- Joint Commission accredited
- Girls-only home
- Ages 12 to 17
- Admissions 24/7
Dual diagnosis treatment for teen girls near Glendale, AZ.
When a mental-health condition and the substance a girl reaches for keep feeding each other, splitting them across two programs seldom holds. Nexus Teen Academy treats both on one plan, a single residential program for girls ages 12 to 17 at the licensed Cave Creek residence, reached from Glendale by heading north on Loop 101.
- Free & confidential · No obligation · (480) 485-3424
- 4.7 Google · 37 reviews
- AZDHS-licensed residential facility
- Most major private insurance accepted
- Free consultation
- Counselor online now
Calling from Glendale or elsewhere in the west Valley? Leave a number and a licensed admissions counselor will phone you back, often within minutes, to talk through fit, coverage and what happens next, with zero pressure.
- It's now where you are · typical callback under 10 minutes.
- Secure, private, and HIPAA-protected. By submitting you agree to be contacted about care; message/data rates may apply.
- 4.7 Google · 37 reviews
- Joint Commission accredited
Every credential is independently verifiable. Joint Commission · AZDHS registry · LegitScript.
Joint Commission accreditedAZDHS-licensed · LegitScript certifiedAbout Nexus Teen Academy
About Nexus Teen Academy's dual diagnosis program for girls.
Nexus Teen Academy is a licensed, Joint Commission-accredited residential program for adolescent girls living with a mental-health diagnosis and a substance problem at the same time. One clinical team works both sides at the girls' residence on desert acreage in Cave Creek, ages 12 to 17. For many west Valley families who find us from Glendale, the vaping or the pills started as a fix for something else, a way to quiet worry, mute a memory, or finally fall asleep. Treat the substance on its own and the driver remains; treat the mood on its own and the using unravels the gains.
If a girl first needs withdrawal handled under medical supervision, that step takes place at a hospital, and admissions coordinates the handoff so treatment begins the day she is released. The program is clinician-led, AZDHS-licensed, Joint Commission accredited, and LegitScript certified, with staff kept awake through the overnight hours.
Nexus Teen Academy provides residential treatment for teen dual diagnosis for families from Glendale, Arizona, for ages 12 to 17. Girls live in a licensed home in Cave Creek with daily therapy, accredited school on site, and weekly family therapy. Most stay 30 to 60 days, and the team works with AHCCCS and most private insurance.
Cave Creek
Girls, 12 to 17 · Phoenix metro
Cave Creek
Girls, 12 to 17 · Phoenix metro
Accredited Arizona centers
Ages we treat, gender-separate
Awake clinical staff, every hour
A primary therapist, by name
Where residential care fits: IOP, PHP or residential
The subacute level between weekly therapy and a hospital bed.
Therapy once or a few times a week. Your teen stays home and at school.
Live-in clinical care with 24/7 awake staff, daily therapy, and accredited school, in a real home.
You are hereShort-term acute stabilization for immediate medical or safety crisis.
| Question | Intensive outpatient (IOP) | Partial hospitalization (PHP) | Residential (RTC) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | A step down from PHP, or a starting point for teens who need more than weekly therapy | A step down from residential care, or a starting point for teens who need structure without 24/7 care | Teens who need 24/7 care in a safe, immersive setting |
| Where your teen sleeps | At home | At home each evening | A licensed, home-like residence with 24/7 awake staff |
| Weekly schedule | About 4 hours a day (10:30 to 2:30 or 1:00 to 5:00), 3 to 4 days a week | Several days a week, multiple hours a day | Daily therapy, with care around the clock |
| Typical length | 30 to 90+ days | 30 to 90 days | 30 to 60 days |
| School | Stays in school; IOP is therapy-focused, with no academic support | Daily schoolwork time in a classroom, with educators on staff | Accredited, credit-bearing classes on site |
| Family | Weekly individual therapy and family counseling every other week | Family therapy sessions included | Weekly family therapy, in person or by secure video |
IOP and PHP run at NexStep Teen Academy, the Nexus outpatient program in Scottsdale for teens ages 12 to 17.
