Loretta C. Begg, LCPC, NCC

My name is Loretta Collins Begg, and I live outside Washington, D.C., in Bethesda, Maryland. After a 25-year career in sales, I decided to return to school and get my Master’s of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling to become a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor (LCPC). My theoretical orientation is a mix of cognitive-behavioral and person-centered therapy. I started my career as a therapist working with people suffering with substance use disorders and discovered how psychological disorders tend to follow the same developmental trajectory. I worked with individual clients and ran groups in partial hospitalization (PHP), intensive outpatient (IOP), and residential rehabilitation. We covered cognitive distortions, cost-benefit analysis of continued use, maladaptive relationships and sexual intimacy, dual diagnosis, and psychopharmacology. Therapy is not one-sided but a partnership. Currently, I work with clients suffering with PTSD, major depressive disorder (MDD), eating disorders (EDs), bipolar disorder, and anxiety, to name a few. I loathe the term “mental illness” because it is pejorative, keeps people from seeking help, and treats brain diseases separately from physical illness. Until we stop referring to psychological health in a “less than” manner, society will continue to perpetuate its’ stigma. I have three dogs. Murphy’s Law, Murphy for short, is a Golden Retriever who still acts like a puppy at ten years old. He ate my couch and had the audacity to look at me as if to say, “I know. I was as surprised as you when it exploded.” Adding to my brood are another two beagles, Anna and her daughter Lucy whom I took care of on and off for a year and adopted after their mom died. For self-care, I enjoy dancing and taking tennis lessons. At one point, I was over 200 pounds and had to start exercising and eating healthily. Knowing I would never go to a gym, I chose International Latin Ballroom and competed with my teacher. I lost the weight and actually ended up on the cover of People in their “Half Their Size Issue.” In a previous life, I also performed as a stand-up comic.