Melissa Bottorff-Arey

The Leftover Pieces: Suicide Loss Conversations

Health EN ↓ 328 episodes

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, traum...

Author

Melissa Bottorff-Arey

Episodes

FEAR; It's Here, What Now? 19.11.2020 10:27

In this (first) Mini Solo "Down the Rabbit Hole" (DTRH) Episode I delve into the topic of Fear & Grief. I talk about how they overlap & interact as well as how I have (started) to deal with it in my (new) life alongside suicide loss … & grief! You can find & connect with me at The Leftover Pieces Instagram or The Leftover Pieces Podcast Webpage Life after suicide loss is...

Finding Support; Founding a Group 18.11.2020 47:21

My conversation with Bonnie Swade founder of SASS-MoKan , a suicide awareness survivor support group in the Kansas City area is packed full of information on the role of a support group, a support system, in a grievers life. Bonnie lost her 31 year old son Brett to suicide on December 20, 2003. The following year, she and her husband Mickey founded their own group. They do very important work in...

[New August 2025] START HERE; Meet Melissa, Intro Episode 17.11.2020 20:39

This is the definitive “START HERE” episode-- the trailer if you will. Welcome. Get THE Leftover Pieces APP & don't miss anything! CLICK HERE If you’re a new listener, absolutely begin here. If you’re not new—but haven’t listened to this “first” episode since before February 2025 or earlier—I’ve updated it again as of August 2025 , and you just might learn something new. I hope you’ll...