What I do

Melissa Wand | Founder & CEO, SUNDÈN

My Why

I didn't only live through abuse as a child, I survived it, healed from it, and completed intensive trauma-informed training so I could turn what happened to me into something that helps women and children. I know what it feels to be a survivor. But I also know how it feels to be healed from it. Everything I do now exists so other children get noticed sooner than I was.

I also help women heal, not just from what happened to them, but back into who they really are underneath it all, so they can live their true identity instead of a smaller, guarded, masked version of themselves. If she has children, that healing protects them too. If she doesn't, it still matters just as much, for her own sake.

What I Do

I write books. My memoir tells the true story of the abuse I survived as a child. I am also writing two fiction novels.
I teach people how to spot red flags — the early warning signs of abuse — before harm happens.
I create simple tools to help: guides, workbooks, conversation cards, and a family safety agreement.
I give talks and run workshops for companies, schools, and community groups about safety and healing.
I run SUNDÈN — a business that sells books, clothing, jewellery, and gifts.
20% of every sale goes straight to real charities helping women and children — shelters, safety programs, and healing centres.
I share my own healing journey publicly, on TikTok and in my Journal, so other women feel less alone.
I help women heal from trauma so they can protect themselves and their children better.
I completed trauma-informed training, so I understand how trauma shows up in behaviour, relationships, and parenting.

Everything I Have Lived Through

My memoir shares my childhood story. But that isn't the only hard thing I've lived through. I've also survived domestic abuse as an adult, the loss of a child, betrayal, and being abandoned by people I trusted.

This means I understand many kinds of pain, not just one. When a woman comes to me carrying something I haven't lived myself, chances are I've lived something close to it.

Why Healing Matters So Much

When something bad happens to a woman, it changes her. It can change what she thinks she deserves. It can change how she reacts to danger. It can make her miss warning signs — not because she doesn't care, but because part of her was hurt too.

Healing fixes two things: her boundaries (what she will and won't accept) and her instinct (noticing danger early). When she heals, she feels safer, and her children feel safer too. That safety gets passed down, instead of the harm.

The chain is simple: a woman heals → she sees clearly → she makes safer choices → her children are protected → the harm stops with her.

Her healing matters on its own too — not just for her children. For her.

Me, as a Writer

Writing is where all of this started.

What the Zinc Couldn't Contain is my memoir. It tells the true story of what happened to me as a child, in enough detail that other people can learn to recognise the same pattern.

I also write fiction books - What Lies Behind His Eyes, and I'm currently working on The Phantom Girls Trilogy — These books are written as tools built to serve the mission. What these books carry are the same territory I know from the inside — the pattern, the warning signs, what comes after — because that's what I know how to write with real experience behind it.

I also write shorter pieces for the SUNDÈN Journal and SUNDÈN Magazine, so the message stays current.

Speaking & Workshops

I give talks and run workshops for three types of groups:

Companies — teaching staff how to spot red flags and support co-workers who may be struggling.
Institutes and community groups — teaching parents and teachers how to notice when a child is scared or acting differently. As well as teaching young girls to be informed about choices and body safety.
Conferences — speaking alongside safety and support organisations, sharing what I've lived through.

Every talk gives people a clear list of warning signs to look for — not just a feeling, a checklist.

What I Sell, and Why

I sell two kinds of things.

Safety and Protection Tools that I teach too.
The SUNDÈN Identity: clothing, jewellery, and gifts — a way for a woman to show, out loud, that she's chosen healing.

Every sale also does something else: 20% goes straight to real organisations helping women and children — shelters, safety groups, and healing centres. Every time, not sometimes.

How I Help Women Heal

I don't just offer comfort. I help rebuild two things trauma damages: boundaries and instinct.

My workbooks and diary use real, guided questions — not blank pages — to help a woman understand what happened to her and catch old patterns before they repeat.
My videos and posts show healing as it really is — messy, not perfect — so no one feels like they're failing.
My community gives women a place to be open without needing to pretend they're "fixed."
My red-flag guides give women something exact to watch for, in a partner, a family member, or anyone close to their children.

I also show up in the messages myself. When a woman reaches out needing support, I read it and answer personally — not with a template. This isn't a replacement for therapy or crisis care. It's a real person on the other end, who understands, right when that's what someone needs.

What I Am Not

I'm not a crisis line, a lawyer, the police, a shelter, or a child protection service — and I don't replace any of those. My job is the step before that: helping people notice problems early, and pointing them toward the real professional help they need. But I do provide advice too.

Heal the woman. Protect the child. Change the future.

Heal her, so she can see clearly, so she makes safer choices, so what she gives her children is safety instead of fear — for her sake first, and for everyone who comes after her.