your counseling
approach.
A practical solution
Genograms can be done during the initial session with almost every new client.
Not only will you be able to make a careful family risk assessment, but
clients will be able use this tool as a lens to look at themselves in the
context of their family. Once you have included a genogram in their personal
file, it can continue to serve as a "family scorecard" for subsequent
sessions. The social worker who scans a client's genogram before a
counseling session can quickly review the basic family situation. For
example, the needs of a household where the father is incarcerated and has a
history of domestic violence will be quite different from those of a
single-parent family in financial crisis. By using GenoPro, you will be able
to quickly evaluate what needs can be satisfied by family resources, and
what social resources will need to be provided to the families in need.
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