Lainey Crown

Share your military spouse story:
My story started when my cousin, Brown, stood next to Crown at morning formation. I then met my cousin's Army friend at his wedding and the rest is history. My military spouse story is unique in that my husband served Active Duty and when he transitioned to the Guard, he went to a unit states away due to his MOS- which is not uncommon for this specialized series. His unit is in Alabama while we live in Kentucky. During a deployment, the isolation from the unit led me to become involved in the military nonprofit space and it is in those roles I found my calling. While serving on the Special Forces Shield Maidens leadership team, I saw the gap in access to culturally competent mental health counseling. Seeing spouses post over and over desperate to find a counselor who understood them drove me to a major career shift. At the time, I had owned a mobile boutique for 5 years but felt led to close shop and pursue this new path to support service members and their families. I am now a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor working full time at a local community mental health center; a mom of 3 very active kids; and a dedicated advocate for those who work in high trauma exposure environments and their families to have access to high quality mental health care. In my free time I find joy in giving back to the military and first responder community through collaborating on projects to support their mental health needs.

Share an example of your leadership experience within the military community:
When I think of leadership, it is more than a title and I lean into the servant leadership approach. Being physically so far away from my husband's unit, I have taken on leadership roles in the non-profit space rather than at the unit level. For the last 5 years, I have served on Special Forces Shield Maidens leadership team where I have developed programs to meet spouses needs; routinely work to connect spouses to resources; and assist spouses build their community. I also serve Military Special Operations Family Collaborative in several capacities utilizing my professional experiences to support the mental health needs in the Special Operations community.

Describe your involvement in the military community:
As a National Guard spouse, states away from my husband's unit, I have had to be very intentional in order to show up for other spouses. It has been my goal and honor to create the active duty team culture as best we can with spouses spread across 5 states. Further, due to my schooling and expertise in mental health, I have become a go-to resource for many spouses. It is an honor to continually have service members and spouses reach out and be able to connect them to the resources they need, whether that is formally through my roles in the nonprofit sector or informally when a spouse hears about me through the grapevine.

Describe how you support your community:
I have a passion for making sure the military community feels seen and heard in their struggles as well as their ability to thrive. I work to find fellow military spouses and organizations with this passion and collaborate because we are stronger together. I have worked to build clinician support for the military community through providing training at the university and state level. I also have developed and implemented cultural competency training for all new hires at the agency I work for.

What do you advocate for? Why?
Since closing my store and pursuing my master's degree in counseling, I have realized access is not the only barrier to mental health care. I advocate for equipping service members and their families with quality educational tools and resources to help understand how the brain works so they can make informed decisions regarding their care. While access to mental healthcare has exploded in the last several years, unfortunately, cultural competency when working with military members and their families has not. The preparedness of clinicians to understand the military community's unique strengths and challenges is crucial to receiving the best care. That is why I advocate for teaching both sides, clinicians as well as the military community, so that everyone involved can support the needs of our community.

How have you spread the message of your platform/advocacy?
I routinely engage in informal as well as formal discussions on what quality, culturally competent mental healthcare is for the military community. In 2023 and 2024, I spoke at the Kentucky Counseling Association's annual conference on cultural considerations when working with the military community. I have also given talks on building cultural competency for occupational therapists for the last few years at a local university. Through providing training to other clinicians, I have been able to instill the importance of cultural competency in the military community as a crucial component of high quality care. Further, in an effort to break stigma on military mental health I have been able to work with local media to bring awareness and alternative views to the military community highlighting strengths instead of focusing on challenges.

What do you hope to accomplish with the AFI Military Spouse of the Year^® title?
I am honored to have the opportunity for more military families to feel seen and heard. I hope to continue to partner with other leaders to empower the military community to thrive in the chaos that this life can bring. I also hope to have the opportunity to reach more clinicians, to provide insight and further training opportunities so they can better serve our military members and their families.