The bridge between knowing and doing is where the opportunity lies.
You can have the best information and medical care and still struggle to make the changes that improve your health. Sustainable behaviour change is genuinely hard and most of us don’t get the support we need to do it well.
That's a system gap; that’s the gap Foster Health is built to fill.
Prevention is the point
Many people reach out to Foster Health before a diagnosis to reduce risk. They've seen the warning signs, feel like they are running on empty, or watched someone close to them pay a price they're not willing to pay themselves.
This is exactly the right time to act. Foster Health is designed to meet you where you are: whether you're managing early risk factors, trying to prevent burnout, or simply ready to stop coasting and start driving.
If you are already living with a chronic condition, such as hypertension, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, COPD, chronic pain, or others, Foster Health's programs are also designed to support you.
You set the goals. We help you build and support the habits to reach them.
Why willpower isn’t the problem
The reason most health efforts don't stick has nothing to do with motivation. It has to do with the gap between intention and environment — between what you want and the systems you have around you to support it.
Foster Health's approach is built on decades of evidence in behaviour change, self-care, health and healthcare improvement. It is practical, structured, and honest - change is hard. No shortcuts - just the right tools, the right support, and a process that is designed for your real world.
This is not just a program you complete. It is habits you keep.
What We Focus On
Small, vital actions that fit your real life
Understanding your personal barriers and how to address them
Building self-monitoring skills you’ll use for life
Goal setting that is realistic, motivating, and condition-aware
Managing the emotional side of living with health risks or a long-term chronic illness
What You Build
Confidence in your ability to manage your own health
Practical self-care routines that support you
A stronger relationship with your healthcare team
Resilience to handle setbacks without losing progress
The ability to live fully — not just manage symptoms
A Note From Our Founder, Eileen Patterson
For most of my career, I have been an international healthcare leader — improving quality, scaling innovation, and guiding behaviour change in healthcare teams to perform better for their patients. I was the first to bring the chronic disease self-management leader training to Canada. I saw firsthand how effective behaviour change is done; my path was set. That experience has stayed with me and inspired me to launch Foster Health.
What I didn't immediately admit was the cost to my own health. There was no single moment. Just the slow erosion of well-being and resilience — too much travel, too much stress, and too often putting work first.
When I finally stopped and took a hard look at my own health risks, I realized I knew what to do. I just struggled to make healthy habits fit my busy life. The research is clear: the gap between knowing and doing is where people get stuck. That's where I got stuck. And I saw the same pattern in my healthcare peers.
So I looked to the evidence and built a support system that helps people identify the few changes that make the biggest difference — and use behaviour change methods to make them last. The real work is in the how.
That's why Foster Health exists. Today's pace does not make it easy to stay healthy. It takes deliberate effort to build the support we need. Together, small changes make a big difference.
The experience behind the work
With over 25 years of health system leadership, the expertise of healthcare improvement is now being applied to the practice of health behaviour change. Eileen is committed to helping others build the health they want.
Led healthcare improvements in access, screening, and treatment of illness, healthcare teamwork, patient self-care, and transitions across the system.
Brought the first leader training for chronic disease self-management to Canada; led its spread across Alberta
International healthcare improvement leader — building better health and healthcare across Canada, the U.S., and the Caribbean
Health and Life Coach, Health Coaching Institute
Masters of Continuing Education, specializing in Organizational Change
Healthcare Improvement Advisor, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute
Member, Canadian College for Health Leaders
Published in healthcare transformation literature
Author, College of Family Physicians of Canada, Primer of Practice Facilitation in Primary Care
Meet the Team
Lauren Foster
Marketing Advisor
Lauren Foster is a brand strategist and human-centred AI consultant, where she leads with a systems mindset, deep user empathy, and a passion for making technology genuinely useful. She specializes in helping small business owners adopt AI in ways that benefit customers, employees, and the business itself.
Lauren designs content strategies and marketing systems that help organizations show up consistently and authentically across every platform, drawing on her UX background to keep the customer experience at the centre of every decision. She also advises on brand positioning and digital product direction, translating strategy into systems teams can actually run.
She brings nearly 20 years of experience spanning brand strategy, UX, and e-commerce product management. Lauren is a certified AI leader and certified product manager. Based in Calgary and a dual citizen, she works with businesses remotely across North America.
As Marketing Advisor with Foster Health, Lauren guides content strategy and marketing systems — helping the practice show up with the same clarity and consistency she brings to every brand she works with.
