.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
20 Years After Suicide Loss: Tracy Oeser on Grief, Healing & Survival to Service
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Click to Send a Text or Voicemail to Melissa
In this deeply honest conversation about suicide loss and long-term grief, Melissa sits down with Tracy Oeser, MSPsy — suicide loss survivor, grief educator, bereavement coach, and founder of Journey Thru Grief.
Nearly 20 years after the suicide loss of her daughter Chelsie, Tracy shares the reality of grieving a child to suicide, what healing actually looks like over time, and how survivors can learn to carry grief while rebuilding life after devastating loss.
Together, Melissa and Tracy talk about:
• The reality of long-term suicide grief
• What changes — and what doesn’t — over decades of loss
• The emotional phases survivors often experience
• Why validation matters so deeply in grief
• The difference between surviving and eventually integrating grief into life
• Building support spaces rooted in lived experience
• The importance of postvention work and honest conversations around suicide loss
• Tracy’s upcoming Journey Thru Grief Conference and her vision for bringing survivors and professionals together in community
This episode is a reminder that healing is not linear, grief does not have an expiration date, and no one should have to carry suicide loss alone.
About Tracy:
Tracy Oeser is the CEO of Postvention Collective, LLC and the CEO and Bereavement Coach of Journey Thru Grief, LLC. She is a passionate advocate for mental health support and by using her breakthrough concept of “The 4 Phases of Suicide Loss,” she fiercely tries to speak for those who have lost family and friends to suicide. Tracy hosts the podcast, “Journey Through Your Suicide Loss” and has been a guest speaker on many different platforms discussing how the suicidal loss of her child affected her. She holds both a BA and MS in Psychology concentrated in life coaching. Tracy is an award-winning author and has received leadership and innovation awards for her work in the postvention field. She serves as a current member of various suicide prevention organizations throughout the United States and is a past board member of the American Association of Suicidology.
Connect with Tracy:
Tracy's Website: - Journey Thru Grief
Tracy's Podcast: Journey Through Your Suicide Loss Journey Through Your Suicide Loss | Podcast on Spotify
Conference Info: Conference - Journey Thru Grief (Coupon Code: Melissa for $50 off thru June 15, 2026)
Social Media: Tracy Oeser (@tracyoeser) • Instagram photos and videos
If this episode resonated with you:
Please share it with someone who may need it, leave a review, or simply say your loved one’s name today. You are not broken. You are grieving.
Disclaimer:
This podcast is intended for informational and peer-support purposes only and should not be considered medical or mental health advice.
__________________________________________________________________________
💜 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.