About Northstar Center
Where science meets compassion.
With compassionate, trauma-informed care and a safe space to explore your experiences, you’ll begin to break unhelpful patterns, build healthier relationships, and face challenges with greater clarity and confidence.
Growth doesn’t erase the scars—it gives them meaning.
Our Approach
Trauma-Informed
We understand that trauma often underlies many presenting concerns. Our work honors the nervous system, individual pacing, and the importance of safety in healing.
Client-Centered
We meet clients where they are — respecting their autonomy, strengths, and lived experiences. Therapy is a collaborative process grounded in trust and choice.
Evidence-Based
Our clinicians use treatments supported by research — like EMDR, CBT, and relational psychodynamic therapy — while adapting to each client’s unique context.
Dr. Marlena McEachron
Dr. Marlena McEachron is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in anxiety, depression, trauma, and dissociative disorders. She holds a PsyD in Clinical Psychology and is EMDRIA-trained in EMDR therapy. Known for combining clinical expertise with authentic warmth, Dr. McEachron founded Northstar Center to offer a therapeutic space that is both compassionate and evidence-based. Her approach is rooted in science and shaped by a trauma-informed, relational framework—guiding her work in both therapy and psychological assessment.
Vanessa Stolarski, M.A.
Pre-Licensed Trauma Therapist
Vanessa Stolarski brings more than 20 years of experience helping people improve their health and well-being. Before becoming a therapist, she built a career as a wellness entrepreneur with certifications in nutrition counseling, fitness coaching, and life coaching. This holistic background shapes her compassionate, whole-person approach to mental health care.
Vanessa earned her master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Marshall University, with a concentration in Trauma, Grief, and Violence, and is currently completing advanced training in Somatic Experiencing®, a gentle, body-based approach to restoring balance and resilience after stress or trauma. She is a member of the Virginia Counselors Association, the American Counseling Association, and Chi Sigma Iota Counseling Academic and Professional Honor Society International.
At Northstar Center, Vanessa works with adults ages 18 and older who are navigating the effects of trauma, relational wounds, and complex life transitions. She has experience supporting individuals living with PTSD, Complex PTSD, and a wide range of trauma-related conditions. She is also trained to treat those who experience emotional dysregulation and reactivity, intrusive thoughts, identity confusion, narcissistic abuse, LGBTQIA+ issues, and the impact of unresolved family dynamics. Many of her clients come to therapy feeling depleted, coping with sleep disturbance, hypervigilance, perfectionism, and the emotional weight of adverse childhood experiences that have shaped their nervous systems and sense of self. Whether through family conflict, religious trauma, or neglect, Vanessa understands how these patterns can erode one’s ability to cope or feel at home in their own body.
Her therapeutic style is collaborative, warm, and grounded in approaches backed by science. Vanessa integrates several modalities including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Narrative Therapy, Somatic Experiencing (SE), and mindfulness-based interventions from Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). She also incorporates Polyvagal Theory to help clients understand and regulate their nervous system in response to stress and threat.
Vanessa holds a special connection with those recovering from narcissistic or emotionally abusive family systems and high-control religious environments. She offers clients both validation and direction, helping them move from a place of survival toward authentic connection, emotional regulation, and self-compassion. Her background in health and behavior change also informs her work with clients seeking to repair disordered relationships with food, the body, and self-worth.
Evidence-Based Therapies, Personalized for You
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
EMDR is a proven therapy that helps people heal from trauma by changing the way difficult memories are stored in the brain.
CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
Increases awareness of unhelpful thought patterns so you can replace them with healthier ways of thinking, feeling and responding.
DBT-Informed Therapy
Builds skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance and healthier relationships without the intensity of a full fidelity DBT program.
IFS (Internal Family Systems)
Promotes self-understanding and helps individuals build healthier behavior patterns by identifying and working with conflicting thoughts, emotions, and internal dynamics.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Promotes self-understanding by exploring unconscious patterns rooted in early experiences, helping individuals gain insight and create lasting emotional and behavioral change.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
Combines mindfulness and CBT tools to help you notice negative thoughts, interrupt old cycles and respond with self-compassion, wisdom and intention.
Somatic Experiencing
A body-based approach to healing stress and trauma. It helps your nervous system complete “stuck” stress responses so you can feel safer, steadier, and more present.
TF-CBT (Trauma-Focused CBT)
A trauma-sensitive approach for children and adolescents that combines structure with compassion to support healing after trauma.