- Joint Commission accredited
- Girls-only home
- Ages 12 to 17
- Admissions 24/7
Dual diagnosis treatment for teen girls near Sun City, AZ.
When a mood disorder and the substance a girl uses to manage it are treated in separate places, neither one truly settles. Nexus Teen Academy treats both together in a single residential program for girls ages 12 to 17, at the licensed girls' residence in Cave Creek, reached by grandparents and parents across the Sun City area of the northwest Valley.
- 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
Raising a granddaughter near Sun City, or worried about a girl with family ties to the area? Tell us how to reach you. A licensed admissions counselor returns the call, usually in minutes, to go over fit, coverage and next steps. No pressure at all.
- 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
Nexus Teen Academy: dual diagnosis treatment for Sun City families.
Nexus Teen Academy is a licensed, Joint Commission-accredited residential program for adolescent girls who carry a mental-health diagnosis and a substance problem at the same time. A single clinical team treats both sides at the girls' residence on desert acreage in Cave Creek, ages 12 to 17. Many of the families who reach us from around Sun City are grandparents raising a granddaughter, or parents rooted in the wider northwest Valley, and the story tends to rhyme: the drinking or the vaping started as a way to get through something. Treat the substance on its own and the reason stays put; treat the low mood on its own and the using pulls the gains apart.
If a girl first needs withdrawal handled under medical supervision, that step runs at a hospital, and admissions arranges the transfer so her treatment opens the day she is released. The program is clinician-led and holds AZDHS licensure, Joint Commission accreditation, and LegitScript certification, with staff awake all through the night.
Nexus Teen Academy provides residential treatment for teen dual diagnosis for families from Sun City, 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
Components of dual diagnosis treatment at Nexus Teen Academy.
Recovery work and mental-health treatment carried on one plan, inside a girls-only home with a predictable daily rhythm. Every girl who arrives from the Sun City area receives each element below, checked each week against her own goals rather than a fixed timetable.
One combined evaluation
Psychiatric and substance histories gathered side by side, along with school records and prior care, so no one has to guess which problem came first.
Detox timed ahead
Withdrawal that needs medical 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, working the thoughts, the triggers, and the using underneath them, every weekday.
Motivation and relapse work
For the girl who denies a problem, resistance is met rather than fought, and each high-risk moment gets a written plan.
Family and parent group
Weekly family sessions plus the Saturday parent group, because the northwest Valley home she returns to is part of 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.
School that keeps count
Credit-bearing classes on site every weekday, so the schooling that slipped while she was using begins to recover.
A plan for afterward
Her relapse plan in writing, outpatient care booked in the northwest Valley, and a phased return to class in Peoria Unified or Dysart.
- Mental health and substance use, carried on a single treatment plan
Dual-diagnosis care
Co-occurring conditions in teen dual diagnosis.
Anger or a flat mood rarely travels by itself. In national figures, about 15% of adolescents had a major depressive episode in the past year and 7.8% met the criteria for a substance use disorder, and the overlap is real: roughly a third of teens living with depression reported illicit drug use, compared with 12% of those without it.
At the Cave Creek residence one team holds both the diagnosis and the substance use inside a single plan, with nothing passed to an outside provider partway through, because sobriety that never touches the underlying reason seldom survives the first rough week back home.
Making sense of teen girls' dual diagnosis
Primary focus
Co-occurring mental health and substance use in adolescent girls
Depression
Often the weight the using was meant to ease.
Anxiety & panic
Alcohol or cannabis reached for to slow the racing.
Trauma & PTSD
Substances used to hold the memories down.
ADHD
Impulsivity meeting easy access, escalating fast.
Substance use
Alcohol, cannabis, vapes, or borrowed pills.
Defiance at home
The blowups that mask the using beneath.
Self-harm
Often surfaces once substances are removed; screened at intake.
Safety firstSuicidal ideation
Assessed before any other work begins.
Safety first- No matter which condition sits beneath the using, her care runs through one team and one coordinated plan under a single roof.
The setting
Our girls-only residential home in Cave Creek.
