Thomas Cothren of Maryland is a substance abuse and mental health recovery professional who holds years of experience helping patients achieve their recovery goals. As devoted father and family man with experience in long term recovery, Thomas realizes the importance of touching as many lives as possible and helping individuals who struggle get better and seize control of their lives. Thomas’s experience helping patients develop comprehensive, efficient goals is cited as one of his greatest strengths, and he excels at guiding individuals as they work to identify their needs as they continue on their path to success.

Thomas Cothren, previously of Fresh Start, is well regarded within the recovery space for his profound commitment to assisting others as they continue to make changes beneficial to their futures. Thomas leverages his knowledge of both physical and mental health to empower patients to devise solutions to obstacles in their treatment while remaining motivated to grow as individuals.

Thomas Cothren of Maryland on Setting and Following Realistic Recovery Goals

Setting realistic recovery goals is incredibly important in the recovery process as it contextualizes patient’s efforts to make changes while keeping them motivated to work towards a more fulfilling life. Naturally, setting goals can be daunting for individuals who are just beginning recovery and are looking to find clarity on what is truly important to them in their lives. Thomas Cothren of Maryland maintains that setting realistic goals in recovery can be simple if one follows a few steps and, here, he explores a few of the most effective ways to create and stick to recovery goals.

Identify Your Overall Goals

Thomas Cothren notes that one of the most important steps for efficient, realistic goal setting is to ask oneself about their personal goals for recovery. For many, answers will be “big picture” goals such as becoming a better person, finding happiness, or becoming more in tune with their emotions. Thomas Cothren, formerly of Fresh Start, encourages individuals seeking recovery to think beyond these big picture goals during the first stages of goal setting because it empowers them to instead create goals that are specific and measurable. Getting more specific is crucial for staying motivated to follow through with your plans and gives you things to actively work towards throughout the recovery process. Experts call these goals SMART goals, an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. This provides crucial context for your efforts to make changes and can go a long way towards creating goals that patients can actively work towards.

Set Short and Long Term Goals

Making a list of goals that range from short to long term is an effective way to ensure that you are setting yourself up for success. Short term goals are excellent sources of motivation for individuals in recovery because they help generate momentum during the process while larger goals may still seem out of reach. Remember that goals do not all need to be extravagant to be effective as simple goal can keep you focused and ready to tackle more wholistic ones. Thomas Cothren of New York mentions that long term goals are important as well because they provide context for your smaller scale recovery plans. We all want to have things to look forward to and build towards, and a good mix of short and long term goals keeps patients engaged and focused in the present while remaining excited, invigorated, and inspired by the future.

Discuss Your Goals

Discussing our goals with others can be an excellent way to evaluate them and work to bring them into fruition. For example, sharing your recovery goals with your therapist can be an incredibly effective way to get feedback, make a viable safety plan, and go over methods for making your goals a reality. Similarly, addressing your goals with loved ones that make up your support system can keep them updated on your plans for recovery while providing context on how they can help you on your journey. Thomas Cothren of Maryland notes that patients also may benefit from sharing their goals with other patients as well. This is because they may have similar experiences and established goals themselves and discussing these factors may help keep one another motivated and dedicated to reaching them.

Celebrate Milestones

Thomas Cothren of Maryland recognizes that it is important to celebrate your recovery milestones as a means to stay motivated on your journey. After all, the path to recovery is often filled with ups and downs, and it is beneficial to congratulate ourselves when we make changes that will be truly beneficial in our lives down the line. Thomas encourages patients who have recently reached a short or long term goal to celebrate their success with loved ones who comprise their support system. Take the time to reflect on your successes and leverage that feeling to tackle the longer term or difficult items on your list of goals.

Hold Yourself Accountable, But Be Flexible

Accountability is crucial in the recovery process because we inevitably all make mistakes, however, our ability to own up to them and make changes for the future is the most important takeaway. For example, we may not be motivated to reach a goal some days, or perhaps we set goals that are a bit too high and need to adjust either our timelines or strategies to reach them. Thomas Cothren of New York acknowledges that the flexibility to be patient with yourself while on your recovery journey plays a vital role in staying the course.

Looking for More from Thomas Cothren?

Thomas Cothren, previously of Fresh Start, maintains that accessible, high-level resources that detail recovery and its processes are key for individuals looking to make vital changes within their lives. If you are interested in learning more about the mental health/substance abuse recovery space from a professional who has extensive experience, be sure to check the blog page for more information inspired by Thomas’s insights.