You Survived the Unthinkable. Now What?
The Podcast
Real conversations about surviving trauma, grief, and devastating loss, and how to keep moving forward.
The Community
You don’t have to do this alone. Connect with others who understand what you’re carrying.
Work With Me
Bring Melissa’s story and message to your organization, event, or community. After the Unthinkable is available for speaking engagements, panel discussions, and community events.
Bring This Message to Your Community
Melissa Chandler is available for speaking engagements, community events, panel discussions, and organizational training. Her talks draw from lived experience surviving violent crime, devastating loss, and the long road of rebuilding — and focus on one core message: it is possible to keep moving forward.
Topics include:
Surviving the unthinkable — finding forward motion after tragic loss
Grief, anxiety, and emotional suffering — what no one tells you
Resilience for organizations — supporting employees through trauma and loss
Our story
Over six years ago, my life changed in an instant. My parents and my sister were murdered. In the middle of the night. In their home.
I cannot tell you all the details yet. But I can tell you what happened after.
I kept going. Not because it was easy. Not because the grief went away. But because stopping was never really an option for me, and I refused to let it become one for my kids either.
I went through a divorce. I became a single parent. I worked a full time job while carrying a grief so heavy most people will never understand it. I experienced panic attacks, depression, anxiety, and the kind of emotional suffering that makes you question everything.
And somewhere in the middle of all of that, I started talking about it. Because I realized that the most dangerous thing about surviving the unthinkable is feeling like you're doing it alone.
That's why I created After the Unthinkable; a podcast, a community, and a growing advocacy brand for people who are still in it. Not people who have arrived somewhere safe. People who are in the fire right now and need to hear that it's possible to keep moving forward.
If that's you, you're in the right place.
Find Us Online
You Don't Have to Do This Alone
Whether you're a survivor, someone navigating devastating loss, or an organization interested in partnering with After the Unthinkable, reach out. Every message is read personally.