NorthStar Center was a young adult therapeutic transition and relapse prevention program, located in Bend, Oregon

Bend, Oregon

Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States, and the principal city of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, and, despite its modest size, is the de facto metropolis of the region, owing to the low population...

, owned and operated by Aspen Education Group

Aspen Education Group

Aspen Education Group is an American, for-profit business organization that operates a variety of therapeutic treatment programs for troubled adolescents, including wilderness therapy programs, residential treatment centers, therapeutic boarding schools, and weight loss programs. Aspen is a...

 for young adults ages 17 1/2 to 24 for treatment of substance abuse

Substance abuse

A substance-related disorder is an umbrella term used to describe several different conditions associated with several different substances .A substance related disorder is a condition in which an individual uses or abuses a...

 and addiction

Addiction

Historically, addiction has been defined as physical and psychological dependence on psychoactive substances which cross the blood-brain barrier once ingested, temporarily altering the chemical milieu of the brain.Addiction can also be viewed as a continued involvement with a substance or activity...

. In March 2011, Aspen announced that it would cease program operations in August 2011 as part of a restructuring of the company.

The therapeutic basis of the program is dialectical behavioral therapy

Dialectical behavioral therapy

Dialectical behavior therapy is a system of therapy originally developed by Marsha M. Linehan, a psychology researcher at the University of Washington, to treat people with borderline personality disorder...

, a type of psychotherapy

Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...

 developed by Marsha M. Linehan

Marsha M. Linehan

Marsha M. Linehan is an American psychologist and author. Linehan is a Professor of Psychology, Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and BehavioralSciences at the University of Washington and Director of the Behavioral Research and TherapyClinics...

 and consisting of four parts: mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, emotion regulation, and distress tolerance. Additional therapies include transtheoreticalstages of change theory, motivational interviewing

Motivational interviewing

Motivational interviewing refers to a counseling approach in part developed by clinical psychologists Professor William R Miller, Ph.D. and Professor Stephen Rollnick, Ph.D. The concept of motivational interviewing evolved from experience in the treatment of problem drinkers, and was first...

 and the 12 step programs Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous

Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...

 and Narcotics Anonymous

Narcotics Anonymous

Narcotics Anonymous is a twelve-step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous describing itself as a "fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem," and it is the second-largest 12-step organization...

. Academic offerings include high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 completion, college preparatory and college-level courses.

NorthStar was established in 1991 by Dennis and Jeannie Crowell. Dennis Crowell had earlier led Mount Bachelor Academy

Mount Bachelor Academy

Mount Bachelor Academy was a private co-educational, therapeutic boarding school providing help to families of adolescents experiencing emotional and behavioral disorders including, minor Depressive Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Substance abuse, and ADHD as well as help for teenagers...

 in Bend. NorthStar operated independently until 1998, when it was acquired by the Aspen Education Group. In March 2011, Aspen announced plans to close the facility in August 2011. As of the closure announcement, NorthStar had about 40 full- and part-time employees.

Along with Passages to Recovery, an Aspen wilderness therapy

Wilderness therapy

Wilderness therapy is a subset of adventure-based therapy. It is the use of wilderness expeditions for the purpose of therapeutic intervention. There are a range of different types of wilderness therapy programs, with a range of models and approaches. Some grow out of a survival approach and some...

 program, NorthStar was featured on the July 30, 2006, episode of A&E Television Network's documentary series Intervention

Intervention (TV series)

Intervention is an American television program about the realities facing addicts of many kinds.Each program follows one or two participants, each of whom has an addiction or other mentally and/or physically damaging problem and believes that they are being filmed for a documentary on their problem...

.