THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPLETING AN ECOMAP Brandi Brown and Wendy Pittard Alabama’s Early Intervention System
SESSION OBJECTIVES • Describe the family ecology • Identify family levels of support • Complete an ECO Map using the Routines-Based Interview
TODAY’S OUTLINE • What is an ecomap? • Why use an ecomap? Why is it important? • How to create an ecomap • Ecomap examples • Open-ended questions during ecomap development • Interview tips • Small group practice
WHAT IS AN ECOMAP? An ecomap is a graphic representation (map or drawing) of the nuclear family surrounded by the families informal, formal, and intermediate support(s). Ann Hartman developed these ecological maps (or ecomaps) in 1975 as a means of depicting the ecological system that encompasses a family or individual (Hartman, 1995).
• Ecomaps are a cornerstone of the social work profession. It allows the professional to begin with clients from a strength- based and client-centered perspective, forming relationships in which client and professional work together toward client self- determination and empowerment. • Ecomaps reveal not only the relationships themselves but the quality of those relationships in the ways in which the client chooses to classify them. Clients’ connections to the systems included on an ecomap might be positive or negative, nurturing or damaging, secure or plagued by conflict and stress.
The mapping process only takes 10-15 minutes and is a concise way of gathering important family ecology information while also conveying the message that Early Intervention is concerned with the whole family, not just the child. Dr. Robin McWilliam calls the ecomap the most important activity of the intake visit. It provides the whole team with the family information.
• It is critical to understand the people with whom families are connected – so as to utilize their existing supports without inventing new ones (McWilliam, 2011). • Understanding the social supports of families is positively linked with achievement of early intervention outcomes (Dunst, 2000). • While informal conversation is often used to gather this information over time, the ecomap is a process that will gather the same information in a more efficient way, upfront, where it can be most useful in IFSP development.
ECOMAP USE • The purpose of the ecomap is to understand the families’ ecology and their environment. It is an assessment of their ecology. • Ecomaps give workers a comprehensive picture of many things, to include: family dynamics, connections to their social systems and the community, the family unit’s level of connection to the external world, areas of deprivation where resources may be needed or strengthened, and areas of service duplication.
Family Systems Theory Think of a family as a crib mobile – when you tug on one animal, it moves all of the other animals. When something good happens to the child/family, it affects the other parts of their family and life.
Two bucket theory - A parent can only fill their child’s bucket as much as their own bucket is filled.
SUPPORTS • Informal – these supports go at the top of the ecomap. They consist of family, friends, and neighbors. – Levels of support are determined by frequency of contact • Formal – these supports go at the bottom of the ecomap. They consist of doctors, therapists, early interventionists, and financial assistance. Formal supports can also be thought of as anyone who is paid to be nice to the family. – Levels of support are determined by asking how the family likes this support • Intermediate – these supports consist of work and church and go to the sides of central box.
Use lines to indicate levels of support: A lot of support = wide line • Some support = medium lines • They’re there = single line • Source of stress = broken line • Supporting someone else = arrow • toward that person
REMEMBER… The process of asking about these supports is more important than the product. In the RBI, we are not trying to capture the truth, we’re trying to capture what families want to tell us or what they perceive to be the truth (McWilliam, 2018).
ECOMAP EXAMPLE
ECOMAP EXAMPLE
ECOMAP EXAMPLE
BEGINNING THE ECOMAP Remind the family that they do • not have to say anything they don’t want to say. Say “I want to learn more • about your family and who’s already helping your family, so that we can help you with your child. “ OR, “I’d like to find out about • the people in your life so we know what supports you already have and who might be able to help meet the outcomes you set.”
QUESTIONS FOR ECOMAP DEVELOPMENT INFORMAL SUPPORTS Who lives in the home with you and your child? • If siblings in the home, how old? • Do you have family that lives close by? • Are your parents alive and together? • Do you have any siblings? • If something cool happened with one of your • children, who would you call/tell? If applicable, who would your spouse tell? OR, If you had news to share, whether it was good or • bad news, who would you call? Tell me about your neighbors. •
QUESTIONS FOR ECOMAP DEVELOPMENT FORMAL SUPPORTS Is your child receiving any other services? How • often? Are any of your other children receiving any • services? Who is your pediatrician? • What sort of financial support does your family • receive? Is there anyone paid to be nice to you? •
QUESTIONS FOR ECOMAP DEVELOPMENT INTERMEDIATE SUPPORTS What does your family do on Sunday mornings? • Do you work outside of the home? • What do you do? • Does it pay the big bucks? • What does your family like to do in your free time? •
QUESTIONS FOR ECOMAP DEVELOPMENT LEVELS OF SUPPORT Make sure to use open-ended questions when doing this. How often do you see or talk to them? (informal • supports) How do you get along with them? (formal supports) • Do you like that person? (formal supports) • Do you like what you do? (intermediate supports) •
INTERVIEW TIPS DO’S DON’T’S • Make eye contact • Look at your ecomap the whole time • Use active listening • Miss what the family has said • Show interest • Just go through the motions • Be sensitive to the family’s responses • Judge the family’s responses • Ask open-ended questions • Assume anything • Watch your body language • Have a lot of dead time (writing)
Boundaries: Families who have flexible and open boundaries have healthy relationships with people outside of the family. Families with closed boundaries have little contact with the outside world and tend to view the world with suspicion. Family members become enmeshed and sometimes depressed as there is no new input to energize relationships and thinking.
ECOMAP EXAMPLE
WRAPPING UP THE ECOMAP "Are there any other relatives, friends, people that should be in this picture?” “Is there anything else we should add?” “What do you think when you look at this?” “This will be very helpful in the team’s understanding of the different levels of support in your life. It can help us make suggestions and provide information that is relevant to your life.”
OVERVIEW OF AN ECOMAP Jackie’s Ecomap Video
JACKIE’S ECOMAP
PRACTICE - Choose a partner - Interviewee: Use your own family, a family you work with, or make it up - Interviewer: Begin by explaining the purpose of the Ecomap and then complete it - Switch roles
QUESTIONS?? Presenter Contact Info Brandi Brown: brandi.brown@rehab.alabama.gov Wendy Pittard: wendy.pittard@rehab.alabama.gov
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