Meet Kimberly Armstrong: Turning Lived Experience into Support for Families
For Kimberly Armstrong, joining The Arc Pikes Peak Region as a Family Navigator for School and Life feels less like the beginning of something new and more like the next chapter of a journey she has been on for decades.
Kimberly has spent more than 20 years working in healthcare and caregiving, including supporting older adults, people with disabilities, and families navigating complex systems. She earned her CNA license more than two decades ago and later worked in home health, group homes, nursing facilities, and case management. Throughout those experiences, one thing became clear: supporting others was more than a job. It was something she felt called to do.
“I believe that we all have a purpose for being here on this earth,” Kimberly shared. “And my purpose is to be a caregiver.”
That calling became even more personal when Kimberly became the mother of her daughter, Bella.
Bella was born at just 26 weeks, weighing one pound, four ounces. She spent seven and a half months in the hospital and continues to use a tracheostomy and ventilator support at night. Suddenly, Kimberly was no longer only helping other families navigate healthcare and disability services. She was navigating those same systems as a parent herself.
Fortunately, Kimberly already had years of experience behind her. Through her work as an IHSS case manager, she understood home health services, agencies, care coordination, and the importance of communicating with doctors, therapists, social workers, and other members of a care team. That knowledge helped her advocate for Bella and prepare for the transition home from the hospital.
But knowledge of the system did not make every part of the journey easy.
Kimberly has experienced firsthand the fear, exhaustion, frustration, and uncertainty that families can face when caring for a child with significant support needs. Those experiences have shaped the way she thinks about advocacy today.
For Kimberly, effective advocacy is not simply about knowing what to ask for. It is also about helping families feel heard and helping them communicate their experiences in a way that brings everyone to the same table.
“Your emotions are valid,” she said. “A lot of families get shifted to the side and they get angry because they can’t express their pain. It’s their pain. It’s their confusion. It’s their experiences that they’ve had. It’s the no’s that they’ve been told. It’s the waiting period. It’s the change of staff that they’ve had to deal with.”
Kimberly believes listening is one of the most important things someone can offer a family.
If a parent came to her feeling completely overwhelmed, she said her first instinct would not be to immediately hand them a list of resources. She would start by getting to know them.
“I would ask them about themselves first,” she explained. “I would ask them what they feel they need.” And if the answer is simply, “I don’t know,” Kimberly understands that sometimes the first step is simply giving someone space to talk. “We do have to listen,” she said.
Finding Community Along the Way
Kimberly’s connection to The Arc-PPR began long before she became an employee.
She first knew of The Arc through her work in the disability community. Later, she and Bella participated in Cool CATS activities and other programs at The Arc-PPR. During those visits, Kimberly remembers thinking, “Man, it would be so cool to be here.”
When a Family Navigator position eventually became available, she applied.
Now, the organization that Kimberly once visited with her daughter has become the place where she gets to use both her professional knowledge and lived experience to support other families.
“I am just over the moon,” she said. “I get to be myself and I get to work with families, and that’s the biggest impact, and share resources. I’m just so excited with the future.”
That excitement also comes from seeing The Arc-PPR expand its work with children, teens, and families. Kimberly sees an opportunity to help families find community-based support as they navigate school, healthcare, services, and everyday life.
A Life Lived in the Community
One lesson Kimberly has carried throughout Bella’s life is the importance of being part of the community.
After Bella came home from the hospital, going somewhere was not always simple. Outings could require a ventilator, oxygen, emergency supplies, and plenty of preparation. But Kimberly was determined that Bella would still have opportunities to participate in family and community life.
When Kimberly’s older son had football games, Bella came too.
“We had a wagon, we had a vent, we had oxygen, we had emergency bags, we had everything in it, and we had to go to football,” Kimberly recalled. With the support of other families, they found a way to make it work.
That philosophy continues today.
Kimberly and Bella travel, take road trips, visit family, go to water parks, and make memories together. For Kimberly, those experiences are about more than having fun. They are part of creating a full life.
“We can’t stay home,” she said.
She also encourages caregivers to be intentional about caring for themselves and maintaining relationships with the people around them.
“You have to be intentional,” Kimberly said. “Be intentional with your friends, be intentional with your family. Just be intentional with taking time to breathe and take for yourself.”
Bringing Experience Full Circle
Kimberly’s path has taken her from professional caregiver to case manager, to parent advocate, and now to Family Navigator at The Arc Pikes Peak Region.
Each experience has given her another perspective on what families may be carrying when they walk through the door.
She knows that navigating disability services can feel complicated. She knows what it is like to sit across from medical professionals and advocate for your child. She knows what it is like to balance caregiving with work, family, relationships, and your own needs.
And perhaps most importantly, she knows the value of having someone beside you.
Throughout Bella’s early years, Kimberly found that support in another mother she met while their children were receiving medical care. Their children had different diagnoses but shared many similar experiences, and the families walked through much of that journey together.
“I wouldn’t even have made it through my journey without having that support,” Kimberly said.
Now, she can be part of that support system for someone else.
As Kimberly begins her new role with The Arc-PPR, she brings years of professional knowledge with her. But she also brings something that cannot be learned from a training manual: an understanding of what it feels like to be the family asking the questions, searching for resources, speaking up, adapting to change, and finding a way forward.
And she is ready to meet families wherever they are.