.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.
Episodes
324 episodes
Year Ten of Grief: A Quiet Return and the Bridges We Build
A Quiet Return: Ten Years of Grief and the Bridges We BuildAfter an unexpected, unplanned two-month pause, Melissa returns to The Leftover Pieces Podcast with a quiet and honest ref...
.png)
When the Mind Breaks: A Mother, A Doctor, and the Reality of Psychosis
In this episode, I’m joined by Colleen Kraft—a pediatrician of 36 years and a mother of three—who shares the story of her son Tim, who died by suicide in February of 2022 at the age of 31.Tim’s journey included late-onset schizoph...
.png)
Do We Ever Stop Grieving?: Life After Suicide Loss and the Truth No One Tells You
Do we ever stop grieving after losing a child to suicide? In this episode, we go 'down the rabbit hole' to explore the reality of long-term grief after suicide loss and what happens after the initial survival years.&...
.png)
Mother’s Day After Child Loss: If I’m Telling the Truth
Mother’s Day after child loss can feel impossibly complicated. In this episode of Down the Rabbit Hole, Melissa speaks honestly about the layered reality of motherhood after suicide loss—the grief, the love, changing family dynamics, and the tr...
.png)
Survival, Hope, Healing… Then What?: Why Grief Changes Years After Child Loss & Suicide Loss
What (actually) happens after survival?In this episode of Down the Rabbit Hole, Melissa speaks honestly about the part of grief few people prepare grieving mothers for — the “now what?” space that often emerges years after chi...
.png)
20 Years After Suicide Loss: Tracy Oeser on Grief, Healing & Survival to Service
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.Nea...
Identifying a Potential New Risk Factor for Youth Suicide | A Conversation with Paul D. Tieger
In this brief but so important Bonus "Mini-sode", Melissa sits down with internationally recognized personality expert and author Paul D. Tieger to discuss groundbreaking new research exploring a possible connection between inborn person...
.png)
Reacting vs. Responding in Grief: Your Nervous System Needn't be the Enemy
Reacting vs. Responding in Grief — Life After Suicide LossToday I’m “down the rabbit hole,” teasing apart reacting vs. responding after traumatic loss—not to shame reactions (they’re human), but to widen the space where w...
.png)
Surviving December After Suicide Loss: When the Holidays Arrive Before You’re Ready
Surviving December After Suicide Loss: When the Holidays Arrive Before You’re Ready...A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, space...
)%20(1).png)
Your Mind Won’t Let You Move Forward: The Power of Subconscious Healing after Suicide Loss
Today I’m joined by Emily Dziedzic, a subconscious change practitioner who helps high-achieving women break free from anxiety, fear, and emotional overwhelm using fast, root-level rewiring. And this work, with her, was a game changer in ...
%20(1).png)
Letting Go of the “Shoulds”: Releasing Holiday Pressure After Suicide Loss
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! 👉
)%20(1).png)
Grief & Grace in December: Allowing Yourself to Feel What’s Real
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! 👉
)%20(1).png)
Soft Landings Only: Creating Gentle Space in a Heavy Month
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! 👉
)%20(1).png)
You Don’t Have to Hold It All: Letting Your Heart Lead the Way
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! 👉
)%20(1).png)
Rest as Resistance, Rest as Renewal: Letting Yourself Be Human Today
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! 👉
)%20(1).png)
What It Means to Still Be Here: Strength, Tenderness & the Seventh Day of December
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! 👉
)%20(1).png)
The Edges of Your Energy: How Boundaries Become Care in Grief
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! 👉
)%20(1).png)
Surviving Early Suicide Loss: Honoring Austin’s Legacy Through Art, Horses, and Advocacy
In this episode of The Leftover Pieces; Suicide Loss Conversations, I’m joined by Jacquelyn Dickey, a mother navigating early suicide loss after the death of her son, Austin, who died on April 4, 2025, at the age of 30. A...
.png)
The Quiet Yes, the Quiet No: Listening for What Your Heart Is Asking Today
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! 👉
)%20(1).png)
When “No” Becomes a Gift: Protecting Your Heart Without Apology
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! 👉
)%20(1).png)
Honoring What Helps, Releasing What Hurts: Letting Every Day Be Different
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything!👉
)%20(1).png)
The Softness of the Weekend: A Little More Room to Breathe
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything!👉
)%20(1).png)
The Impossible Math of Time: Marking Another Year Without Them
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything!👉
)%20(1).png)
Carrying What Matters Forward: Preparing Your Heart for the Week Ahead
A daily December series offering tender, truthful support for surviving the holidays after suicide loss — with grief, grace, and gentle company.Week 3 Begins: “This past week, we’ve explored boundaries as acts of care —...
)%20(1).png)
)%20(1).png)