- Joint Commission accredited
- Girls-only home
- Ages 12 to 17
- Admissions 24/7
Dual diagnosis treatment for teen girls near Litchfield Park, AZ.
When a mental-health struggle and the substance a girl uses to cope with it are treated in different buildings, neither one tends to settle. Nexus Teen Academy keeps both under one roof, a single residential program for girls ages 12 to 17 at the licensed Cave Creek home, about an hour northeast of Litchfield Park.
- 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 Litchfield Park? Leave the best number to reach you and a licensed admissions counselor will ring back, most often within minutes, to talk through whether we fit, what coverage looks like, and what comes next.
- It's now where you are · typical callback under 10 minutes.
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- 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 once. One clinical team carries both sides at the girls' residence on desert acreage in Cave Creek, ages 12 to 17. For a lot of families who find us from Litchfield Park, the vaping or the drinking started as a fix for something else, a way to slow an anxious mind, mute a bad memory, or finally fall asleep. Pull the substance out and leave the cause, and she reaches for it again; treat only the mood and the using keeps undoing the gains.
If a girl first needs withdrawal handled under medical supervision, that step happens at a hospital, and admissions schedules the move so treatment opens the day she is released. The care itself is clinician-led, AZDHS-licensed, Joint Commission accredited, and LegitScript certified, with staff awake all night.
Nexus Teen Academy provides residential treatment for teen dual diagnosis for families from Litchfield Park, 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 run on a single plan inside a girls-only house with a predictable daily shape. Every girl who arrives from the west Valley receives each part below, measured each week against her own progress rather than a preset schedule.
One shared assessment
Psychiatric and substance histories gathered side by side, with school records and prior care, so no one is left guessing which problem came first.
Detox scheduled up front
Withdrawal that calls for medical oversight is managed at a hospital first, and admissions lines up the transfer so treatment opens the day she is discharged.
Weekday individual therapy
One named licensed clinician working the thoughts, the triggers, and the using underneath them, five days a week.
Motivation and relapse tools
For the girl convinced nothing is wrong, resistance is met rather than argued with, and every high-risk moment gets a written plan.
Family and parent sessions
Weekly family therapy plus the Saturday parent group, because the Litchfield Park home she returns to belongs in the plan.
On-site psychiatric care
Medication managed at the residence by the prescriber, including what is safe alongside a history of misuse, with your consent at every change.
Accredited on-site school
Credit-bearing classes every weekday, so the coursework that slipped while she was using begins to come back.
A worked-out next step
She leaves with a written relapse plan, a local therapist and prescriber already booked, and a paced return to her Agua Fria Union classes.
- The mental-health diagnosis and the using, handled by the same team
Dual-diagnosis care
Mental health conditions treated alongside substance use.
In these families, anxiety and low mood almost never travel alone. Across the country, roughly 15% of adolescents went through 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.
At the Cave Creek residence one team holds the diagnosis and the substance use inside the same plan, handing nothing off partway through, since staying sober while the underlying reason goes untouched seldom lasts past the first rough week back home.
Reading dual diagnosis in teen girls
Primary focus
Co-occurring mental health and substance use in adolescent girls
Depression
Frequently the load the using was trying to lighten.
Anxiety & panic
Cannabis and alcohol used to quiet the noise.
Trauma & PTSD
Substances that keep the memories at a distance.
ADHD
Impulse plus easy access speeds things up.
Substance use
Vaping, cannabis, alcohol, or pills from a friend.
Defiance at home
The shouting that masks the using beneath.
Self-harm
Often surfaces once substances are gone; screened at intake.
Safety firstSuicidal ideation
Assessed before any other work starts.
Safety first- Whatever brought her to us, every piece of her care lives in one integrated plan, with one clinical team under one residential roof.
The setting
A licensed residential setting for teen girls.