Not sure which level your teen needs? A licensed counselor will walk through it with you on the phone, free, and tell you honestly if a lower level of care is the better fit.
Speak with our admissions teamThe program
Inside our dual diagnosis treatment program for teen girls.
Substance-use recovery and mental-health treatment share one plan inside a girls-only home with a predictable daily rhythm. Each girl arriving from Glendale and the wider west Valley receives every element listed below, revisited each week against her own goals rather than a fixed schedule.
One shared evaluation
Psychiatric and substance histories gathered together, along with school records and past care, so no one is left guessing which problem came first.
Detox timed up front
Withdrawal that needs oversight is managed at a hospital beforehand, and admissions schedules the transfer so treatment opens the day she is discharged.
Therapy each weekday
One named licensed clinician, five days a week, working the thoughts, the triggers, and the using underneath them.
Motivation and relapse work
For the girl convinced she has no problem, her resistance is met rather than argued with, and every high-risk moment gets a written plan.
Family and parent group
Weekly family sessions plus the Saturday parent group, because the Glendale home she returns to is built into the plan.
Psychiatric care on site
Medication managed at the residence by the prescriber, including what is safe alongside a history of misuse, with your consent at every change.
School that earns credit
Certified, credit-bearing classes every weekday, so the schooling that slid while she was using starts to recover.
A map for afterward
A written relapse plan, a therapist and prescriber lined up close to Glendale, and a gradual return to her Glendale Union or Deer Valley school.
- Her diagnosis and her substance use, handled by the same team at once
Dual-diagnosis care
Mental health conditions treated alongside substance use.
Sadness and worry rarely travel alone in the families we meet. Across the country, roughly 15% of adolescents had a major depressive episode in the past year and 7.8% met the bar for a substance use disorder, and the two run together: about a third of depressed teens reported illicit drug use, compared with 12% of those without depression.
Inside the Cave Creek residence, one team holds both the diagnosis and the substance use within a single plan, with nothing passed off to an outside provider midway, because sobriety that never touches the underlying reason rarely outlasts the first rough week back home in Glendale.
Making sense of teen girls' dual diagnosis
Primary focus
Co-occurring mental health and substance use in adolescent girls
Depression
Frequently the load the using was trying to ease.
Anxiety & panic
Cannabis and alcohol used to slow the racing mind.
Trauma & PTSD
Substances leaned on to hold the memories down.
ADHD
Impulsivity meeting easy access, and it moves fast.
Substance use
Alcohol, cannabis, vapes, or shared prescription pills.
Defiance at home
The constant fighting that masks the using beneath.
Self-harm
Often emerges once the substances are gone; screened at intake.
Safety firstSuicidal ideation
Assessed before any other work begins.
Safety first- Whatever brought her to this point, one integrated plan and one team guide her care inside a single girls-only home in Cave Creek.
The setting
A licensed residential setting for teen girls.
The girls' residence occupies desert acreage in Cave Creek, roughly a 35 to 45 minute drive northeast of Glendale once you leave Loop 101 behind. It is a genuine house arranged for early recovery: one steady routine, no substances or dealers anywhere in reach, meals prepared and eaten as a group, staff awake all night, and full AZDHS licensure.
Take a self-guided 3D walkthrough of the home
Life inside
A typical day in residential dual diagnosis treatment.
Early in a stay, the stretch right after waking is the toughest, so it carries the tightest structure. When every adult runs the day in the same way, the cravings and the arguments that once ran the household lose their grip.
- MorningHygiene, meds & breakfast
Hygiene and meds from 6:30 to 7:30, then breakfast from 7:30 to 8:00.
- - Morning
Gratitude journal & education
A gratitude journal from 8:00 to 8:20, then education from 8:30 to 10:45 and a snack at 10:45.
