.png)
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.
💜
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 #31; August Daily Nuggets
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
"Grief truth: We keep going, together."
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 ---
This month, we’ve walked through thirty-one days of truths about grief — the ones that don’t fit on sympathy cards or in quick conversations, but live in the marrow of our lives.
We’ve talked about love and loss, about how grief changes but never disappears, about how we carry them forward even as we learn to carry ourselves. If you’ve listened each day, you’ve done more than hear my words — you’ve shown up for your grief, for your heart, and for the love that still lives inside you. That matters.
"Grief truth: We keep going, together."
💜 Looking ahead: September is Suicide Loss Awareness Month. Here on the podcast, we’ll be sharing special episodes, conversations, and reflections to honor our loved ones — and to raise visibility for the Because They Are Loved anthology project.
Then, in October, the Daily Nuggets return with something truly special: short, heartfelt episodes featuring community-submitted memories of loved ones. And in December, we’ll walk together through surviving the holidays — with honesty, permission, and compassion.
This moment is yours, and you are allowed to rest in it.
You carry truths that no one can take from you.
You are walking a path only you can know
Grief is heavy. But it’s lighter when we carry it together.
Thank you for spending August with me — I hope you’ll stay close for what’s next.
__________________________________________________________________________
Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! CLICK HERE
💜 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.