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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
Blackbird; A Mother's Reflection on Grief, Loss & Life After Suicide; Betsy Thibaut Stephenson
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Welcome today fellow griever. I appreciate you, I see you and thank you so much for listening and if you can, please ---Support the show
Today, I release a recent conversation with Betsy Thibaut Stephenson to talk about her son Charlie who was a smart, witty, reserved, and was (silently) living with being 'unmotivated' & being depressed. Despite doing what seemed like all of the right things, Charlie, a rising senior in college, died by suicide in July of 2022 at only 21 years old. It was shocking and devastating -- and they are learning to live with it, to carry with it!
"Betsy Thibaut Stephenson lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband and labrador retrievers. When she isn't visiting her grown daughters in North Carolina and South Carolina, she is helping public affairs clients tell their story to policymakers and the media. Blackbird is her first book."
There are SO many take aways from this mom-to-mom heart-to-heart....
Here's a few of the highlights of our conversation include:
- How they responded as a family when Charlie reached out when he spoke out about his thoughts of self-harm from the first time.
- The trips to see him after he opened up-- and the letter she wrote him, that he carried with him & was found in his backpack after he was gone.
- The letters he wrote and left behind (not a suicide note, per se, but insight of sorts) & what those told his family & how they 'helped' them understand more
- The shock of his death-- and how they spoke 'the open truth' from the beginning.
- ALL of the 'signs; she gets from him now... why bringing him into 'everything" helps and makes it lighter somehow. (I love this part!)
- It's OK to be 'selfish' in your grief
- Why the title "Blackbird" for the book --- you HAVE TO HEAR THIS--- stuff you can NOT make up here people!??
- What IS Stuck Song Syndrome (OMG --- there's a name for it!!) LO-FI people -- LO-FI is the answer.... who knew?
There is SOOO much to this incredible chat that I think you will love --- I hope you will get this book and curl up
@blackbirdbetsy21 on Instagram
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My WEBSITE "The Leftover Pieces; Rebuilding You" is support central.
I hope you will consider SUBMITTING A POEM OR LETTER to my NEW ANTHOLOGY PROJECT --- a book called "Because They Are Loved" SEE ALL OF THE DETAILS HERE!!
PS....The Legacy Writing Project in 2024 has finished. Volume 5 is out in the world ...GET ON THE LIST NOW for the SINGLE DATE start for 2025 OR FUTURE PROJECTS
For a way to leave a Legacy of your child - GO HERE
If you, or someone you know, is struggling ww suicidal thoughts, reach out:
CALL 988 in the US or Canada OR, you can also TEXT the word "HOME" to 741741 in the USA & Canada
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💜 The Leftover Pieces is support for life after suicide loss. Click links below
🎙 Leave me a message: Share a question, your story, or your person’s name for a future episode → theleftoverpieces.com/voicemail
🔗 Stay connected: Join my email community for weekly support, resources, and honest conversations.
🛠 Start here: Explore website for suicide loss resources for early grief, family support, and next steps.
🤝 For moms: One-on-one grief coaching for mothers navigating life after child loss.
📞 Need support right now? If you or someone you love is struggling, call or text 988 (U.S. & Canada), or text HOME to 741741.