When It Is Used
Use it during or after case review when the clinical question is how the family is organized into functional or problematic subsystems related to the presenting problem.
Subsystem Map for Structural Family Therapy
Subsystem Map is a practitioner-only structural family therapy mapping tool. Family therapy practitioners use it to distinguish functional or problematic relational groupings, describe practitioner-entered roles or functions, and see how those subsystems relate to the presenting problem.
Explore a sample map, adjust subsystem groupings, then save the tool for your account.
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Tool guide
Learn more about this tool
Use this background section to understand when the tool fits, how practitioners use it, and what to consider before sharing it with clients.
What It Does Not Do
The tool does not score family functioning, infer pathology, prescribe intervention targets, or turn the map into a full structural-family formulation.
Repeat Use
Saved snapshots let the practitioner compare later subsystem organization with an earlier session while preserving prior maps for review.
Does Subsystem Map generate clinical interpretations?
No. Subsystem Map organizes and compares practitioner-entered participants, groupings, notes, and interactions; it does not infer pathology, causality, or intervention targets.
Can one participant appear in more than one subsystem?
Yes. The map must support overlapping membership when the practitioner's formulation requires it.
Is there a client-facing version?
No. Subsystem Map is practitioner-only; clients may inform the practitioner's entries through session interaction, but they do not complete the tool.
What is saved when I save the demo?
The tool itself and intentional reusable setup are saved. Fictional demo case content and sample snapshots are not saved as real client data by default.