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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
Year Ten of Grief: A Quiet Return and the Bridges We Build
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A Quiet Return: Ten Years of Grief and the Bridges We Build
After an unexpected, unplanned two-month pause, Melissa returns to The Leftover Pieces Podcast with a quiet and honest reflection on what it means to reach the ten-year mark after losing her son Alex to suicide.
So, as she says, this wasn’t a planned break. But as the calendar turned toward a full decade of living without her child, something in Melissa needed to slow down, reflect, and listen more closely to what this next season of grief — and this next season of the podcast — might look like.
In this relaunch episode, Melissa shares openly about the weight of long-term grief, the ways child loss continues to shape identity even many years later, and the realization that healing doesn’t mean leaving our children behind.
She also reflects on a powerful dream that helped her understand the guiding word that arrived at the beginning of the year: bridge — a symbol of learning to live forward while still carrying everything that matters.
This episode marks the beginning of a new chapter for the podcast.
In the months ahead, Melissa will be leaning into deeper conversations about what grief looks like beyond the early years, especially for bereaved mothers navigating the long road of life after child loss.
Upcoming episodes will include:
• conversations with mothers further along in their grief journeys
• reflections on identity, resilience, and rebuilding life after loss
• honest discussions about the parts of grief that rarely get talked about once the world assumes we’re “better”
• continued support for those navigating suicide loss and traumatic child loss
Whether you are early in your grief or many years down the road, this season will explore what it truly means to live forward while carrying the love and memory of those we’ve lost.
As always, take what serves you… and leave the rest.
Resources & Support
If you are looking for additional support after suicide loss, or you are a bereaved mother navigating life after traumatic child loss, you can explore coaching, writing support, and grief resources at:
www.theleftoverpieces.com
Melissa offers:
• one-on-one grief coaching
• support for mothers navigating child loss
• guidance for those who feel called to write or share their loved one’s story
• resources for suicide loss survivors and families
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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.