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15 Lexington's population in 2002 was 31,122,with 6,655 of this number under 17 years of age. The hypothetical ratio of providers to citizens was thus 155.6, an exceptionally high ratio compared to communities elsewhere in the nation and in the Boston metropolitan area. If we take the often-utilized proportion in mental health literature of ten percent of a population in need of services,there may be about 3,000 citizens at risk of mental and emotional distress in Lexington, and on this estimation,the residential hypothetical ratio is 1 provider per 15 residents. There is, we believe, an indisputably high number of mental health service providers working in Lexington. Our study interviewed 28 solo practitioners for a sample of 16 percent of this group. In addition, we interviewed from two to five professionals in each of four agencies and organizations. Within the 28, 17.9 percent were psychiatrists, 42.9 percent were psychologists with PhDs, 25 percent were psychologists or counselors with PsyD or EdD degrees, 7.1 percent were social workers with MSW degrees, and 7.1 percent came from other professions. We did not sample pastoral counselors. 85.7 percent of our solo practitioners had 15 or more years of professional experience. 3. AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS Four agencies and organizations serve Lexington, apart from solo practitioners. They include Wayside RePlace, Eliot Community Human Services, the Edinburg Center Inc., and the Department of Guidance Counseling at Lexington High School. Wayside RePlace. RePlace has been in Lexington since 1970 when it began as a youth drop-in center which provided counseling, supervised emergency foster homes, peer counseling, and a child assault prevention program and hotline. In the 1970s, 1980s and until the 1990s, it was identified with the Hancock Church and was housed in the church building. (For the period from November 1994 until late 1995, Eliot Community Health Services took over from RePlace and offered drop-in services and peer counseling for youth from a clubhouse in Depot Square. It proved difficult to reconcile the activities of youth at that location with the business interests of merchants based on the Square. The contract reverted to Wayside RePlace).