Welcome to Marumali
Since 2000, Winangali-Marumali has been working to increase the quality of support available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander survivors of removal policies through delivery of its Marumali program. The Marumali program is based on a unique, original & unparalleled model of healing developed and delivered by Lorraine Peeters, a survivor of the removal policies herself.
How the Marumali Program came to be
Lorraine Peeters, like many other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, suffered forcible removal from her family and was institutionalised at age four. As is common with overwhelming trauma, some reactions can be delayed until later in life, when a 'triggering event' may unleash them, often with a devastating effect on them and those around them. In Lorraine's case, the 'triggering event' was a reunion with others raised in the same institution. Flooded with memories and emotions, she thought she was going insane. Lorraine, aged in her fifties at the time, consulted a health professional who fortunately had some knowledge of this trauma, and was reassured that she was having normal human reactions to abnormal events. Once reassured she was experiencing normal human distress, Lorraine felt empowered to observe, study and seek to understand her own journey of healing in order to help others. This became her life's work.
Sigmund Freud Award 2011