- Joint Commission accredited
- Girls-only home
- Ages 12 to 17
- Admissions 24/7
Dual diagnosis treatment for teen girls near Sun City West, AZ.
When a girl's using and the pain underneath it keep feeding each other, splitting the two between separate programs seldom holds. Nexus Teen Academy treats both together in one residential program for girls ages 12 to 17, at the licensed Cave Creek residence, reached from the Sun City West area by heading east across 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
From Sun City West or a nearby northwest Valley town, send us the best way to reach you. A licensed admissions counselor gets back to you, typically within minutes, and you can talk openly about fit, benefits and next steps without any push.
- 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
How Nexus Teen Academy supports Sun City West families.
Nexus Teen Academy is a licensed, Joint Commission-accredited residential program for adolescent girls who are living with a mental-health diagnosis and a substance problem at once. One clinical team works both at the girls' residence on desert acreage in Cave Creek, ages 12 to 17. Many families who reach us from the Sun City West area are grandparents raising a granddaughter, or parents in the surrounding northwest Valley, and for their girl the drinking or the pills usually began as a way to manage something, to calm a racing mind, numb a memory, or finally get some sleep. Treat the substance on its own and the cause remains; treat the mood on its own and the using unravels the gains.
If a girl needs medically supervised withdrawal before she can begin, that step happens at a hospital and admissions coordinates the timing so treatment opens the day she is released. The program is clinician-led, AZDHS-licensed, Joint Commission accredited, and LegitScript certified, with staff awake through the overnight hours.
Nexus Teen Academy provides residential treatment for teen dual diagnosis for families from Sun City West, 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
What our residential dual diagnosis program includes.
Substance-use recovery and mental-health treatment on a single plan, inside a girls-only home with a predictable daily rhythm. Every girl who comes to us from the northwest Valley receives each element below, revisited each week against her own goals rather than a fixed timetable.
One combined assessment
Psychiatric and substance histories gathered together, along with school records and earlier care, so no one is left guessing which problem came first.
Detox scheduled before arrival
Withdrawal that needs medical oversight is handled at a hospital beforehand, and admissions times the transfer so treatment opens the day she is discharged.
Therapy every weekday
One named licensed clinician working the thoughts, the triggers, and the using beneath them, five days a week.
Motivation and relapse work
For the girl who does not believe she has a problem, resistance is met rather than fought, and every high-risk moment gets a written plan.
Family sessions and parent group
Weekly family work 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.
Credit-bearing classes on site
A certified teacher every weekday, so the schooling that slid while she was using starts to come back.
A plan for afterward
Outpatient therapy and medication follow-up set near home, a relapse plan on paper, and a paced step back into her Dysart school or current district.
- One clinical team for both sides of a dual diagnosis, never split apart
Dual-diagnosis care
Conditions we treat with dual diagnosis care.
Sadness and worry rarely travel alone in the girls we see. Across the country, about 15% of adolescents had a major depressive episode in the past year and 7.8% met the threshold for a substance use disorder, and the two run together: roughly a third of teens with depression reported illicit drug use, compared with 12% of those without it.
At the Cave Creek residence one team holds the diagnosis and the substance use inside a single plan, with nothing passed off to an outside provider midway, because sobriety that never touches the underlying reason rarely survives the first difficult week back home.
Making sense of dual diagnosis in teen girls
Primary focus
Co-occurring mental health and substance use in adolescent girls
Depression
Frequently the weight the using was trying to ease.
Anxiety & panic
Alcohol or cannabis used to slow a racing mind.
Trauma & PTSD
Substances leaned on to hold the memories down.
ADHD
Impulsivity meeting easy access escalates fast.
Substance use
Alcohol, cannabis, vapes, or borrowed pills.
Defiance at home
The blowups that keep the using out of sight.
Self-harm
Often emerges once substances are stripped away; screened at intake.
Safety firstSuicidal ideation
Assessed before any other work begins.
Safety first- Every condition we treat is folded into a single coordinated plan, so she answers to one team in one home instead of several.
The setting
The Cave Creek residence for dual diagnosis treatment.
The girls' residence sits on desert acreage in Cave Creek, north of central Phoenix and roughly 45 to 55 minutes east of Sun City West by way of the Loop 303 and Loop 101. It is a genuine home outfitted 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
Structure and routine in residential care.
The early hours after waking are the toughest in the first stretch of a stay, so they hold the firmest structure. When every adult carries the day the same way, the cravings and the flare-ups 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
Evidence-based therapies for teen dual diagnosis.
Integrated treatment, one team addressing 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 cannot reach.
Core therapies
- 1
Motivational interviewing
Built for the girl who is unsure. Rather than arguing her into agreeing, it draws on the reasons she already carries for changing.
- 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 to turn to once the substance is no longer there.
