The Leftover Pieces: Suicide Loss Conversations
Suicide loss changes everything. The Leftover Pieces® Podcast explores life after suicide through honest conversations with survivors, experts, and grieving parents learning to live forward after unimaginable loss. Parents, partners, siblings, and friends share what it means to keep living when the world has been forever changed.
Hosted by Melissa Bottorff-Arey, whose 21-year-old son Alex died by suicide in 2016, the show blends intimate conversations with survivors, healers, and mental health professionals with short solo reflections you can actually use. Together we explore child loss, trauma and nervous-system care, anniversaries and seasons, stigma, faith and meaning, legacy, and the everyday practices that help make life livable again.
At its heart, this podcast is about learning to live forward after loss. We never move on from the people we love, but we can learn to carry the grief differently. This road can feel incredibly lonely—but you are not alone here.
For supporters, educators, and professionals, these conversations also offer insight into the realities of suicide grief and what genuine, non-fixing support can look like.
If you’d like to share your story or expertise, you can request to be a guest through Melissa’s website.
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Content Note
This podcast speaks candidly about grief and suicide loss and may feel activating for some listeners. We avoid graphic descriptions and discussion of suicide methods. Please care for yourself as needed. Melissa is not a doctor or licensed therapist, and nothing shared here should be considered medical or mental-health advice.
The Leftover Pieces: Suicide Loss Conversations
Sharon Ehler's; Grief Reiki Founder & Author
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Today I share my conversation with Sharon Ehlers. She lost her best friend Joy and ex-fiancé John within a few years of each other, both to suicide. Sharon is the founder of Grief Reiki® - a multidimensional approach to grief and loss using emotional recovery, Reiki and other spirituality-based tools. She is also an award-winning Author, Grief Educator, Death Midwife and Reiki Master Teacher. She has three beautiful children and lives in Los Angeles, CA.
She talks about the isolation she felt after her losses as well as the immense affect on her outlook on life and ultimately she took a completely new path. She discusses how she started down this path by allowing herself to be led from spirit. She discusses how reiki was a stronger tool for her - as she was using before her loss - but she also discusses how her spiritual connection became more dialed in and developed as well.
She de-mystifies Reiki for us - us as basic laymen, AND we also dive a (little) deeper into energy healing and the whys and how's of it working. Energy is everywhere and it's everything. Once we accept it - harnessing energy is easy and it IS SO HEALING!!! This is a fun and enlightening conversation and Sharon has wisdom worth listening to!
Sharon's website is Greif -Reiki where you can find a great bog and SO MUCH MORE!
Here's her blog post "How Grief Walking Saved Me"
Sharon's Books are: Grief Reiki and Grief Diaries, Surviving Loss by Suicide
Her Oracle Cards are available per the App Store or here on Amazon
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My brand NEW website "The Leftover Pieces; Rebuilding You" is LIVE and that means my 2 x/mo FREE SUPPORT GROUP is available AND my first coaching options are available. The first (3 month) group is planned to begin NOVEMBER 3 and there will be a new group begin every 10 weeks after. There will be limited spots in each group so let me know if you want on the notify list! These groups will be one part community, one part discovery/growth. I believe these two things are intertwined for us in the earlier stages of grief especially
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💜 The Leftover Pieces is support central for grieving hearts.
🔗 Stay connected: Join my free email community for weekly check-ins, resources, and encouragement.
🌟 For moms: Explore the $9 Lighthouse Community — safe connection, tools, and hope.
🛠 Resources for all grievers: Start here.
🤝 One-on-one grief coaching for moms after child loss to suicide: Learn more here.
📞 Need help now? If you or someone you love is struggling with suicidal thoughts, dial 988 in the U.S. & Canada, or text HOME to 741741.