Precious Izuka
Executive Assistant
Precious Izuka is an executive assistant and operations specialist who makes sure every client interaction with Foster Health is smooth, responsive, and genuinely human. She designs and manages the administrative systems that keep the practice running — scheduling, client communications, documentation, and follow-through — so clients feel well supported from first contact through to program close.
She brings three years of experience across operations and administrative management, with a focus on building repeatable processes that reduce friction for both clients and the team. Precious is the person who anticipates what's needed before it's asked for and keeps the small details from slipping.
As Executive Assistant with Foster Health, she supports Eileen in day-to-day operations — ensuring she can focus on delivering and empowering people to build sustainable health habits.
Strategic Advisors
Barbara Pedersen
Facilitation and Community Advisor
Barbara Pedersen is a Certified Professional Facilitator who brings focus, fervour, and fun to helping people work well together. For more than 30 years through her company, Barbara Pedersen Facilitation Services Inc., she has designed and facilitated engaging processes that help groups have meaningful conversations, explore different perspectives, make effective decisions, and turn ideas into practical action.
Barb works collaboratively with clients to understand what they want to accomplish and designs processes that fit their people, purpose, and circumstances. Her experience spans the non-profit, government, corporate, and community sectors and includes strategic and business planning, team development, project planning, partnerships and collaboration, and community and stakeholder engagement.
Barb is a Certified Professional Facilitator with the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) and brings extensive facilitation and adult education training to her work. She holds a B.A. in Recreation Administration and is certified in the Better Teams Model and trained through International Association of Public Participation (IAP2).
As Facilitation & Community Advisor with Foster Health, Barb designs and facilitates the group experiences behind Foster Health's programs — helping participants engage fully and learn from one another.
Callum Tyrrell
Strategy and Transformation Advisor
Callum is a healthcare executive and strategic advisor with more than 20 years of experience helping organizations lead meaningful sustainable change. Drawing on a career that spans frontline mental health practice, executive leadership, and health system transformation across multiple continents, he brings a unique ability to understand change from the perspective of individuals, teams, organizations, and systems.
Callum has partnered with leaders across community, provincial, and international settings to improve quality, strengthen partnerships, and design practical solutions to complex challenges. His work integrates strategy, organizational development, quality improvement, behaviour change, and implementation, helping organizations translate ambitious goals into measurable outcomes.
Known for building trusted relationships and navigating complexity with curiosity and pragmatism, Callum helps leaders align perspectives, foster psychological safety, and create the conditions for lasting improvement. His experience working with diverse populations and multidisciplinary teams has shaped a deep appreciation for the human factors that underpin successful change.
As Strategy & Transformation Advisor with Foster Health, Callum supports organizations in strengthening leadership, advancing system improvement — building the capability to achieve sustainable impact through evidence-informed, people-centred approaches.
Tricia Wilkerson
Healthcare Quality Advisor
Tricia is the Director of Integrated Care at Amplify Care, where she leads with strategic vision, practice facilitation expertise, and a passion for effective training. She specializes in integrating care pathways through collaboration, helping teams streamline clinical workflows and improve patient access and experience.
Tricia designs and delivers quality improvement initiatives that help healthcare teams adopt digital health solutions effectively, drawing on her facilitation background to help people work smarter, not harder. She also manages partner relationships, and project execution, driving initiatives that align with strategic goals across the care continuum.
Her achievements include advancing digital health programs like eReferral systems and virtual care, and leading a quality improvement project that reduced COPD readmissions from 28 percent to 15 percent. She is a Certified IHI Improvement Advisor, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and holds IFIC's Certification in Integrated Care. Tricia serves on the boards of the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance and ONE CARE.
As Healthcare Quality Advisor with Foster Health, Tricia supports strategic planning for growth and quality standards — helping the practice scale with the same rigour she brings to health system integration.
Meet the Operations Team
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Lauren Foster
MARKETING ADVISOR
Lauren Foster is a brand strategist and human-centred AI consultant, where she leads with a systems mindset, deep user empathy, and a passion for making technology genuinely useful. She specializes in helping small business owners adopt AI in ways that benefit customers, employees, and the business itself.
Lauren designs content strategies and marketing systems that help organizations show up consistently and authentically across every platform, drawing on her UX background to keep the customer experience at the centre of every decision. She also advises on brand positioning and digital product direction, translating strategy into systems teams can actually run.