- MorningGroup therapy & lunch
Group therapy from 11:00 to 12:00, then lunch and mindfulness from 12:00 to 1:00.
- - Afternoon
Group therapy
Group therapy from 2:00 to 3:00, a snack at 3:00, then group therapy again from 3:15 to 4:00.
- - Afternoon
Movement, dinner & evening activity
Movement with nursing from 4:15 to 5:00, dinner at 5:00, then evening activity and meds from 6:00 to 7:00.
- - Evening
Free time & lights out
Free time from 7:00 to 8:30, evening hygiene from 8:30 to 9:00, gratitude journal at 9:00 and lights out at 9:30.
Weekends run differently
Saturday and Sunday follow a lighter routine than the weekday schedule above.
Click here for a free consultationTap to call (480) 485-3424 and our admissions team will walk you through a full weekend. Someone answers any time.Awake clinical staff are on-site every hour, including overnight, at both Arizona centers.
How healing happens
How we treat co-occurring disorders in teen girls.
Integrated treatment, one team handling both conditions together, is precisely what national guidelines recommend for co-occurring disorders. A residential setting layers on the supervised hours that a weekly outpatient appointment can never provide.
Core therapies
- 1
Motivational interviewing
Built for ambivalence. Instead of talking her into agreement, it draws on the reasons she already has to change.
- 2
CBT and relapse prevention
Triggers, high-risk situations, refusal skills, and a written plan for the moments that usually end in using.
- 3
Emotion-regulation and distress-tolerance skills
Rehearsed daily, so she has something real to grab for once the substance is no longer there.
Supporting care, running alongside
Trauma-focused CBT and EMDR
When trauma is behind the wheel, it is treated directly, after she is stable rather than in the opening week.
after stabilizationsafety firstFamily therapy and parent group
Weekly family sessions, in person for west Valley families and by secure video for those farther out, plus the Saturday parent group.
weeklyhome planEquine, art and experiential
Friday time with the horses, along with art and music: hours that rebuild a life with no substance in it.
equine Fridayshealthy outlets
Your teen's clinical team
Meet our licensed clinical team.
Every girl is matched to a named, licensed clinician, and the psychiatric prescriber and residential staff are listed by name as well. Each Arizona license shown below is yours to check for yourself.
LPC, BC-TMHHannah Carr-Unquera
Executive Director
Leads the clinical program, licensed in Arizona and board certified in telemental health.
LCSW, DSWDr. Tyler White
Director of Adolescent Clinical Services
Sets the treatment plan each resident’s team works to, and supervises the clinicians who deliver it.
DNP, PMHNP-BCAlexandria Penner
Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner
Runs psychiatric evaluation and medication management on-site, so prescribing stays inside the house.
House teamAshley Daniels
Director of Family Services & Education
Runs family services and education, after directing theatre and teen programs and building liberal-arts residential summer camps for Mount Holyoke College and Bryn Mawr College.
House teamJennifer Inderberg
Education Supervisor
Twenty-five years in education, supervising the accredited school that runs inside each house and the credit transfers back to your district.
House teamMelissa Stockmar
Director of Food Operations
Leads the kitchen team behind the chef-prepared meals, and runs the cooking group where residents learn to feed themselves.
Arizona-licensed clinical team.Every Nexus Teen Academy clinician is licensed in Arizona. Verify any license on the AZ Board of Behavioral Health Examiners directory.
What families say
What Arizona families say about Nexus Teen Academy.
4.7/ 5
Read them all on Google★★★★★
“Nexus Academy was a wonderful place for my daughter. The staff were amazing and so supportive. They worked with our entire family. Highly recommend Nexus.”
★★★★★
“Sending your child or teen to a residential treatment facility is a difficult and heart-wrenching decision. The team at Nexus Teen Academy was exceptional. Our daughter’s therapist was a great fit for her and played a significant role in helping us grow as a family.”Read the full review →
★★★★★
“The program at Nexus was a lifesaver for my 15-year-old daughter. After a tough year in and out of different levels of care, my husband and I had truly hit a breaking point and knew a residential facility was needed.”Read the full review →
These come straight from our public Google Business Profile, anyone can read all 34 and add their own.
