Meet the Counseling Center Staff
Robert Cardom (he/him), PhD, Director and Licensed Psychologist
Robert earned his PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of Kentucky, where he completed research and clinical work focused on queer mental health, preventing suicide, and the benefits of racially diverse friend groups. Since, he has continued to focus on college student mental health, with a particular interest in sleep, coping with racial trauma and other identity-based experiences, and training therapists to keep a multicultural lens in their work. As a therapist, he finds meaning in the stories of students, changing the unhelpful deeply-rooted beliefs our experiences have forced us to internalize, and finding new ways of speaking to ourselves. He is also a proponent for healthy boundaries in relationships that ensure that our needs are met while respecting the needs of others. In the community he is an advocate for suicide prevention and mental health promotion, and he is excited to join the Skidmore Counseling Center’s tradition of hosting the Out of the Darkness Walk. (Register at http://afsp.org/skidmore)
Angela Banks (she/her), PsyD, Associate Director of Counseling and Inclusion
Angela earned her PsyD from Wheaton College, where she completed research focused on health disparities and retention in health care for individuals from underserved communities. She has extensive experience working with college students and emerging adults in both private practice and college counseling center settings. Her areas of focus include working with BIPOC and other marginalized/minoritized students, as well as working with concerns related to identity, belonging, self-esteem, life transitions, and life choices. She values collaboration in her work with others and uses strength based, multicultural and relational approaches to help improve students’ well-being. Angela believes in and advocates for community, belonging, and compassion for self and for others. It is her hope to provide a space where all people feel like they belong.
Jinny Babinec (she/her), Office Coordinator
Jinny received her BS in Communications and Information Design from SUNY IT in 2015. She subsequently worked in the recycling field for several years as both an Account Manager and a Client Development Executive. Following a relocation to Saratoga Springs, she decided to make a career change and joined the Skidmore College Counseling Center as the Office Coordinator in October 2021. Jinny is a strong advocate for therapy and counseling. She knows from personal experience just how challenging it can feel to ask for help or guidance. Her personal goal as the Office Coordinator is to ensure that every person gets connected with the help they need and feels supported when they interact with the office.
Elizabeth Green, PhD (she/her), Case Management Clinician
Elizabeth earned her PhD in School Psychology from Penn State University, where she concentrated on clinical psychology in adolescents. She has extensive experience working with individuals who present with learning differences, ADHD, anxiety and mood disorders. Her areas of professional interest include: social and school anxiety; the impact of self-esteem on interpersonal relationships; performance anxiety in student-athletes; and the importance of nutrition and appropriate self-care for mental health & wellness. Elizabeth enjoys developing collaborative relationships with students and incorporates cognitive behavioral and solution-focused techniques to help them better understand their needs and develop practical strategies for achieving both academic and social success.
Shannon Hoffman (she/her), LMSW, Staff Clinician
Shannon earned her master’s degree in Clinical Social Welfare from the University at Albany. She has experience working in both teletherapy and in-person settings supporting clients with LGBTQAI+ and cultural identity and belonging concerns, crisis intervention, grief and loss, terminal illness, chronic pain management, and family or origin and substance use concerns. She believes in student’s abilities to develop the skills necessary to more deeply enjoy healthy intimacy and communication in their relationships with themselves and others. Through a trauma-informed and strengths-based psychoanalytic approach, Shannon uses the frameworks of logotherapy and somatic and inner child healing to co-create a solution-focused and affirmative space in which students feel empowered to be honest about their circumstances, symptoms, and experiences, and hopeful and confident about their ability to be successful students.
Camila Prigol Machado (she/her), BA, Practicum Clinician
Camila earned her BA in Psychology from the University of Caxias do Sul, in Brazil. She is in her second year as a Masters in Mental Health Counseling student at the University at Albany (SUNY). She has experience working in Brazil in inpatient and outpatient settings and providing individual and group therapy for a diverse group of patients of all ages from the Brazilian Universal Health Care System (SUS). Camila supports her patients to embark in a journey to know themselves more deeply and helps them to gain awareness of what is going on psychologically that is underlying their present problems. Through a psychoanalytical and multicultural approach, Camila invites her patients to tell their stories with their own words, which she believes to be a transformative, healing, and a powerful experience. She is very excited to work and learn from Skidmore students!
Taylor Rashkow (she/her), LMHC, Staff Clinician
Taylor is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and an Upstate New York native. She received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Cazenovia College, master’s degree in Psychology at Adelphi University, and master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Syracuse University. She has experience working with all ages in school systems, private practice, and colleges and universities. While she loves and appreciates every part of the human experience, she is particularly interested in eating disorders/disordered eating, identity formation, family-of-origin issues, relationship building/communication, anxiety, trauma, the student-athlete experience, and major life transitions (like the college experience!). She practices with humanistic, person-centered, and existential approaches. She uses these perspectives to reduce anxiety, improve the authenticity of life experiences, and form positive and nurturing therapeutic relationships as the basis of therapy. Taylor believes that the individual is the expert on their own experience and she always works to build a level and collaborative playing field in the counseling room. It’s her hope to provide meaningful relationships, coping/life skills, and safe spaces for students to improve their mental health, sense of self, and embodiment.
Coleen K. Wright (she/her), LMHC, EMDR-C, Staff Clinician
Coleen is a Staff Clinician at the Counseling Center. She received her Master’s in Psychology from Naropa University and has a Master’s in Teaching: TESOL Concentration from the School for International Training. Coleen is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in New York State. Coleen has an Integrative, mind-body approach to therapy and is a Certified EMDR Therapist. She blends mindfulness-based therapy, trauma-informed treatment, EMDR therapy, somatic therapy, lifestyle changes, creativity, depth psychology, and holistic approaches. She also has experience leading mindfulness and meditation instruction and providing expressive arts programming. Coleen taught yoga for many years, and although she is no longer teaching, she incorporates breathwork and yogic wisdom into her therapy work. Over the past fourteen years, Coleen has enjoyed working in hospice/end-of-life care, family trauma treatment in foster care prevention services, outpatient mental health, and private practice. Coleen’s areas of expertise are treating post-traumatic stress, grief/loss, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, stress management, healthy relationships, identity formation, and life transitions. Coleen is a strength-based, student-centered clinician who works collaboratively with students to support strategies to improve functioning, well-being, and quality of life. Coleen believes that self-compassion is central to healing.