My network

How it works

1. Type a name, or who it is, such as grandad or the neighbour. A first name is enough.
2. Choose how close that person is. If you want, also choose what kind of contact it is, such as family or neighbourhood. Press Add.
3. The name appears in the drawing and in the list. Is it not the right place after all? Then move the person closer or further away, or remove them.
4. Talk about the questions under Things to talk about. You can write your answer next to them.
5. Print everything: the drawing, the list and the questions, with space to write.

What is close by?

The inner circle is for the people who are very important to you. They do not have to be family. A bit further away are people you know and see sometimes. Further away are people you talk to less often, or see for just one thing, like your hairdresser.

A group can go in too, like your sports club or the people at the community centre. And a pet as well.

Together or on your own

With a client, it works well when you first get to know each other, or at a moment when you want to look together at who can help. Print the drawing at the end, so it goes home with them.

Are there only a few people in it, or nobody? Then think further together: about the neighbours, someone from the past, or the people at the shop or the club.

Print your network and keep it. Do it again after a few months, so you can see what has changed.

Where it comes from

Care workers in health and social care sometimes make an overview, together with someone, of the people around that person. This is called mapping the network. There are different ways to do it. One of them is the network circle: the people closest to someone go in the middle, and people who are further away go more towards the outside.

My network is our own simple version, with three circles. It does not give a score. We wrote the questions ourselves.

Good to know

• A surname is not needed. A first name, a nickname or a role is enough. That way there is no more about other people on your screen or on paper than needed.
• Does a name no longer fit in the drawing, or is your screen narrow? Then the names are in the list. The list is always complete.
• Everything works with the keyboard. Press Tab to go to the next field or the next button.
• Do you often feel lonely? Talk about it with someone you trust, or with your GP or a care worker.

Your data

What you fill in is not saved and not sent. If you refresh or close the page, everything is gone. With Start again you clear everything straight away, for example on a computer you share with others.

If you choose ‘Save as PDF’ when you print, your network is saved as a file on your device.

Sources

• Movisie, Aan de slag met het sociale netwerk (external website). A guide for professionals in health and social care (in Dutch), published in January 2024. Read on 30 September 2026.