Brief Overview & Eligibility for Services

The Counseling Center is staffed by a group of skilled, compassionate, and professional mental health clinicians who provide a range of short-term services to assist in resolving acute concerns and support the healthy development of our enrolled students. Over 40% of the student body will access the services of the Counseling Center for an individual appointment at some time in their college career. Our services are confidential and included in tuition. We are conveniently located on the first floor of Jonsson Tower, near Health Services. We are committed to our Core Principles, and strive to engage all members of the Skidmore community with empathy and respect.

The Counseling Center is able to offer up to 8 individual psychotherapy sessions per year to each fully enrolled student. These are scheduled on a “one-at-a-time” basis, and are focused on helping students to develop practical strategies for the addressing the immediate concern that brings them in at that time. We can also provide tailored referrals to local clinicians for students who are likely to benefit from more open-ended, ongoing, or specialized care. Referral consultations can occur in person or, if more convenient, requests can be made by contacting the office and asking to receive recommendations by email.

If you are a student coming to campus on psychiatric medications, we recommend either continuing care with your current prescriber or, if you’d like to see someone in Saratoga while you’re at school, we’re happy to suggest a few clinicians in the area. Local psychiatric provider options are limited, however, so we strongly recommend sorting out your medication management plan in advance of arriving at school, to prevent gaps in care or difficulty obtaining refills. 

In addition to individual consultation appointments, the Counseling Center offers several  brief, skills-based workshops each semester, to assist students in dealing with some of the most common mental health and developmental difficulties.  Please contact the office (518-580-5555) or consult the main page of our website to find out what’s being offered for the current semester.

We believe that our present-focused, “one-at-a-time” consultation model is helpful for the majority of the students who seek our assistance. However, there are certain situations in which a referral to other resources is likely to be the most appropriate option.

These include:

• Students seeking open-ended therapy for ongoing mental health concerns.
• Students whose conditions require specialized care that is not available at the Counseling Center (e.g., DBT, intensive substance abuse treatment, etc.).
• Students who are requesting medication management services.
• Students for whom an evaluation and/or treatment has been mandated by a third-party.
• Students who are already engaged in an ongoing psychotherapy relationship and who are intending to continue this relationship through the school year.
• Students for whom short-term treatment of their difficulties has previously been unsuccessful.

Eligibility for Services

Individual and group therapy services at the Counseling Center are available to fully-enrolled, matriculating Skidmore College students. Referral assistance and third-party consultations regarding students of concern are available to all members of the broader Skidmore community.