She brings nearly 20 years of experience spanning brand strategy, UX, and e-commerce product management. Lauren is a certified AI leader and certified product manager. Based in Calgary and a dual citizen, she works with businesses remotely across North America.
As Marketing Advisor with Foster Health, Lauren guides content strategy and marketing systems — helping the Foster Health show up with the same clarity and consistency she brings to every brand she works with.
-
Precious Izuka
EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT
Precious Izuka is an executive assistant and operations specialist who makes sure every client interaction with Foster Health is smooth, responsive, and genuinely human. She designs and manages the administrative systems that keep the organization running — scheduling, client communications, documentation, and follow-through — so clients feel well supported from first contact through to program close.
She brings three years of experience across operations and administrative management, with a focus on building repeatable processes that reduce friction for both clients and the team. Precious is the person who anticipates what's needed before it's asked for and keeps the small details from slipping.
As Executive Assistant with Foster Health, she supports Eileen in day-to-day operations ensuring that she can focus on delivering and empowering people to build sustainable health habits.
Strategic Advisors
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Barbara Pedersen
FACILITATION AND COMMUNITY ADVISOR
Barbara Pedersen is a Certified Professional Facilitator who brings focus, fervour, and fun to helping people work well together. For more than 30 years through her company, Barbara Pedersen Facilitation Services Inc., she has designed and facilitated engaging processes that help groups have meaningful conversations, explore different perspectives, make effective decisions, and turn ideas into practical action.Barb works collaboratively with clients to understand what they want to accomplish and designs processes that fit their people, purpose, and circumstances. Her experience spans the non-profit, government, corporate, and community sectors and includes strategic and business planning, team development, project planning, partnerships and collaboration, and community and stakeholder engagement.
Barb is a Certified Professional Facilitator with the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) and brings extensive facilitation and adult education training to her work. She holds a B.A. in Recreation Administration and is certified in the Better Teams Model and trained through International Association of Public Participation (IAP2).
As Facilitation & Community Advisor with Foster Health, Barb designs and facilitates the group experiences behind Foster Health’s programs — helping participants engage fully and learn from one another.
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Callum Tyrrell
STRATEGY AND TRANSFORMATION ADVISOR
Callum is a healthcare executive and strategic advisor with more than 20 years of experience helping organizations lead meaningful sustainable change. Drawing on a career that spans frontline mental health practice, executive leadership, and health system transformation across multiple continents, he brings a unique ability to understand change from the perspective of individuals, teams, organizations, and systems.Callum has partnered with leaders across community, provincial, and international settings to improve quality, strengthen partnerships, and design practical solutions to complex challenges. His work integrates strategy, organizational development, quality improvement, behaviour change, and implementation, helping organizations translate ambitious goals into measurable outcomes.
Known for building trusted relationships and navigating complexity with curiosity and pragmatism, Callum helps leaders align perspectives, foster psychological safety, and create the conditions for lasting improvement. His experience working with diverse populations and multidisciplinary teams has shaped a deep appreciation for the human factors that underpin successful change.
As Strategy & Transformation Advisor with Foster Health, Callum supports organizations in strengthening leadership, advancing system improvement — building the capability to achieve sustainable impact through evidence-informed, people-centred approaches.
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Tricia Wilkerson
HEALTHCARE QUALITY ADVISOR
Tricia is the Director of Integrated Care at Amplify Care, where she leads with strategic vision, practice facilitation expertise, and a passion for effective training. She specializes in integrating care pathways through collaboration, helping teams streamline clinical workflows and improve patient access and experience.Tricia designs and delivers quality improvement initiatives that help healthcare teams adopt digital health solutions effectively, drawing on her facilitation background to help people work smarter, not harder. She also manages partner relationships, and project execution, driving initiatives that align with strategic goals across the care continuum.
Her achievements include advancing digital health programs like eReferral systems and virtual care, and leading a quality improvement project that reduced COPD readmissions from 28 percent to 15 percent. She is a Certified IHI Improvement Advisor, Lean Six Sigma Green Belt, and holds IFIC's Certification in Integrated Care. Tricia serves on the boards of the Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance and ONE CARE.
As Healthcare Quality Advisor with Foster Health, Tricia supports strategic planning for growth and quality standards — helping the Foster Health scale with the same rigour she brings to health system integration.
‘‘Eileen and I have worked together for over 15 years and I have seen first hand the successes that have come from her leadership coaching time and time again. As a healthcare leader herself, she understands complex problems and everyday challenges, and guides people through the changes to reach their goals.’’
—Dale Schattenkirk