Founder's Bio
Kim Book is a survivor and the founder and program coordinator of Victims' Voices Heard.
In 1995, her only child, 17 year-old Nicole, was stabbed to death in her father's home in Delaware by a 16 year-old young man she knew. This event shaped her life and is the driving force behind her need to assist other victims/survivors of crime in their need to meet with their offender and hear them take responsibility for their crime and express remorse.
Two years after Nicole's death, Kim began volunteering in the correctional system, participating in prison programs, including the victim sensitivity program. These programs enabled her to have contact with offenders of severe violence and gain a better understanding and respect for the correctional system.
In 1998 Kim became a mediator, mediating minor offenses and in 2000 she became learned about restorative justice and severe violence dialogue programs in the United States. In 2002, with the help of the non-profit agency who employs her, People's Place, and a VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) grant, Kim was able to implement Victims' Voices Heard/Severe Violence Dialogue Program in Delaware. The VOCA grant was originally a federal funded grant. The program is currently run from State funding through the AOC (Administrative Office of the Courts).
Kim is a trained mediator and facilitator in severe violence dialogue. She received her training under Mark Umbriet, Executive Director at the Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking, at the University of Minnesota in 2000 and has had extensive training dealing with sexual assault, sexual predators and is a trained sexual assault volunteer and attended the Eastern Mennonite University and was trained in trauma strategies by STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience).
Kim works closely with victim service providers to assist them in their efforts in helping victims close another chapter in the healing process. She is a member of the Victim's Right's Task Force of Delaware, the Sex Offender Management Board (SOMB), and is active in the victims' services community of Delaware.