Supporting Behaviour Change Beyond the Appointment
Health and wellness coaching can help bridge the gap between knowing what to do and making change part of everyday life.
Healthcare professionals often identify changes that could support a person's health and well-being. But knowing that change would be beneficial doesn't always make it easy to achieve.
Whitecap Health Coaching works with clients on the behaviour-change side of health: exploring what matters to them, identifying barriers, building confidence, setting realistic goals, and developing sustainable habits that fit their lives.
Coaching is designed to complement, not replace, appropriate medical and allied healthcare.
Sarah Pendergrast, MD
Health & Wellness Coach
Sarah brings a multidisciplinary background in medicine, biology, kinesiology and health and wellness coaching to her work with Whitecap.
Education & Training
Diploma in Health & Wellness Coaching · McMaster University — completing 2026
MD · Dalhousie University
BSc Biology · Dalhousie University
Graduate Studies in Kinesiology · Dalhousie University
NCCP Community Triathlon Coach — In Training
When Health Coaching May Help
Whitecap may be a helpful resource when someone is medically stable and would benefit from additional support turning health intentions or recommendations into sustainable change.
Health coaching may be helpful for someone who:
Knows change would benefit their health, but is struggling to make it happen
They may understand what they want or have been advised to change, but need support translating that knowledge into realistic actions and sustainable habits.
Has been advised to make lifestyle changes as part of their healthcare
They may benefit from additional support with motivation, goal-setting, identifying barriers and following through on recommendations from their healthcare team.
Wants to become more physically active or improve other health-supporting habits
They may feel overwhelmed about where to begin, lack confidence, or have struggled to maintain changes in the past.
Is living with a stable chronic health condition
They may want support incorporating health-supporting behaviours into everyday life while continuing appropriate medical care.
Wants to take a proactive approach to healthy aging and long-term health
They may be motivated to improve movement, nutrition, sleep, stress management or other lifestyle behaviours to support their health and quality of life over time.
Is navigating a significant life transition
Changes such as retirement, caregiving, parenthood, recovery from illness or injury, or other major transitions can disrupt established routines and create an opportunity to reconsider health priorities.
Finds that competing demands continually push their own health aside
Work, family, caregiving and other responsibilities may make it difficult to prioritize their own well-being despite wanting to make a change.
Would benefit from ongoing support and accountability between healthcare appointments
Coaching provides dedicated time to reflect on progress, work through barriers, adjust goals and continue building change over time.
What Health Coaching Provides
Whitecap provides dedicated time and support to help clients turn intentions into action and build changes they can sustain in everyday life.
Coaching is collaborative and individualized. Rather than prescribing solutions, the coach works alongside the client to explore what matters, identify what may be getting in the way, and develop strategies that fit their goals, circumstances and readiness for change.
Depending on the client's needs, coaching may include:
Clarifying meaningful health goals
Helping clients identify what they want to change, why it matters to them, and what progress would look like in their own lives.
Building motivation and confidence
Using evidence-informed coaching approaches, including motivational interviewing, to explore ambivalence, strengthen self-efficacy and support internally motivated change.
Turning intentions into realistic action
Breaking larger health goals into manageable steps that feel achievable within the realities of the client's life.
Identifying and working through barriers
Exploring the practical, behavioural and environmental factors that may be making change difficult and helping clients develop strategies for navigating them.
Building sustainable habits and routines
Supporting clients as they experiment with changes, learn what works for them and gradually build behaviours they can maintain over time.
Reflection, accountability and course correction
Providing regular opportunities to review progress, learn from setbacks, recognize successes and adjust goals as circumstances change.
Supporting healthcare recommendations
When clients are working with healthcare professionals, coaching can support their efforts to implement agreed-upon lifestyle recommendations while remaining within the scope of health and wellness coaching.
The goal is not to tell clients what they should do, but to help them develop the clarity, confidence and skills to make meaningful changes their own.
Working Within a Clear Scope
Health and wellness coaching complements healthcare. It does not replace it.
Whitecap Health Coaching focuses on behaviour change, goal-setting, motivation, self-efficacy and the development of sustainable health-supporting habits. Clients remain under the care of their physicians and other healthcare professionals for assessment, diagnosis and treatment of medical or mental health conditions.
Whitecap Health Coaching does not:
diagnose medical or mental health conditions
provide medical treatment or medical advice
prescribe, recommend changes to, or manage medications
interpret diagnostic tests or provide clinical assessment
provide psychotherapy or counselling
provide medical nutrition therapy or therapeutic diets
provide rehabilitation or treatment for injury or illness
replace care from an appropriately qualified healthcare professional
When a client's needs fall outside the scope of health and wellness coaching, they will be encouraged to seek care from the appropriate healthcare professional.
When clients are receiving healthcare
Whitecap respects the recommendations and treatment plans established by a client's healthcare team. Coaching can support clients as they work toward health-related goals and implement lifestyle recommendations, but does not modify or replace clinical care.
When appropriate, and with the client's consent, Whitecap can work alongside other members of the client's healthcare team while maintaining appropriate confidentiality and professional boundaries.
Working Alongside the Healthcare Team
Sustainable behaviour change often happens outside the healthcare setting, in the routines, decisions and challenges of everyday life.
Whitecap can provide additional time and focused support for clients working toward health-related goals alongside the care they receive from physicians and other healthcare professionals.
Health coaching can help clients:
translate agreed-upon healthcare recommendations into realistic actions that fit their lives
explore barriers that may be making follow-through difficult
build confidence in their ability to make and sustain change
develop routines and strategies that support their health goals
reflect on progress, setbacks and what they are learning along the way
maintain momentum between healthcare appointments
Whitecap does not direct clinical care. When a client's goals relate to recommendations from their healthcare team, coaching supports the client in determining how they can put those recommendations into practice in a way that is realistic and sustainable for them.
A Collaborative Approach
With appropriate client consent, Whitecap is open to communication with members of a client's healthcare team when doing so would support coordinated care and remain within the scope of health and wellness coaching.
The healthcare professional remains responsible for clinical assessment and treatment. Whitecap's role is to support the person doing the difficult work of making change in everyday life.
Sharing Whitecap With a Patient or Client
No formal referral is required.
If you believe someone you work with may benefit from health and wellness coaching, you are welcome to share information about Whitecap with them. They can learn more about coaching, explore whether it feels like a good fit, and contact Whitecap directly if and when they are ready.
This approach allows the decision to pursue coaching to remain with the individual. Health coaching is most effective when clients are ready to participate in the process and identify changes that are meaningful to them.
For healthcare professionals
You are also welcome to contact Whitecap directly with questions about health and wellness coaching, scope of practice, or whether Whitecap may be an appropriate resource for someone in your care.