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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
Grief Truth #14; August Daily Nuggets
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
"Grief changes, but it never disappears."
Welcome, fellow griever.
This is your Daily Nugget from me, Melissa, your host of The Leftover Pieces.
Today we will share a moment of presence, a breath of truth, and a reminder.
Lean in with me ---
In the early days, grief can feel like it’s everywhere—heavy in your chest, clouding your mind, weighing down every breath. But as time passes, it shifts. The edges soften, the waves become less constant… yet it’s still there.
"Grief changes, but it never disappears."
I’ve learned that this change isn’t about grief leaving—it’s about us changing in relationship to it.
At first, it knocks us flat without warning. Over time, we find our footing. We still feel the pull of the tide, but we know where the rocks are, where the shallows give us a break, and how to keep our head above water when it rises suddenly.
Grief becomes part of the terrain we live in—not the only feature, but one that shapes our days. It may surprise us sometimes with its depth or strength, but it also teaches us resilience.
And the truth is, I wouldn’t want it to disappear completely. Because if it did, so would the reminder of just how deeply I loved.
If your grief looks different now than it did before, it’s not a sign you’re “over it.” It’s a sign you’ve been learning to live alongside it—and that’s its own kind of strength.
Now, take another breath.
Let this moment be enough.
Keep what serves you, leave the rest
I’ll be here again tomorrow. Talk soon.
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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.