The girls' residence sits on desert acreage in Cave Creek, north of the metro and roughly an hour's drive from Litchfield Park by way of the 303 and I-17. It is a genuine house set up for the early weeks of recovery: one steady routine, no substances and no dealers anywhere near, meals cooked and eaten together, staff awake through the 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 holds the tightest structure. Once every adult runs the day the same way, the cravings and the standoffs that once dictated the house start to 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.
Treating both conditions with one team at the same time, what clinicians call integrated care, is exactly what national guidance recommends for co-occurring disorders. A residential setting supplies the supervised hours a weekly outpatient appointment can never reach.
Core therapies
- 1
Motivational interviewing
Designed for mixed feelings. Instead of debating her into agreeing, it draws on the reasons she already carries for changing.
- 2
CBT and relapse prevention
Triggers, high-risk situations, ways to refuse, and a written plan for the moments that usually end with using.
- 3
Emotion-regulation and distress-tolerance skills
Rehearsed daily, so she has a real tool to grab once the substance is no longer there.
Supporting care, running alongside
Trauma-focused CBT and EMDR
When trauma is steering, it is treated directly, once she is stable rather than in her first days.
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.
Each girl is matched with a named, licensed clinician, and the psychiatric prescriber and residential staff are listed by name as well. Every Arizona license shown below is one you can check 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 used last, which diagnoses and treatment 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 run your plan and come back with straightforward numbers on residential behavioral-health care, where you stand in network, and the likely out-of-pocket, counting both halves of the benefit, mental health and substance use.
- 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 her substance history, her psychiatric history, any earlier treatment, and current safety, then recommends the level of care those findings point to; her last use and any withdrawal history decide 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 coordinator takes on medical clearance, the trip in, school records, prescriptions, and a packing list checked for safety, so nothing about arrival day catches you flat-footed.
- 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 her clinical team and eases into the rhythm of the house, and your first family update is already on the calendar before you make the drive back to Litchfield Park.
- From here: predictable days, weekly updates, and a team your teen knows by name.
Coverage & cost
Insurance coverage for dual diagnosis treatment
Most major private health plans list residential mental-health treatment as a covered behavioral-health benefit, and for dual diagnosis the substance-use benefit matters just as much. Nexus Teen Academy works with most major commercial insurers. For Litchfield Park families we check both benefits on your actual plan, in-network or out-of-network, at no charge and in confidence, usually the same day, then lay out any out-of-pocket cost in plain terms before you decide anything.
- 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 residential dual diagnosis care for your daughter. Free, private, and no strings.
After discharge
Step-down care and aftercare near Litchfield Park.
Discharge planning begins weeks in advance with you involved: a teen PHP or IOP step-down where it suits, an outpatient therapist and prescriber arranged close to Litchfield Park, a written relapse plan spelling out her risky people, places, and hours, and a staged return to class coordinated with the Agua Fria Union district.
Answers
Frequently asked questions about dual diagnosis treatment
Direct answers for Litchfield Park 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, roughly an hour north of Litchfield Park, serving families across the west Valley and the rest of Arizona. Reach admissions at (480) 485-3424 any hour of the day.
It means two things hold true together: a mental-health condition such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, or ADHD, and a substance problem. Integrated treatment puts one team on both at the same time, 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 house opens up what can be discussed: 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 one group.
No. When withdrawal needs medical management, detox is handled at a hospital first, and admissions times the transfer so treatment starts the day she is discharged. The same is true for any acute medical instability.
Care & cost
The program covers what turns up most in adolescent girls: alcohol, cannabis, nicotine and vaping, prescription pills shared between friends, and stimulants. Clinically, what counts is the pattern and what the substance is doing for her, not the substance on its own.
With motivational interviewing rather than a fight. Most girls arrive certain they do not belong here. The approach builds on her own reasons for change, and the steady daily structure gives her a sober baseline to measure against, usually inside the first two weeks.
Many commercial plans do once medical necessity is met, and both the mental-health and the substance-use benefits come into play. Nexus Teen Academy accepts most private insurance and returns your coverage, network standing, and likely costs before you commit to anything.
