10 Things To Tell You Ep 131: Teaching people to grieve with me (A conversation with Amy Ortloff)
Content warning: Child loss and suicide
This episode is one of the most tender and important I’ve ever shared on this show, and I am just so deeply grateful to Amy Ortloff for having this conversation with me and letting me make it public.
In 2017, Amy Ortloff lost her middle child Ryan to suicide. Ryan was just 17 years old. Less than a week after his death, Amy took to her personal Facebook page and starting sharing every single day. She began by sharing stories about Ryan, family memories and examples of the kind of kid he was. She didn't want her child to be forgotten.
As the weeks went by, deep in grief, Amy also started sharing her own experiences of this devastating time she was living through. She shared what she was learning in therapy, she set and shared her personal boundaries for interaction for those in her small town Oklahoma community.
Amy's sharing was raw and vulnerable. It was heartbreaking and powerful. I made a point to read her posts every day that first year after Ryan.
This episode is about the effects of that real-time sharing during the hardest time of her life, the positive and the negative. Amy was teaching us how to grieve with her, and it made an enormous impact on me long before I ever wrote a book about sharing stuff.
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or text TALK to 741741.
Read Amy Ortloff's blog Keep Going
Follow Amy Ortloff on Facebook here
*
Thank you for listening to 10 Things To Tell You. Please share this episode with anyone who might need to listen to Amy's story.
Follow @10ThingsToTellYou on IG
Follow @10ThingsToTellYou on FB
Follow @laura.tremaine on IG
Follow @mslauratremaine on FB
Join the 10 Things To Tell You Connection Group
Listen to SECRET STUFF
Buy Share Your Stuff. I'll Go First. by Laura Tremaine
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.