My mother and father were both born in El Salvador, San Salvador. They met in their country through a mutual friend, but never dated. My mother immigrated to the United States in the year of 1980. She was eighteen years old then. She finished high school and worked on a secretary degree. When she arrived to this country she co-resided with one of her male brother’s and his girlfriend. They helped each other economically and emotionally. …show more content…
As noted by McGoldrick (2015) constructing a genogram requires that one collect information and constantly revise the genogram as new information emerges. Constructing my family genogram allowed me to get in touch with many emotions. I felt a lot of pain as I remembered the first ten years of my life. I remember my parent’s dysfunctional relationship and my experience as a sexually abused child. I recalled that during my teen years my mother was hardly home. She worked long hours in order to provide for my sister and me, therefore, I only interacted with her at nights. As I continued my genogram, I felt guilt for not attempting to contact my two other siblings Gerber and Martha. I felt guilt for ignoring their existence. In contrast, I also felt extreme happiness for having much support and love from my mother. I felt grateful for having a great relationship with my sister, Nancy. She was the person who attended my parent-teacher conferences and the one to give me the talk about becoming a “lady”. As I reflected on my experience as a young adult, I felt blessed for having the family I have, as well as for selecting Juan as my other better half. I am thankful for having Juan in my life. He has always been so supportive of me. In addition, I felt blessed for having found Muñeka. She has been one to show me what conditional love is. Constructing my family genogram allowed me to reflect upon my family history, my personal life, and …show more content…
McGoldrick (2015) writes that “genograms help social workers get to know their client” and helps in building rapport as well. Another reason why genograms should be implemented in social workers practice is that “they are tangible and graphic representations of complex family patterns” (McGoldrick, 2015). Genograms allow individuals to learn about their family relationships. In addition, the creation of a genogram allows individuals to validate their family history (McGoldrick, 2015). My family genogram allowed me to become more self-aware and I was able to validate my family history. As an emerging social worker who benefitted from building a genogram, I can visualize how my future co participants could benefit from building their own family