Craving Change Inc
Craving Change Inc. was founded in 2008 and is co-owned by registered dietitian Wendy Shah and clinical psychologist Dr. Colleen Cannon. The Craving Change® program is well respected and highly praised by international experts in the fields of chronic disease management, weight management, and health behavior change. For a summary of the evidence underlying the key foundations of Craving Change, download Roots and Outcomes.
The ground breaking, cognitive-behavioral program for problematic eating has transformed the practice of thousands of health care professionals in Canada. Licenses are also available in the United States and internationally. Craving Change offers individual clinician, organization, and corporate licensees professional education, client resources, increased capacity, and a competitive advantage. The comprehensive program can be customized for various roles, settings and needs, supporting clients and customers who struggle with their eating behaviors. Currently, Craving Change is incorporated into clinical services within Family Health Teams, Primary Care Networks, Bariatric Surgery Clinics, University Health Services, and Regional Health Authorities. Over 50,000 client workbooks have been purchased. Feedback from managers, clinicians and their clients is consistently and outstandingly positive.
Craving Change is distinguished and credible, recommended as a Professional Tool and Resource with PEN (Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition), a global online nutrition database of information and resources for health professionals. Certification in the program is eligible for 10 Continuing Professional Education Units (CPEU) by the Commission on Dietetic Registration in the USA.
Craving Change provides expertise, brand recognition, and professional and business credibility for corporate alliances. Loblaw Companies Ltd., the largest grocery retail company in Canada, has a corporate license certifying many of their in-store dietitians. Craving Change Inc. has had a multi-year contract with a medical parts provider for bariatric surgery, providing website content, client newsletters, blog posts, and app content. Craving Change content has also augmented a research study and a health behavior app under license.
An illustrated children’s book was created based on the most popular eating self-awareness activity in the Craving Change program. It includes an appendix and has an accompanying downloadable companion guide and resources for parents, caregivers and educators. Wendy has been a guest speaker at the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary.
In addition to dozens of presentations at local, regional, provincial, and national events, Wendy and Colleen have been invited to present to colleagues beyond Canada. This includes a (sold out!) workshop at the Dietitians Association of Australia National Conference, the International Congress of Dietetics in Spain, the 2019 SCAN Symposium in Phoenix and the 2023 Weight Management Dietetic Practice Group (DPG) Symposium. They have presented webinars for the Dietitians of Canada Diabetes, Obesity and Cardiovascular Network, Dietitians at Work, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics Weight Management DPG and the Nutrition Entrepreneurs DPG Spring Summit.
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About the Co-Founders
Colleen is a clinical psychologist who is passionate about health psychology! She has been exploring the dance between psychological well-being and physical well-being her entire career.
Colleen completed her PhD from Queen’s University in clinical psychology, and her dissertation focused on depression symptoms in people with chronic pain. While in Kingston, Colleen also began working with survivors of sexual assault and trauma. The learnings from this work are countless, and have had a direct impact on her values. First and foremost, “no judgement”. Colleen believes that health and wellness education must be grounded in the context of people’s lives and personal goals. She is a vocal advocate for the importance of knowing and understanding the very real implications of the social determinants of health.
Colleen has pursued her love of exploring the psychology of eating for 20+ years. She completed her postdoctoral internship at the “new” (1998) eating disorders program at Ottawa General Hospital, and joined the Academy for Eating Disorders in 1999. Since 2000 her primary focus has been developing effective interventions to address the unmet needs of people with subclinical disordered eating. That is, people struggling in their relationship with food and how they use food, yet who do not meet standard diagnostic criteria for an ‘eating disorder’. In 2000 she co-developed a workshop entitled, “Just 5 More Pounds” about emotional eating, the diet circus, and media literacy/body image. A few years later, Colleen was thrilled to partner with Wendy Shah, RD in designing and implementing tools that make sense, and make a difference.
For the last 15 years, Colleen has brought these skills and passion into numerous public and private health care clinics in Calgary and Vancouver. These include diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol clinics, cardiac rehabilitation, and heart transplantation. In all settings, in addition to core clinical responsibilities Colleen has taken the lead in multidisciplinary collaboration, implementing more efficient service delivery models, research collaboration, graduate student supervision and liaising with community-based providers. She loves presenting and has spoken professionally at regional, provincial, national, and international events. She currently maintains a part time private practice in Vancouver, BC.
Colleen was an Adjunct Professor in the University of Calgary Department Of Psychology from 2008-2011. She was an active member of the Clinical Research Steering Committee at the Cardiac Wellness Institute in Calgary AB from 2004-2009 and she played a key role in developing a cohesive strategy for managing chronic diseases in Alberta as an active member of the Clinical Support Services Adult Lifestyle Education Committee and the Chronic Disease Management Curriculum Redesign Committee. Colleen was a reviewer of the ‘Behavioural and Psychosocial Issues’ Chapter of the Canadian Guidelines for Cardiac Rehabilitation and Cardiovascular Disease Prevention (J. Stone, Editor in Chief).
Award-winning and nationally recognized, Wendy is described as creative, cutting edge, experienced, and respected. She is a leader among her colleagues in Canada developing innovative ways to excite both individuals and professionals about nutrition and eating. Having worked as a Registered Dietitian in the area of chronic disease management for 40 years, she has always had a strong interest in the psychosocial and environmental factors that influence our eating behaviors. In collaboration with clinical psychologist Dr. Colleen Cannon, Wendy has inspired and trained clinicians to help their clients ‘change their eating habits by changing their thinking habits’.
Wendy’s original and progressive work was acknowledged with the Dietitians of Canada Member Recognition Award for Innovation in 2017. Dietitians repeatedly congratulate Wendy for developing the Craving Change® program which has “transformed the profession!” As an advocate for self-efficacy, Wendy was a Master Trainer with the Stanford Chronic Disease Self-management program for over ten years. Her other national awards include the Certificate of Excellence for her contribution to the Blood Pressure Canada Public Education task force and the regional Speaking of Food and Healthy Living Award: Excellence in Consumer Communication.
Recognized for her outstanding ability to write with an entertaining and thought-provoking style, Wendy has written articles for consumers and for local, national and international professional publications. She has presented webinars and been invited to speak at a variety of national and international conferences. Still true to her vision, Wendy’s recent focus is to promote eating self-awareness and a positive relationship with food to children and the adults who influence them. She self-published an illustrated children’s book that has received rave reviews.
