The Leftover Pieces: Suicide Loss Conversations
Suicide loss changes everything. This show is about life after suicide—real talk and practical support for grief after suicide: parents, partners, siblings, and friends finding their footing again. Each week, we explore what helps in suicide bereavement so you can keep going with honesty and hope.
Hosted by Melissa Bottorff-Arey, whose 21-year-old son, Alex, died by suicide in 2016, the podcast blends intimate conversations with survivors, healers, and mental health experts with short solo “Daily Nugget” episodes you can actually use. We cover child loss, trauma and nervous-system care, anniversaries and seasons, stigma, faith and meaning, legacy, and the everyday practices that make life livable again. You’ll hear grounded tools, language that honors your person, and the reminder that you are not broken—you are grieving.
For supporters and educators, these episodes offer insight into the realities of suicide grief and what genuine, non-fixing support looks like. If you’d like to share your story or expertise, you can request to be a guest via my website. 💜
Content Note
This podcast speaks candidly about difficult experiences and may feel activating. We avoid method details and graphic description. Please care for yourself as needed. I’m not a doctor or licensed therapist; nothing here is medical or mental-health advice.
The Leftover Pieces: Suicide Loss Conversations
"Are They Really Gone?; Alchemy of Science and Spirit"
Today I am sharing my conversation with Lenore Matthew PhD, MSW. She is a researcher/practitioner from the field of social work, as well as a young widow and a survivor of suicide loss of her husband. Prior to her loss, Dr. Matthew worked as an expert of advocacy and program evaluation for organizations across the globe, including the United Nations. She has presented her research and advocacy widely at institutions such as Harvard Medical School.
Since losing her husband, her interests have shifted to trauma and traumatic loss, and healing through a mind, body, and spirit connection. She recently established the Alchemy of Science and Spirit, a project that melds science and empirical data with the exploration of intuition and the afterlife, to heal trauma and grief. Upon losing her husband, Dr. Matthew's own intuitive gifts of psychic intuition and mediumship awoke, as she immediately began receiving messages from her husband from the afterlife.
She is currently training with leading mediums in the US and the UK, and aims to bring her mediumship into her healing practice as well as her advocacy, normalizing the less-talked about aspects of loss, including communicating with our loved ones in spirit.
AND Again ---> FIND HER HERE AT Alchemy of Science and Spirit
Some Links to things mentioned in our conversation:
The Forever Family Foundation Where science and spirituality work hand in hand to bring comfort to the bereaved
Laura Lynne Jackson - Author/Psychic Medium
Somatic Experiencing International
Dr Brian Weiss MD Author & Scientist
All things John Edward Psychic Medium
The Windbridge Research Center Studying Dying, death & what comes next
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AND ALWAYS ... THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT! It means the WORLD to me ... we are in this together!
As with everything you hear on my podcasts, please take that which serves you & leave the rest. I hope you will find something of value
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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.