Spiritual Ecograms: A New Assessment Instrument for Identifying Clients' Strengths in Space and across Time

Abstract

Increasing recognition exists for the vital role of spirituality in the lives of many clients, yet relatively few assessment instruments have been developed. This article presents a new assessment instrument—the spiritual ecogram—that taps information in space and across time. In addition to combining the assessment strengths of spiritual ecomaps and genograms in a single diagrammatic instrument, ecograms depict the connections between past and present functioning. Historical influences on current systems can be seen as well as current relationships to historical influences. This article also includes a case example, information on conducting a spiritually competent assessment, and a discussion of some spiritual interventions that flow from ecograms.