Walking This Road Together
Melissa Bottorff-Arey has been living this path since the suicide loss of her 21-year-old son, Alex, on August 7, 2016.
She started her podcast in 2020, and the rest has taken shape from there. Her lived experience, and subsequent training, has shaped her work through The Leftover Pieces® Podcast, writing, retreats, private coaching, advocacy, and collaboration in the suicide loss space.
Her work is rooted in what she has lived and deepened by years of walking alongside grieving mothers as they learn to carry their love and grief while continuing to live forward.
Experience & Credentials
• Host of The Leftover Pieces® Podcast — 300+ conversations on suicide loss
• Master Certified Grief Coach • Reiki I & II Practitioner • Trauma-Informed Energy Healer
• Author & Legacy Project Curator
• Retreat Leader • Speaker • Suicide Loss Collaborator
1:1 Coaching with Melissa
Reframe Guilt. Rebuild You.
Click to Look at the 2 Options
What Can Grief Coaching Offer?
The loss of a child changes far more than the heart. It can change how we see ourselves, our relationships, our future--even what we believe about the world.
And as grief evolves, the support we need can evolve too.
Many mothers eventually find themselves asking different questions:
Who am I now?
How do I live forward while still carrying this love and loss?
What do I want the rest of my life to look like?
Grief coaching creates a space to explore those questions with someone who understands this path firsthand.
Therapy and grief coaching can both have meaningful roles after loss. Therapy can provide clinical support for mental health concerns, trauma, and other needs that require a licensed professional. Grief coaching serves a different purpose: it is forward-focused work centered on where you are now, what grief has changed, and how you want to live forward from here.
Coaching does not replace therapy, and I will always encourage clinical support when that is what someone needs.
The goal is not to fix grief.
Grief isn't something we leave behind. We learn to live alongside it — and, in time, learn how to live forward with it.
A Weekly Check-In for Fellow Grievers
Most weeks, I send a short note — reflections from the rabbit hole, reminders you're not alone, and a few honest thoughts about learning to live forward after loss.
“Nothing heavy. Nothing overwhelming. Just a little companionship in your inbox — joining 1,000+ fellow grievers who receive these weekly check-ins.”
