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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 #24; August Daily Nuggets
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
"It’s normal to miss who you were before."
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 ---
Loss doesn’t just take the person you love—it reshapes you.
"It’s normal to miss who you were before."
You may look back at the version of yourself who laughed more easily, dreamed more freely, or moved through the world without the shadow of grief.
It’s okay to mourn that version of you.
Grief changes the architecture of your life and your identity. That doesn’t mean the person you are now is “less.” It means you have been carved out and remade by something profound.
In time, you may find new strength, deeper compassion, or a different kind of joy—but it’s still okay to long for the innocence and lightness you once carried.
Both grief and gratitude can exist for who you were and who you are becoming.
Missing your old self is part of missing them. Both are threads in the same tapestry of love and loss.
Take this breath.
It’s yours to soften into.
The love you hold is real, and the path you walk is honored.
No one else can live this story the way you do.
I’ll return tomorrow to walk with you again.
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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.