The girls' residence sits on desert acreage in Cave Creek, roughly forty to fifty minutes east of the Sun City area across the northwest Valley. It is a genuine house arranged for early recovery: a steady routine, no substances or dealers within reach, meals prepared and shared at one table, staff awake overnight, and full AZDHS licensure.
Take a self-guided 3D walkthrough of the home
Life inside
Daily schedule at the Cave Creek residence.
The stretch right after waking is the toughest in the early days, so it holds the tightest structure. When every adult runs the day the same way, the cravings and the standoffs that once steered 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
Therapies used in dual diagnosis treatment.
Integrated care, where one team treats both conditions at the same time, is what national guidance recommends for co-occurring disorders. A residential setting supplies the supervised hours that a weekly outpatient appointment can never reach.
Core therapies
- 1
Motivational interviewing
Made for ambivalence. Rather than arguing her into line, it builds 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 in using.
- 3
Emotion-regulation and distress-tolerance skills
Practiced every day, so she has something to turn to once the substance is gone.
Supporting care, running alongside
Trauma-focused CBT and EMDR
When trauma is doing the driving, it is treated directly, once she is stable rather than in the first week.
after stabilizationsafety firstFamily therapy and parent group
Weekly family sessions, in person for northwest Valley families and by secure video for those farther out, plus the Saturday parent group.
weeklyhome planEquine, art and experiential
Friday sessions 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 named as well. Every Arizona license shown below is open for you to 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
Reviews from parents across Arizona.
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
Admission for Sun City families, 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 past treatment already exist, and whether anyone is in danger, then tells you honestly whether residential care is the right fit for your granddaughter or daughter.
- What to have ready: nothing. Just call, questions are welcome, and there is no obligation.
2
- Same day
- Free & confidential
Coverage check
With your approval we contact your insurer and report back plain numbers for residential behavioral-health care, network standing, and the realistic out-of-pocket, and here both benefits count, 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 safety, then recommends the level of care those findings support; when she last used 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
One named coordinator manages medical clearance, the trip in, school records, prescriptions, and a packing list reviewed for safety, so arrival day holds no surprises.
- 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 granddaughter or daughter meets the clinical team and eases into the routine, and your first family update is on the calendar before you make the drive back across the Valley.
- From here: predictable days, weekly updates, and a team your teen knows by name.
Coverage & cost
Does insurance cover teen dual diagnosis treatment?
Whether you are a parent or a grandparent raising her near Sun City, the coverage question deserves a straight answer. Residential behavioral-health treatment is a covered benefit on most major private plans, and we accept most major commercial insurers. Because a dual diagnosis draws on the mental-health benefit and the substance-use benefit together, we review both, in network or out of network, at no cost and in confidence, typically within the day, then spell out any out-of-pocket amount before anything is signed.
- 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
Ask us to check her coverage for residential dual diagnosis care. It costs nothing, stays private, and commits you to nothing.
After discharge
Discharge and aftercare planning near Sun City.
Discharge planning begins weeks ahead with you at the table: an adolescent PHP or IOP step-down where it fits, an outpatient therapist and prescriber arranged close to the northwest Valley, a written relapse plan naming her risky people, places, and hours, and a staged return to school coordinated with her home district, whether that is Peoria Unified or Dysart.
Answers
Questions Sun City parents ask about dual diagnosis care
Direct answers for grandparents and parents near Sun City weighing residential dual diagnosis care for a girl in their family.
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 forty to fifty minutes east of the Sun City area, serving families throughout the northwest 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, alongside a substance problem. Integrated treatment puts one team on both at once, instead of moving her between a mental-health program and a separate substance program.
The Cave Creek residence admits girls ages 12 to 17 only. A girls-only home changes what can be said aloud: 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 move so treatment begins the day she is discharged. The same holds for any acute medical instability.
Care & cost
The program covers what appears most in adolescent girls: alcohol, cannabis, nicotine and vaping, prescription pills shared between friends, and stimulants. What matters clinically is the pattern and what the substance is doing for her, not the substance by itself.
