SEWB Yarning Cards: Integrating Culturally Grounded Approaches Into Service Delivery—A Practice Approach

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the development and early implementation of a culturally grounded practice approach, the SEWB Yarning Cards ²⁰²¹ , designed to operationalise cultural frameworks within routine service delivery. Utilising the Social and Emotional Wellbeing (SEWB) Framework (Gee et al., 2014), the SEWB Yarning Cards aim to bridge conversations between human service professionals and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, using culturally relevant language. The SEWB Yarning Cards strive to stimulate the exploration of the seven SEWB inner domains, through facilitating culturally sensitive yarning, in an effort to bring culture to the forefront of service provision for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. By emphasising the interconnectedness of the self and well‐being, the cards have the potential to disrupt Western service delivery models, challenge entrenched practices and broaden access to Indigenous methodologies for non‐Indigenous human service providers, supporting transformative practice. By promoting culturally responsive interactions, the SEWB Yarning Cards aim to centre the voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, families and community in ways that have the potential to inform decision‐making, therapeutic interventions, referral pathways and the development of personalised culturally grounded understandings. This paper focuses on the methodological design and implementation of the approach rather than on evaluation outcomes.