NAVIGATING TRANSITION

David Sunderland | Transition Guide

People • Organizations • Ideas

Making sense of change – and what comes next

• Are you or those close to you prepared for death?

• How well are you or your organization navigating loss?

• Do you need support through a transition?

David is British and French.  His UN career as a planner and coordinator, and his first marriage, both spanning around 20 years, came to an end in 2024.  These experiences helped shape a growing focus on how individuals and organizations understand loss, navigate transition and consider what comes next.

In 2023, he founded Plenna, an association building death literacy.  In 2026, he published The Punctuation of Loss, using punctuation as a metaphor to explore loss, death and transformation – individual and institutional.

His work with Plenna led to the Death Literacy Wheel, a tool for exploring preparedness for death and dying and reducing the burden on ourselves and others.

His book and organizational experience led to MIILL – Making Individuals and Institutions Loss Literate, a framework for recognizing loss, reflecting on its significance and exploring what could come next.

Using these and other tools David offers:

• individual death planning and reflection

• organizational and strategic analysis

• facilitation and leadership support through transition

• development and testing of new ideas

• Loss cafés for groups of individuals and organizations

Based in Brussels, David works face-to-face and online.

Loss and death affect us all.  Navigating transition well can help us live and work better.

Published in September 2026: Lessons from loss: an opinion on multilateral transition after 20 years inside UNAIDS

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