BANGOR – Kim Roberts realized she wanted to help victims of sexual violence when she was 16 years old.

Growing up in Kentucky, Roberts read the book “Against Our Will” by Susan Brownmiller for a high school class. The book covered all aspects of sexual assault, and it got her fired up about the cause.

“It’s a really powerful book,” the new executive director of Rape Response Services said Friday at her office. “It made me angry for a while, but then I channeled that energy to be productive and tried to make a positive change.”

Roberts has been trying to change the way people perceive the issue of sexual violence for 20 years, and she doesn’t plan to stop any time soon.

Since taking on her new position at Rape Response Services in May, she already has begun planning ways to improve the service’s existing programs.

Based in Bangor, Rape Response Services offers support and advocacy to victims of sexual assault and their partners and aims to educate communities in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties about sexual violence crimes.

In 2005, the nonprofit organization, which is primarily funded through the state, provided more than 270 hours of counseling services through its toll-free hot line and reached out to educate more than 10,000 students from kindergarten through grade 12.

The Kentucky native previously held the executive director title for the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Abuse, based in Bangor and was involved with statewide legislation to help support domestic abuse victims. She prefers, however, to work on a smaller community level, she said.

“This new position allows me to be involved in a more personal way,” Roberts said. “I like the direct service component. We help the state know the needs of the victims.”

Roberts has some specific goals, including making programs more accessible to people who live a distance from the Bangor, Dover and East Millinocket offices, as well as generating more support groups with fun activities.

“The support groups are a nice way for people to realize others have felt the same way and see that they aren’t alone,” Roberts said. “We have done them periodically before, but we are making a big push to hold them on a more regular basis.”

The Bangor office is training four new leaders to facilitate the groups and plans to train volunteers at the other two offices.

The support groups are not meant to replace therapy sessions, Roberts said. She hopes that by using art and poetry to express themselves in support groups, victims will be able to express some of their emotions related to sexual assault.

Roberts staffed a phone hot line at a rape crisis center while working on her undergraduate and masters degrees at the University of Kentucky, so she knows how important volunteers are to running such a service.

Rape Response has close to 20 dedicated people who are on call 24 hours a day to counsel victims over the phone, she pointed out.

“The phone helps a lot because it allows people who normally wouldn’t disclose information face to face to have an outlet to voice their feelings,” Roberts said.

Although it is a slow process, Roberts thinks that Rape Response Services is making some gains when it comes to dealing with sexual assault.

Some myths which were prominent when she first started her work, such as the victim is always to blame, are still present, she said.

Another change that Roberts has considered is making the Bangor office location available for people to stop by, since it is only accessible now to those who call and ask for its address.

“It seems kind of ironic that we are in the basement, like we are trying to hide what we do,” she said. “Maybe if we change the way the office is set up, we will send the message that we aren’t ashamed and the victims shouldn’t be either.”

Because the service receives limited funding, Roberts admitted that it is often hard to reach out to everyone in Penobscot and Piscataquis counties. She said she hopes to gain more community awareness and additional support through donations.

“It’s hard because sexual violence rakes up so much emotion,” she said. “Sometimes when I tell people what I do, I get a look of discomfort. But I’m proud of what I do.”

The Rape Response Services toll-free, 24-hour hot line can be reached at (800) 310-0000, or for TTY at (888) 458-5599.