A conversation with Amy Ortloff: Teaching People To Grieve With Me

The title of today’s 10 Things To Tell You podcast is “Teaching People To Grieve With Me” by Native Oklahoman Laura Tremaine. It features a generous and beautiful  interview with Amy Ortloff (Madill, Oklahoma) who, in 2017, lost her middle child Ryan to suicide. “No one wants to talk about suicide,” she said. “It’s an awful subject. No one wants to talk about grief but, boy, we need to…” 

The Alliance of Mental Health Providers is privileged to shine a light on this important story with the hope that it will benefit someone. We know that is Amy and Laura’s hope, too.

Ryan, you are loved, missed and never forgotten. 

 

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From Laura Tremaine and the 10 Things To Tell You Podcast

“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.”

Links

Read Amy Ortloff’s blog Keep Going
Follow Amy Ortloff on Facebook here

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.

Please share this episode with anyone who needs to hear it.


10 Things To Tell You

Laura Tremaine grew up in Madill, Oklahoma and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma. She lives in Los Angeles with her movie-director husband and children. She is a popular blogger, podcaster and author. Her recent book is Share Your Stuff: I’ll Go First


Featured in the Daily Armoreite

In May 2021, the Daily Ardmoreite featured Ortloff’ story of “learning to cope with post traumatic stress disorder and the weight of losing a child in such a tragic way.” You can read it here.