Getting started
The admission process, step by step.
- You set the pace, with no pressure to decide
- Clear answers to every clinical and financial question
- An honest recommendation, even if another program is the better fit
1
- Today · 24/7
- ~15 minutes
One calm call
A licensed Nexus Teen Academy counselor asks what she is using and how often, when she last used, which diagnoses and treatments are already in place, and whether anyone is unsafe, then tells you honestly whether residential care is the right fit for your daughter.
- What to have ready: nothing. Just call, questions are welcome, and there is no obligation.
2
- Same day
- Free & confidential
Coverage check
Once you give the go-ahead, we verify your plan and report back clear figures for residential behavioral-health care, whether we are in network, and the realistic out-of-pocket, and both benefits factor in here, the mental-health side and the substance-use side.
- What you get: your coverage answer, usually the same day, every option mapped, including in-network and out-of-network paths.
3
- Within 24 to 48 hrs
- Licensed clinicians
Clinical assessment
A licensed clinician works through the substance history, the psychiatric history, earlier treatment, and current safety, then recommends the level of care the picture supports; her most recent use and any withdrawal history determine whether hospital detox needs to come first.
- Your input matters: what you have seen at home is a key part of the clinical assessment.
4
- Within days
- Named coordinator
Plan the arrival
A single named coordinator manages medical clearance, the trip in, school records, prescriptions, and a packing list reviewed for safety, so arrival day holds no surprises for you.
- No surprises: you will have the packing list, schedule, and your coordinator's direct line in writing.
5
- Welcome day
- Never out of the loop
A gentle, planned arrival
Your daughter meets the clinical team and settles into the routine, and your first family update is already booked before you make the drive back toward Glendale.
- From here: predictable days, weekly updates, and a team your teen knows by name.
Coverage & cost
Insurance coverage for dual diagnosis treatment
For Glendale families, the first question is usually cost. Most major private insurance plans treat residential mental-health care as a covered behavioral-health benefit, and Nexus Teen Academy accepts most major commercial insurers. With dual diagnosis, both the mental-health benefit and the substance-use benefit come into play, so we check each one, in network or out, free and confidentially, usually the same day, and explain any out-of-pocket cost plainly before you decide.
- 1You send your plan detailsTwo required fields. Member ID optional. Takes about a minute.
- 2We verify with your insurer directlyIn-network or out-of-network, free and confidential, usually the same day.
- 3You get the number in plain EnglishYour exact out-of-pocket cost, explained before you commit to anything.
- Meritain
- UMR
- + more
Out-of-network or unsure about your plan? Call anyway, cost should never be the reason a teen doesn't get help.
- Free benefits check
Find out what your plan pays toward dual diagnosis residential care for your daughter, free and confidential, with no obligation.
After discharge
Step-down care and aftercare near Glendale.
Discharge planning opens weeks ahead with you alongside us: a teen PHP or IOP step-down where it fits, an outpatient therapist and prescriber arranged close to Glendale, a written relapse plan that names her risky people, places, and hours, and a staged return to class coordinated with the Glendale Union or Deer Valley district.
Answers
Frequently asked questions about dual diagnosis treatment
Direct answers for Glendale parents weighing residential dual diagnosis care for a daughter.
A licensed admissions counselor can answer it on the phone right now, no script, no pressure, and no obligation to enroll.
Talk to a counselorAnswered 24/7 at (480) 485-3424Centers & getting there
Yes. Nexus Teen Academy treats co-occurring mental health and substance use at its AZDHS-licensed girls' residence in Cave Creek, a 35 to 45 minute drive northeast of Glendale, serving families across the west Valley and the rest of Arizona. Admissions answers (480) 485-3424 at any hour.
