I am going to develop an action plan for Sarah Macintosh. She is 22 and single. Sarah is slightly overweight

P3.My client

Action plan

I am going to develop an action plan for Sarah Macintosh. She is 22 and single. Sarah is slightly overweight and despite her best efforts and 5 GCSEs cannot find a job she is happy with, she is slightly picky however. At the moment she is living with her single parent sister and her 2 children and their little dog but she is not happy with where she lives and would like to get a house of her own someday. This however is very hard because she is in huge debt and can barely afford food, often borrowing money from her sister. She can’t stop buying unnecessary items of clothing from expensive designer labels. The debt and lack of independence and space has leaded her to deep depression. She understands that she is not healthy and rated her own health as 2/5 and admitted to not eating enough fruits or vegetables. She doesn’t exercise but has shown some interest in trying new sports. She is a heavy smoker and has attempted to stop but still smokes a significant amount of cigarettes, wasting her money and making her ill. She has made it clear she has previously attempted to make improvements to her life (dieting, cutting down on cigarettes and eating five fruit and vegetables) but hasn’t followed through and has given up or failed.

To lead a happier and healthier life Sarah needs to start off by quitting smoking she should do this by first reducing the amount of cigarettes she uses daily and continue on the nicorette tablet. I would suggest having 2 less every day and with the help of the tablet you should be able to stop all together. This would be easier for her because she won’t have to stop all together and will have time to adjust. She seems to know how important it is to stop and so will be motivated by the amount of money she saves and by how much healthier she could possibly be.

Her Diet needs to change drastically she needs to drink more water and fresh juices and cut back on fizzy drinks. Also she needs to make sure she’s frequently eating Fruits and vegetables and shouldn’t eat as many fatty puddings, they should be replaced with fruit or yoghurts. Also she should cut down on the snack and choose healthier, home cooked meals for herself and only treat herself to a takeout monthly. I have drawn out a table, to guide her in her daily regime. This should give her a healthier guideline and provide her with alternatives to her fatty unhealthy foods. It is important that Sarah doesn’t stop eating all together because she might begin to lose weight at first but when she looses the desired amount of weight and begins to eat normally again she is likely to put on the weight all over again. Also the lack of food could make her very sick and prevent her from being able to do other significant things like hold a job and exercise. The Diet I provided for her insures she gets the right proportions of nutrients and still gets to enjoy what she eats. A short term target for her would be to cut back on the fatty snacks and eat healthier. And a long term target would be to loose 30 kg, this will make her physically much healthier, her heart will be under less strain and will be able to pump blood around her body easier, therby making her a lot fitter.

Sarah doesn’t need to follow this exactly and may make modifications but it is important she remembers to switch from sugary drinks to no added sugar drinks such as water, semi-skimmed milk and fresh juice. She must remember to drink at least 2liters of water daily. She should also only have snacks without added sugar such as fruit, unsalted nuts,

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Breadsticks, rice cakes or toast, instead of sweets, biscuits, chocolate, cakes and pastries, this should sustain her till the next meal but also not make her put on weight and keep her healthy. Her meals before had way too many carbohydrates in them and not enough salads or vitamins she should make sure she only has one type of carbohydrate on her plate per meal and to always have a salad or vegetable, she should also aim to have only one helping of food. Her plate should be divided accordingly to this chart.

The lack of exercise Sarah does is also a concern. She said she occasionally walks to work a short 15 minute journey. This is nowhere near enough and should at least be walking to work and back every day. I also recommend her joining the local gym and should start going swimming at least once weekly, her interest in volleyball might mean she could also enjoy basketball, and should also attempt to join a club or local team or gather with some friends and play on a weekly basis. She mentioned enjoying bike riding and should enhance that by using her bike to get to places rather than use public transport. A short term target for Sarah would be to get at least an hour exercise daily. In the long-term I would expect her to, as well as lose weight, be a lot more involved in sports and a lot more active.

Sarah would enjoy this timetable as she has shown interest in the sports I have listed and realises the significance of exercise, doing these sports with a friend could encourage her to go by the routine and motivate her to do her best. It should be easy for Sarah to go by this routine as she knows of a local swimming pool, basketball is a sport that could be played anywhere and it would be easy for her to even buy herself a basketball net. She already goes bike riding, and by making it a weekly activity , it could strengthen her ability to ride and motivate her to ride further each time.

Sarah needs to be more open minded about jobs. She should take whatever job she can find until she is in a position to refuse and look for better. She should definitely keep her job as a cashier until she finds something else and should ask about working extra shifts or having a night job somewhere else. Sarah seems to waste alot of money on cigarettes and other unnecessary items. If she focuses on quitting smoking, and only buys what she really needs she could hopefully save up eventually, enough to rent a flat for herself and hopefully allow her to pay off her debt. This would relieve her from some of the stress she is experiencing because she seems to dislike living with her sister’s family and wants a space of her own.

The lack of sleep could also have a negative effect on Sarah she should ideally get 8 hours of sleep a day.

To feel fulfilled intellectually Sarah should join her local library and maybe even take a course in university this could not only improve her chances of getting a job that suits her but provide her with an alternative from going drinking and give her an objective in life. She could also think about learning a new language, she has shown some interest in learning Spanish and Italian and by doing this she could receive a sense of achievement. Sarah gets unhappy when people think of her as dumb, so maybe by passing a course or entering a competition she could prove them wrong and have something to be proud of.

After showing Sarah my action plan she seemed happy with it but didn’t seem to enjoy the idea of going to the gym, I discussed it with her and we arranged for her to go swimming twice a week as she felt she really did enjoy it and was happy to do so. She couldn’t afford any of the courses in the university but found a class in the local library teaching Spanish and has found it very useful. She has kept her job working as a cashier and is starting a later shift as a waitress in a cafe. She is saving a lot of money and is looking at renting a house in her sister’s neighbourhood. She is still interested in university courses and will continue searching.

Sarah has agreed to join an anti-smoking support group. I will track her progress to a healthy life through them. She will also be weighing herself on a weekly basis and make improvements on the diet I have set her, depending on how much weight she has lost/gained. Her friends have agreed to support her through her exercise routine and promised to encourage her to not quit. Sarah has also agreed to keep a diary in which she will write what she has learnt or achieved, daily. This will help her become more aware of her progress and motivate her to try harder to get a better job.

To acheicve D1

You need to set your client short term and long term targets.
How progress in meeting targets will be monitered
More detail on how this plan takes into account the circumstances on your client including preformances

Teacher Reviews

Here's what a teacher thought of this essay

Diane Apeah-Kubi

16th of Apr 2013

I thought this was a very good plan overall. The writer identifies the problems and mostly devises realistic and appropriate goals to address the issues. I was particularly pleased with the menu plan. Remember to use evidence to support comments about weight or cigarette usage. It is not enough to say 'she smokes a lot'. The writing style is good on the whole which helps the reader to understand the points being made.

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