Yubbi Yarning Circle Model: Collective Narratives and Cultural Expression in the Journey of Trauma

This article describes a “working model” that started as a culturally appropriate workshop created by students and staff involved in the Certificate III in Visual Arts at Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE, Shepparton Campus, Victoria in 2018. The Yubbi Yarning Circle Model (YYCM) sees First Nations Artists, as both Facilitators and Storytellers, expressing the ongoing effects of Aboriginal Exemption using visual storytelling. We explore how the model of a visual narrative can be utilised in further cultural activities planned for research into Aboriginal Exemption and how this art resource may effectively be disseminated to Storytellers who not only have a history of Aboriginal Exemption, but also more broadly in the wider community. The YYCM approach is multi-disciplinary and combines the cultural healing practices of the Yarning Circle, the Mariku knowledge of symbology, participatory action research using decolonised methodologies and findings on behavioral research from Northern Ireland about how the narrative can heal trauma.     

Best Practices for Serving Traumatized Children and Families

This paper highlights the traumatic impact of child abuse and neglect upon children and adolescents who are commonly seen in court systems. In addition to describing prevalence rates of trauma exposure and psychological reactions among traumatized children, it addresses the need for judges and court personnel to work with children and families in a manner that is sensitive to their traumatic experiences and emphasizes the need for these children to receive the very best evidence‐based care available in order to help them more effectively cope and recover from trauma exposure. Cultural issues and model adaptations are covered in relation to the use of evidence‐based practices with children from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Specific recommendations are given to help judges and court personnel become better informed about the use of evidence‐based practices for treating child trauma, enabling them to respond more sensitively and appropriately in these cases.     

Thinking strategically: Japan after the Cold War

How should the Japanese think about their security now the cold War is over? What if the US pulled out of East Asia? Robyn Lim, professor of international relations at Hiroshima Shudo University, suggests that Japan badly needs a mature debate about strategic issues. It would be a dangerous delusion, she says, to think that Japan could use its economic strength to achieve strategic security. Without the protection that alliances provide, the world can be a cruel place in which security can deteriorate overnight. Delusions held by both left and right in Japan risk fostering the belief in the US that the Japanese people are incapable of accepting any responsibility for themselves, and so are not worth defending.     

Use (you) snooze you lose

Two registrations were cancelled based on analogous use wherethe petitioner for cancellation established priority and metthe burden of proof to rebut the presumption of validity bypreponderance of evidence.