For social work professionals
Ecomap app for social workers
Create Hartman-standard ecomaps for family assessment, case documentation, and child welfare practice — natively on iPad, offline by default.
Download for iPad — 7-day free trialHow social workers use ecomaps
Intake & Family Assessment
Capture the client's full ecological context at intake — which systems are present, how engaged they are, and where the stress is concentrated.
Child Welfare & CPS
Document family support networks for court, identify kinship placement options, and track removal and placement history visually.
Case Documentation
Create clear visual records of complex ecological situations for case files, supervision, and agency documentation requirements.
Case Management
Track how the network of services around a client shifts over time — adding a new support, documenting a lost connection, updating energy flow.
Trauma-Informed Practice
Surface where a client is depleted, isolated, or receiving coercive pressure — patterns that text-based notes often miss.
Hospital & Medical Social Work
Document a patient's home support network during hospitalization to inform discharge planning and follow-up care.
The notation social workers already know
Hartman Lines
- • Strong / close
- • Moderate
- • Weak / tenuous
- • Stressful
- • Conflictual
- • Broken / severed
Extended Clinical
- • Enmeshed / fused
- • Ambivalent
- • Mandated / court-ordered
- • Abusive / harmful
- • Coercive / controlling
- • Emerging / developing
Energy Flow
- • Resources flow toward client
- • Energy flows away from client
- • Mutual exchange
- • No directional flow
- • Contact frequency badge
- • Per-edge clinical notes
How to create a social work ecomap
Place the client at the center
Tap 'Start with a person' or 'Start with a family' on the dashboard. Enter the client's name, age, pronouns, and presenting concern.
Add the surrounding systems
Drop in the relevant systems — school, work, healthcare, family, friends, faith, government services. Size each one to show its prominence in the client's life.
Draw the connections
Use the Connect tool to link each system to the center. Choose a Hartman relationship type (strong, stressful, conflictual…) and the direction of energy flow.
Add context notes
Tap any node or edge to open the inspector and add clinical notes — presenting issues, history, barriers to engagement.
Export for the file
Share to PDF, PNG, or SVG for the case file, supervision session, court report, or team presentation.
Frequently asked questions
Why do social workers use ecomaps?
Social workers use ecomaps to visually document a client's relationship to the systems around them — school, work, healthcare, family, faith, government services, and community. The Hartman format shows not just which systems are present but how strong each connection is and whether resources flow toward or away from the client, making it an essential intake and case-planning tool.
How is an ecomap different from a genogram?
A genogram looks backward — mapping family relationships and medical history across generations. An ecomap looks outward in the present — mapping the client's relationship to the broader ecological systems around them right now. Many social workers use both together for a complete picture.
What connection types are built in?
The full Hartman set: strong, moderate, weak, stressful, conflictual, and broken. Plus an extended clinical set: enmeshed, distant, ambivalent, cutoff, abusive, mandated, dependent, estranged, coercive, and emerging. Each line can also carry an energy-flow arrow (toward client, away from client, mutual, or none).
Can I export ecomaps for case documentation?
Yes. Export to PDF, PNG, or SVG for case files, court reports, supervision, and team meetings. Files are exported directly from your iPad — no upload to a server required.
Is client data kept private?
Yes. All ecomap files are stored locally on your iPad under iOS Data Protection. The app contains no analytics, ads, or third-party SDKs. Optional iCloud Drive sync uses your own Apple account.
Does the app work offline?
Yes — Ecomap Creator works entirely offline. No internet connection is required to create, edit, or export ecomaps.
Start mapping your clients' worlds
7-day free trial. Export to PDF for case documentation. Files stay on your iPad.
Download for iPad