Family work is built in: weekly family therapy, reachable in person given the hour's drive or by secure video when that is easier, a Saturday parent group, and daily phone calls. Since the home she comes back to is written into the relapse plan, you are treated as part of the work.
Yes. The prescriber goes over each medication she comes in taking, and where a history of misuse makes one risky, lays out the alternatives with you, changing nothing 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 told, a family ready for the home plan, and a step-down in place. Before discharge your case manager books an outpatient therapist near Litchfield Park and stages her return to school.
A certified teacher runs credit-bearing classes on site every weekday, and the credits transfer back to her Litchfield Elementary or Agua Fria Union school. For a girl whose attendance came apart while she was using, that is often what settles first.
That happens often, and it does not keep treatment from beginning. Our counselors coach you through the conversation, and many girls who show up sure they do not belong ease in once the house is calm, predictable, and no one is fighting them. A single call talks through what you are facing.
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.
The numbers
Teen dual diagnosis statistics parents should know
Teenage girls today report more substance use than they did ten years ago, and the mental-health piece is usually already there. Each figure below carries its source.
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 that 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 thin, one program covering both halves is often the faster route.
Residential care vs. a teen group home
It feels like a home, and it works as treatment.
Looking for a teen group home near Litchfield Park? Girls from the west Valley live at our girls-only home in Cave Creek, licensed by AZDHS as a behavioral-health residential facility. Therapy, school and daily support all take place inside the house itself, so treatment is never an errand across town.
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 Litchfield Park and each city listed here are treated at our Cave Creek residence. We help families plan the drive, and parents take part in weekly therapy in person or over secure video.
Across Arizona
From Litchfield Park to Cave Creek: travel and visits.
Because the residence sits north of the metro in Cave Creek, families in Litchfield Park are about an hour out, close enough for weekly family sessions and, when a longer drive is hard, secure video instead. Admissions picks up at any hour.
About an hour up the 303 and I-17
From Litchfield Park the route runs north on Loop 303, then up I-17 toward Cave Creek, roughly an hour each way. That puts weekly in-person family sessions and weekend visits well within reach.
In person or on secure video
Litchfield Park parents can make the hour drive for weekly family therapy, or join the same session by secure video on weeks when work, siblings or school pickups make the trip hard.
Aftercare back in the west Valley
Before discharge we line up step-down PHP or IOP and an outpatient team near Litchfield Park, then coordinate her return with Litchfield Elementary or Agua Fria Union staff.
Nexus Teen Academy, Cave Creek · girls’ residence
Admissions 24/7
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Directions from Litchfield Park to Cave Creek
About an hour via Loop 303 and I-17
Saddle Mountain Rd, 85331 · 20 min north
Goodyear, Avondale, Buckeye and nearby
Travel, telehealth & aftercare
Every Nexus program, statewide
Find the right program for your daughter.
One clinical team treats eight conditions for girls from across Arizona. Pick the struggle closest to your daughter's, then read how care works for families near Litchfield Park.
Nexus Teen Academy offers licensed residential treatment for teens ages 12 to 17 across eight conditions: anxiety, depression, trauma and PTSD, self-harm, suicidal ideation, bipolar disorder, substance use and ADHD. Girls live and receive care at our girls-only residence in Cave Creek, north of the Phoenix metro. Families from Litchfield Park and every other corner of Arizona get honest drive-time guidance, help with travel, and weekly family therapy by secure video whenever the trip is not practical.
Depression care, statewide
Nearby cities we serve for dual diagnosis care
Girls from every city below are treated at our Cave Creek residence. Each page covers the drive from that area, how school re-entry works with the home district, and the questions local parents tend to ask first.
Related teen treatment programs
Every condition links to its Arizona guide, and the city links beside it explain how care works for families 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
Don't see your town? We welcome girls from anywhere in Arizona and from out of state. Call (480) 485-3424 and we will map out the drive to Cave Creek and what the first week looks like.