In 2022, Crystal Crowe experienced the devastating loss of her husband to suicide. Today, the recent graduate of the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) is turning her grief into growth.
The solo mom of two young children and philanthropist earned her master’s degree in psychology in June 2025 and immediately put it to use. She has also started a non-profit organization to help other spouses who also experienced loss find resources. While the path was difficult, her family and faith continue to drive her toward her goals.
“Right now, I have this little phrase I keep saying. It's a Latin phrase, ‘to God be the glory,’ but it’s said as ‘soli deo gloria,’” Crystal explains. “The thing that got me through was my faith in God, knowing that he can take this pain and use it to help others.”
Moving Forward Through Loss
A path toward education was laid for Crystal after she finished her initial bachelor’s degree in liberal studies from Cal State Fullerton. After a stint working in a preschool she took a break from her occupation to redirect her career and raise her children.
“I'm going to do something new,” she remembers thinking to herself. “Not that I didn't like it. I loved it, but I was ready for a new challenge.”
She became a stay-at-home mom. Crystal’s hiatus lasted six years, but eventually she restarted her professional career as a teacher’s aide. Soon after the first day on her new job, tragedy befell Crystal’s family when she lost her husband of 12 years to suicide.
She recalls periods of suffering that were misunderstood by those around her. The more time that passed, the less present her community became, with the assumption that her grief was fading over time. However, the opposite was true.
“They don’t realize that being a widow is severely misunderstood,” she says. “Early grief lasts the first two years, and the second year was entirely worse, because that was when no one was around, which is also when I was in school.”
While she navigated her grief, Crystal found the resources available to widows and widowers lacking and difficult to access. Thus, the Birdie Foundation was born. Crystal recently founded the non-profit to support widows and widowers seeking resources.
“There are a lot of grief groups and grief resources, but the issue that I saw was that there are all these resources, and nobody knows about them,” Crystal explains. “Nobody knows how to get to them, especially when you're grieving. And everyone kept telling me, ‘There has to be a non-profit that does this,’ and I was like, ‘Where are they?’ I don't have the bandwidth to find it, so I’m making what I couldn’t find.”
Today, she continues to gain credibility, earning distinctions as a certified grief counselor and working to build her business. While the idea is still new, Crystal hopes that The Birdie Foundation will offer reprieve to those who are in need of support.
School and Parenthood
Between hiking through the trails of southern California, cooking together, and going on various adventures, Crystal spends as much time with her children as possible.
Even when her children were young, Crystal fostered community through her church. She hosted a Mommy Ministry at least once a month as a means for other mothers to gather and connect on common ground.
“We would meet up, get together, have a devotion, let the kids play together,” she says. “Sometimes they would do a craft together. It was a social thing. Just being a mom is hard, so I just saw the need and put it together.”
The connectivity of her chosen field of psychology was more than just a means of increasing her friendship circles. She found UAGC online while searching for a program that would accommodate her schedule and existing support system. Working through her degree program helped to bolster her knowledge around loss and feelings of grief.
“The credibility is behind it, with the master’s in psychology and understanding who we are and why we do what we do, and what influences us. It helped me understand grief better,” Crystal explains.
Beyond the professional benefits, Crystal says she found solace in her studies. A supportive student body existed as an escape for her. She also joined the psychology club during her time at UAGC and fostered friendships with some of her fellow students.
“It helped me connect with others in the group, having that sense of belonging and purpose,” she says. “I felt like I poured everything into my grades because it was what I had, and it was kind of like my therapy.”
While her peers and teachers offered that support, Crystal cultivated a deeper understanding of her mindset, which was the ultimate goal of pursuing her UAGC degree.
“That is why I went back to school. And in going back to school, it was like a two-for-one,” Crystal explains. “I had so many questions, and nobody had the answers for me, and I was determined to figure things out for trauma, child development, psychology, mental health. I was like, ‘I have questions, and I need answers.’”