The time bar contains a line with the consecutive historical years at the top and, below this, a line with the client’s consecutive biological age. This information serves to promote clarity and chronological classification of the biographical events as well as the references to historical phases and events.

The Biographical Time Bar starts with the biographer’s birth. Prior events that are meaningful for them or are used by them to explain their personal development are not visible in the timeline.

Dimension of Family: This line is for recording all phases and events connected to the family of origin, the family started by the client, and their in-laws. Typical events include the births of younger siblings and own children, or the parents’ separation/divorce. Life phases refer to partnerships and marriages in particular. Deaths and diseases in the family and crises of (close) family members are also entered either under this dimension or, for the sake of clarity under “Other” or another freely named dimension.

Dimension of Living/Housing: Here, it is outlined where, how, and with whom the client has lived, with reference made to household phases. Apart from place of residence and living conditions – (rented) flat, (owned) house, shared accommodation – all persons living in the same household are listed. Whenever persons move out from or into a shared household, this is reflected in a new housing phase. In other words, all changes in terms of household composition are noted down. Exact entries are important because, e.g., it makes older siblings visible who grew up in the same household.

Dimension of Education: This dimension is dedicated to all educational activities from kindergarten and schooling through vocational training and studying to further training (on the job).

Dimension of Work: This is where all paid work activities and job changes (also within a company) are recorded. The work dimension focuses on paid work in order to derive information about the person’s social security status. Illicit work and voluntary activity are recorded under “Other” or under another, freely chosen category titled as such.

Dimension of Health: The focus of this dimension is on temporary, prolonged, or chronic impairments of a person’s physical or psychological functioning, including (severe) illnesses, chronic somatic diseases, accidents, or mental illnesses/disorders/crises, etc.

Dimension of Treatment/Assistance: This aspect serves to document all treatments and assistance in terms of Social Work, social pedagogy, logopaedics, medicine, physiotherapy an ergotherapy, psychotherapy, nursing, or other that are worth mentioning. Longer in-patient stays can also be noted under the “Housing” dimension.

Dimension of ‘Other’ or untitled lines: Apart from the aforementioned obligatory dimensions, the easyBiograph – as the digital version of the Time Bar – offers the prospect of introducing one’s own relevant biographical category. The Biographical Time Bar is thus complemented by societal events and/or tailored to the individual client. Typically, the dimensions are practically used for the following spheres of life: delinquency; leisure activities / clubs; pets; house building; severe and/or chronic (mental) illnesses / crises in the family; formative friendships/events (e.g., a fatal accident) in one’s environment; formative travels / stays abroad; migration; voluntary commitment; political commitment / membership in political parties.

Addressing the life history of clients is not necessary or even appropriate in all contexts and settings of Social Work. In any case, it requires a statement of grounds, and its purpose needs to be clear to both the Social Worker and the client.

When planning the biographical interview, the interview partners is asked to bring personal documents and materials that facilitate the reconstruction of the life history. These may include, e.g., school certificates, residential registration forms, insurance data sheets, medical records, reports by professional helpers, etc. The Social Worker, in turn, also prepares suitable records and documents that provide insights into the person’s life story. The highest degree of data accuracy is required because memory alone is usually insufficient.

Provided that biographical data was already collected in the course of an intake or assessment, it makes sense to enter it into the time bar when preparing the interview. In conversation with the client, this data is then matched and complemented. This variant has the advantage that any data collected in the organisation so far is disclosed to the client in a structured manner.

The Biographical Time Bar can be compiled exclusively on the basis of a narrative biographical interview. As a consequence, the experienced and narrated biography is extended by both a temporal dimension and facts of the lived biography, and the elements establish a connection. This approach also takes into account the fact that the life history will have to be complemented.

At least one hour should be scheduled for filling out the Biographical Time Bar. During a (second) follow-up meeting, the client has the opportunity to carry out further research and make further inquiries between these dates. Very turbulent and eventful life stories may require multiple talks in order to complete the time bar and give adequate room to the client’s experiences, emotions, and construction of meanings.

Depending on how relevant the biography is next to the life course, there are at least two possible styles of conversation that may be appropriate: first, a structured interview along the dimensions; or second, a narrative interview. Both conversation forms are described in more detail in the further documents in the toolkits section.

In the multidimensional time bar, biographical upheavals become readily visible, especially when changes occur (almost) simultaneously in several dimensions.

Although the individual stages of life were already discussed in the creation of the time bar, it nevertheless makes sense to reference them to the entire real biography. What characterises the individual dimensions? How are they connected to other spheres of life and events, respectively?

As with all biographical procedures, it is advisable to refrain from monocausal assumptions. Biographical processes are usually too complex for simplified, amateur psychology explanations such as: Experience A leads to problem B. Nevertheless, it can be reasonable to establish a potential connection between events that happened close together. Such possibilities are offered to the client as theses and discussed together.

It can also be informative to look at spheres of life that were untouched by upheavals in other spheres of life. However, it is not only past events or life phases that are relevant – a lack of biographical experiences or gaps in the CV can also be significant: e.g., a lack of partnerships or professional education, phases of unemployment, or gaps in terms of ‘treatment/aid’ despite severe health problems.

In the analysis, overall correlations and interrelationships between the spheres of life are examined. Which dimensions contain accumulations? Which are characterised by gaps? The different quantity of entries can indicate value concepts held by the client, such as an orientation towards family, career, or leisure. In which age phases do events accumulate? Which influences of past events on the client’s life course can be observed or assumed?

Not least, the focus is on status passages, that is, (stressful) transitions from one phase of life to another, on upheavals, critical life events, and challenging life phases. In conversation with the clients, the professionals explore how these have dealt with biographical challenges so far, how they have overcome them, and which attempts at coping they would assess as successful or unsuccessful in retrospect. Special attention is paid to life situations that have similarities with the current problem situation. This makes it possible for the professional and the client to jointly examine which patterns of thought and action strategies may be helpful in the present problem situation, and which attempts at solution ought to be avoided in future.