It means two things hold true at the same time: a mental-health condition such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, or ADHD, and a substance problem. Integrated treatment puts one team on both at once, rather than shuttling her between a mental-health program and a separate substance program.
The Cave Creek residence takes girls ages 12 to 17 only. A girls-only home changes what can be said out loud: sexual-trauma history, self-harm, disordered eating, and the social pressures that push many teenage girls toward using are all worked on openly, and groups, bedrooms, and staffing are shaped around that single group.
No. When withdrawal calls for medical management, detox takes place at a hospital first, and admissions times the move so treatment starts the day she is discharged. The same goes for any acute medical instability.
Care & cost
The program addresses what turns up most in adolescent girls: alcohol, cannabis, nicotine and vaping, prescription pills passed around between friends, and stimulants. Clinically, what counts is the pattern and what the substance is doing for her, not the substance by itself.
With motivational interviewing rather than a standoff. Most girls arrive convinced they do not belong here. The approach starts from her own reasons to change, and the daily structure hands her a sober baseline to judge from, usually within the first couple of weeks.
Many commercial plans do once medical necessity is established, and both the mental-health and the substance-use benefits come into it. Nexus Teen Academy accepts most private insurance and reports back your coverage, network standing, and likely costs before you decide anything.
Family work is built in: weekly family therapy, straightforward to attend in person given the short drive from Glendale, a Saturday parent group, and daily phone calls. Because the home she returns to is part of the relapse plan, you are part of the treatment.
Yes, and the prescriber reviews everything she comes in on. Where a history of misuse makes a medication risky, the prescriber walks you through the alternatives, and nothing changes without your consent.
Licensing & privacy
Stays are planned around 30 days or more, then adjusted against clinical markers: steady mood, skills she uses without being reminded, a family ready for the home plan, and a step-down in place. Before discharge your case manager lines up an outpatient therapist near Glendale and stages her return to school.
A certified teacher runs credit-bearing classes on site every weekday, and the credits transfer back to her Glendale Union or Deer Valley school. For a girl whose attendance came apart while she was using, that is often the first thing to steady.
That is common, and it does not keep treatment from beginning. Our counselors coach you through the conversation, and many girls who arrive sure they do not belong ease in once the home is calm, predictable, and no one is fighting them. One call works through your particular situation.
Admission & daily life
Often within a few days. Admissions calls are returned within 24 hours, usually within minutes. A counselor checks your insurance benefits and licensed clinicians complete an assessment, and if everything moves smoothly your teen can move in shortly after. A coordinator walks you through travel, paperwork, and the first day.
Yes. Nexus Teen Academy offers tours of the home by appointment, so you can see where your teen would live and ask the team your questions in person before you decide anything. Call admissions to schedule a tour at a time that suits your family.
Yes. Family therapy happens once a week and is typically followed by about an hour of visitation, and parents are expected to take part. After orientation, teens can call home during designated hours most days, and families can also join a weekly virtual Family Empowerment group with other parents.
No. Personal phones and other devices stay at home for the length of the stay. Teens use tablets for video calls with approved contacts and computers for schoolwork, so contact with family continues through approved channels while the focus stays on treatment.
School continues during treatment. Teens attend accredited, credit-bearing classes on site, and education supervisors help with coursework and stay in touch with families. Bring a copy of any 504 plan or IEP at admission, and before discharge the team plans a staged return to your teen's home school.
Pack about two weeks of clothes without laces or drawstrings, alcohol-free toiletries, and any prescribed medication in its original packaging with a current medication list. Bring a guardian ID, a copy of any 504 plan or IEP, and school books. Personal phones and school-issued tablets stay at home.
By the numbers
Teen dual diagnosis statistics parents should know
Teenage girls report more substance use than they did ten years ago, and the mental-health piece is usually already present. Every figure below is sourced.
7.8%
of U.S. adolescents 12 to 17, about 2 million, had a substance use disorder in the past year (SAMHSA NSDUH, 2024).
1 in 3
teens with depression reported past-year illicit drug use, against 12% of teens without depression (SAMHSA NSDUH, 2024).