With motivational interviewing rather than a fight. Most girls arrive sure they do not belong here. The method works from her own reasons for change, and the daily structure gives her a sober baseline to measure against, usually within the first two weeks.
Many commercial plans do when 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 position, and likely costs before you commit to anything.
Family work is built in: weekly family therapy, in person for those close by and by secure video for others, a Saturday parent group, and daily phone calls. Because the home she returns to is part of the relapse plan, the adults raising her are part of the treatment.
Yes, and the prescriber reviews everything she arrives 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 prompting, a family prepared for the home plan, and a step-down in place. Before discharge your case manager books an outpatient therapist near home and stages her return to school.
A certified teacher runs credit-bearing classes on site every weekday, and the credits transfer back to her home district, whether Peoria Unified or Dysart. For a girl whose attendance fell apart while she was using, that is often the first thing to steady.
That is common, and it does not keep treatment from starting. Our counselors coach you through the conversation, and many girls who arrive certain they do not belong settle 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.
The numbers
Why early dual diagnosis treatment matters
Teenage girls report more substance use than they did ten years ago, and the mental-health piece is usually already present. Each 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).
Set side by side, these figures show a substance problem and a mental-health diagnosis moving as a pair far more often than either turns up alone.
The Arizona access number is why northwest Valley families reach out early: when help nearby is thin, one program treating both sides is often the faster route.
Teen group home care for Sun City girls
A family home in feel, a licensed program in practice.
Many grandparents raising a granddaughter around Sun City start by searching for a group home. Ours is a girls-only house in Cave Creek, holding an AZDHS license as a behavioral-health residential facility, where her treatment happens under the same roof where she sleeps, eats and studies.
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 connected to every community listed here receive care at our Cave Creek residence. We help grandparents and parents plan the trip, and weekly family therapy runs in person or on secure video.
Across Arizona
Dual diagnosis treatment for girls near Sun City.
The girls' residence lies northeast of the Sun City area, in Cave Creek on the far side of the Valley, close enough that a grandparent or parent can make the drive for family sessions. Admissions answers at every hour.
About 40 to 50 minutes across the Valley
From the Sun City area the drive east to Cave Creek takes roughly 40 to 50 minutes across the northwest Valley. A grandparent or parent can plan it as a single outing, which keeps in-person family sessions realistic every week.
Sessions by screen or in person
Weekly family therapy works in person or on secure video, which helps on weeks when the trip east is too much, and our staff will gladly walk a grandparent new to video calls through the setup first.
Follow-up care in the northwest Valley
Before she leaves, PHP or IOP step-down and outpatient appointments are set up near the Sun City area, and her school return is planned with Peoria Unified or Dysart, whichever serves her home.
Nexus Teen Academy, Cave Creek · girls’ residence
Admissions 24/7
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Cave Creek residence location for Sun City families
About 40 to 50 min east to Cave Creek
Saddle Mountain Rd, 85331 · 20 min north
Also serving Peoria, Youngtown, Surprise
Travel, telehealth & aftercare
Every Nexus program, statewide
Explore residential programs by condition.
One clinical team treats eight conditions for girls from around the state. Select the struggle closest to hers, then read how care works for families tied to the Sun City area.
Eight conditions are treated in Nexus Teen Academy's licensed residential program for 12 to 17 year olds: anxiety, depression, trauma and PTSD, self-harm, suicidal ideation, bipolar disorder, substance use and ADHD. Girls live and receive care at the girls-only Cave Creek residence. Parents and grandparents connected to the Sun City area, and families elsewhere in Arizona, get honest drive-time guidance, help with travel, and secure-video family therapy for the weeks the trip east is too much.
Depression care, statewide
Dual diagnosis treatment for girls in nearby cities
Each community listed here sends girls to our Cave Creek residence. Its page explains the drive, how school re-entry works with the local district, and what families from that part of Arizona tend to ask.
More conditions treated at Nexus Teen Academy
Open any condition for its statewide guide, or tap a nearby city to see how care works from that community.
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
Your town missing from the list? We accept girls from any part of Arizona or from out of state. Phone (480) 485-3424 any hour and we will explain how the trip to Cave Creek works.