Practitioner Restorative Stories
About the Practitioner
Wayne believes that Yarning Circles are the epitome of Restorative Practice and have been used by Aboriginal people for thousands of years,
He works with students and staff at the University of Canberra, teaching them the principles of Yarning Circles.
Wayne says in the law you have to prove there is a wrong, however Yarning Circles get people together in order to come up with the best solution.
Yarning Circles provides a level playing field for everyone. Everyone participates and everyone learns from each other.
The Ngunnawal Centre is the focal point for Indigenous students at the University of Canberra.
While at UC studying law, Wayne became well known to many Ngunnawal elders at the centre and was subsequently asked by them to use his skills, and understanding of the law, to become a member of the Galanbany Circle Court.
Wayne has a PhD in Indigenous Studies and is an undergraduate in Law.
He spent eight years as a member of the Galanbany Circle Court in the ACT, where he was one the Indigenous Elders who made recommendations to the magistrate on the sentencing of indigenous people, both juveniles and adults, who had pleaded guilty to the offence with which they had been charged.
He now works with a group of about 30 academics at the University of Canberra, helping them to understand Indigenous culture. They in turn, use this knowledge to educate their students.
Organisation
- Senior Lecturer in Indigenous Culture
- Children's Court
- District Court
- Community based
- DPP
- Family Court
- Juvenile Justice
- Local Court
- Local police
- Magistrates Court
- Police Prosecutors
- Public prison system
- Referrals from the justice system
- School
- Supreme Court
- University
- Victims of crimes
- Advocacy
- Child and Family support services
- Community Development/Education
- Consultancy
- Corrections and prisons
- Counselling
- Criminal Justice
- Culture change
- Education - University
- Elder Abuse
- Facilitation
- Family Dispute Mediation
- Family Dispute Resolution
- Family group conferencing
- Family violence advocacy
- Gendered violence
- Grief and loss
- Human rights
- Leadership development
- Neighbourhood dispute resolution
- Policy development
- Program development
- Reflective practice
- Research
- Responding to child sexual abuse
- Responding to sexual assault/harm
- Restorative Circles
- Restorative Conferencing
- Restorative Practice meetings
- Rights of carers
- Rights of older people
- Rights of people with disabilities
- Rights of those experiencing mental ill health
- Secure mental health services
- Sexual assault
- Support groups
- Team Building
- Training
- Violence risk assessment
- Violence risk management
- Workplace assessment
- Workplace Conferencing
- Workplace Training
- Youth justice