In 1973, a group of Christian mental health professionals committed to integrating Christian faith and professional counseling founded the Atlanta Clinical College. After opening a counseling center, they partnered with Georgia State University, a major state university, to offer advanced professional training and research within a Christian context through what became known as the Religious Consultation and Research Society, before being incorporated as the Psychological Studies Institute (PSI).

For more than 25 years, PSI offered a diploma in Christian counseling through its partnership with Georgia State. In the fall of 1998, PSI began offering its own Master of Arts in Professional Counseling degree after receiving authorization from the Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

In August 2000, Richmont opened a second campus in Chattanooga. Three years later, PSI received accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). In 2008, PSI changed its name to Richmont Graduate University and soon after purchased a new Atlanta campus.

In 2014, Richmont received accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), the gold standard for clinical mental health education programs. Today, the University offers multiple certificate programs in numerous specializations, a School of Ministry with three master’s degree programs, a doctoral program, and dozens of continuing education offerings each year.

Presently, Richmont’s mental health counselors serve around the world, working in private practices, behavioral health centers, homeless shelters, addiction rehabilitation facilities, churches, and other community-based programs that serve disadvantaged populations.