Tell us the city you are in and someone will guide you to a nearby club. Mine is 7 miles away and I never knew it was there until my brother joined the club.

There is nothing you add to a plane to protect it from a crash.
The one thing that will give some protection is an instructor.

It all depends how you define a crash. I have ripped the landing gear out of my 4 star a couple times. It ended my flying day, but I was back a week later. I have seen other planes reduced to dust. MOST of the uncontrolled landings I have seen have come from people that show up with a plane and refuse the help of an experienced flyer.

The one thing that will give some protection is an instructor.

If you want to minimize your emotional investment, get an ARF.
They go together fairly quickly. It will not take 3 months to build.
Should it break, you won't agonize over months spent turning a pile of sticks into an aircraft.

The hardest part of the learning is when all those $$$ get in close proximity to the ground!