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This description of counseling and psychotherapy services at Amherst College begins with our heritage from the "mental hygiene" movement of the nineteenth century, the founding of the first university mental health services and the later development of a counseling center tradition. By tracing the evolution at Amherst, from a brief counseling and assessment office to a psychotherapy service, I hope to illustrate and discuss the factors which support a psychotherapy service, as opposed to other models such as a counseling and assessment service or a triage and referral service. Important questions include staffing, time limits, administrative involvement, the institutional context, acknowledging the proper limits of our authority, the need to be aware of how our values may influence our judgments, and resisting the pressures to reduce or streamline our services. I argue for the value of providing a therapeutic space for college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]