About 30%
of the 2.4 million adolescents who needed substance use treatment received any (SAMHSA NSDUH, 2024).
1 in 4
Arizona adolescents who needed mental-health care found it very difficult or impossible to get (AZDHS, 2026).
Put side by side, these numbers show a substance problem and a mental-health diagnosis arrive as a pair far more often than either turns up by itself.
The Arizona access figure is why west Valley families reach out early: when nearby help is hard to come by, one program treating both halves is often the faster route.
Residential care vs. a teen group home
It looks like a group home and works like treatment.
Looking for a teen group home from Glendale? Girls ages 12 to 17 live at our girls-only home in Cave Creek, licensed by AZDHS as a behavioral-health residential facility. Therapy, schooling and recovery work all take place inside the house, so she is never shuttled somewhere else for treatment.
A typical group home
- Licensed for shelter and supervision
- Daily living and structure
- Supervision, not clinical treatment
Nexus homes
- AZDHS behavioral-health residential licence
- Daily therapy and psychiatric care
- Accredited school on site
Families from the Phoenix metro 9 cities
Families from Greater Arizona 6 cities
Girls from each city below, Glendale included, are treated at the Cave Creek residence. We help plan the drive, and families take part in weekly therapy either in person or over secure video.
Across Arizona
From Glendale to Cave Creek: travel and visits.
The girls' residence sits north of the metro in Cave Creek, an easy 35 to 45 minute run from Glendale that keeps weekly visits and family sessions doable. Admissions answers at every hour of the day.
35 to 45 minutes up Loop 101
From most of Glendale the trip to Cave Creek runs 35 to 45 minutes, heading north and east on Loop 101 before the desert opens up. That is close enough to make weekly family sessions and weekend visits a normal routine.
Visit in person or by video
Family therapy happens every week, and Glendale parents can sit in the room or join by secure video when work or other kids make the drive hard, so her treatment keeps moving either way.
Aftercare lined up around Glendale
Before discharge we arrange step-down and outpatient care near Glendale, a PHP or IOP where it fits, and coordinate her return to class with the Glendale Union or Deer Valley district.
Nexus Teen Academy, Cave Creek · girls’ residence
Admissions 24/7
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Directions from Glendale to Cave Creek
35 to 45 min to Cave Creek via Loop 101
Saddle Mountain Rd, 85331 · 20 min north
Peoria, Youngtown and El Mirage as well
Travel, telehealth & aftercare
Every Nexus program, statewide
Find the right program for your daughter.
Eight conditions and one clinical team serve Glendale families and girls from across Arizona. Pick what your daughter is dealing with to see how care works for the west Valley.
Nexus Teen Academy offers licensed residential treatment for teens aged 12 to 17 across eight conditions: anxiety, depression, trauma and PTSD, self-harm, suicidal ideation, bipolar disorder, substance use and ADHD. For this program, girls are treated at our girls-only residence in Cave Creek, about 35 to 45 minutes from Glendale. Families from Glendale and every corner of Arizona receive drive-time guidance, travel help and family therapy by secure video when they cannot come in person.
Depression care, statewide
Nearby cities we serve for dual diagnosis care
Girls from every city below come to the same Cave Creek residence. For each one we cover the drive, the return to school with her home district, and the questions parents in that area raise most often.
Related teen treatment programs
Every condition links to its Arizona guide, and the cities next to it explain care for families living there.
Talk it through with a counselor
Tell an admissions counselor what you are seeing at home, and they will say plainly which program fits.
Girls-only programs
Treated only at the Cave Creek girls residence
Five programs for teen girls, each with an Arizona guide and a page for families from each nearby city.
Co-occurring mental health and substance use
Eating disorders in teen girls
Sexual trauma in teen girls
Severe mood swings in teen girls
Not seeing your city? Girls come to us from all over Arizona and from other states too. Call (480) 485-3424 and we will map out the drive to Cave Creek with you.