Supporting care, running alongside
Trauma-focused CBT and EMDR
When trauma is the engine, it is treated directly, once she is stable rather than in her 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 listed 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
Family reviews of 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
How admission works, from first call to first day.
- 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 treatment are already in place, and whether anyone is unsafe, then tells you honestly whether residential care is the right level for your daughter or granddaughter.
- What to have ready: nothing. Just call, questions are welcome, and there is no obligation.
2
- Same day
- Free & confidential
Coverage check
With your permission we contact your insurer and report back clear numbers for residential behavioral-health care, network standing, and the realistic out-of-pocket, and both benefits apply here, the one for mental health and the one for 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 the substance history, the psychiatric history, earlier treatment, and safety, then recommends the level of care the findings call for; when she last used 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 checked for safety, so nothing about arrival day takes you by surprise.
- 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 or granddaughter meets the clinical team and eases into the routine, and your first family update is on the calendar before you make the drive back toward the northwest Valley.
- From here: predictable days, weekly updates, and a team your teen knows by name.
Coverage & cost
Using insurance for residential dual diagnosis treatment
Families across the Sun City West area, including grandparents who have taken on a granddaughter's care, often assume residential treatment is out of reach. On most major private insurance it is a covered behavioral-health benefit, and Nexus Teen Academy works with most major commercial carriers. We verify the plan that covers her, both its mental-health and substance-use benefits, in or out of network, free, privately and usually the same day, and lay out your share of the cost in plain terms before you commit.
- 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
Get a clear read on your plan's dual diagnosis benefits before deciding anything. The check is free, private and obligation-free.
After discharge
Aftercare planning for Sun City West families.
Discharge planning begins weeks in advance with you at the table: a teen PHP or IOP step-down where it suits her, an outpatient therapist and prescriber arranged close to the northwest Valley, a written relapse plan that names her risky people, places, and times, and a return to school coordinated with her district, Dysart or whichever serves her home.
Answers
Dual diagnosis treatment FAQs for Sun City West families
Direct answers for families near Sun City West weighing residential dual diagnosis care for a daughter or granddaughter.
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 45 to 55 minutes east of Sun City West by way of the Loop 303 and Loop 101, serving families across the northwest Valley and the rest of Arizona. Admissions answers (480) 485-3424 at any hour.
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 sending her back and forth 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 shifts what can be spoken about openly: sexual-trauma history, self-harm, disordered eating, and the social pressures that push many teenage girls toward using, and groups, bedrooms, and staffing are all built around that one population.
No. When withdrawal needs medical management, detox takes place at a hospital first, and admissions times the move so treatment starts the day she is discharged. The same applies to any acute medical instability.
Care & cost
The program addresses what appears most often in adolescent girls: alcohol, cannabis, nicotine and vaping, prescription pills shared among friends, and stimulants. Clinically, what matters is the pattern and what the substance is doing for her, not the substance by itself.
With motivational interviewing rather than confrontation. Most girls arrive convinced they do not belong here. The approach builds from her own reasons to change, and the daily structure gives her a sober baseline to measure against, usually within the first couple of weeks.
Many commercial plans do when medical necessity is met, and both the mental-health and the substance-use benefits come into it. 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 northwest Valley families and by secure video for those farther out, 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 ready for the home plan, and a step-down arranged. Before discharge your case manager books an outpatient therapist near the northwest Valley 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 school, whether that is in the Dysart district or another. 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 data
Research on dual diagnosis in teen girls
Teenage girls report more substance use than they did ten years ago, and the mental-health side is usually there already. 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).
Placed 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 on its own.
The Arizona access figure is why families connected to Sun City West reach out early: when nearby help is scarce, one program treating both sides at once is often the faster route.
Group home alternatives for teen girls
Homelike on the outside, clinical care on the inside.
If a group home is what you have been searching for from Sun City West, the Cave Creek residence may be the answer: a girls-only house licensed by AZDHS as a behavioral-health residential facility, where clinicians deliver care inside the home rather than sending girls out to appointments.
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
Each city on this list sends girls to the one Cave Creek residence. Our team helps map out the drive, and every family joins weekly therapy sessions, face to face or by secure video.
Across Arizona
Residential dual diagnosis care within reach of Sun City West.
Because the residence sits north of the Phoenix metro in Cave Creek, families in and around Sun City West are a manageable drive away, close enough for weekly visits and family sessions. Admissions answers at any hour.
Roughly 45 to 55 minutes east
Sun City West families usually reach Cave Creek in 45 to 55 minutes by taking Loop 303 to Loop 101 and continuing east. It is a longer haul than from central Phoenix, so many mix in-person visits with secure video sessions.
Video when the drive won't fit
Weekly family therapy runs in person at Cave Creek or over secure video, and we help grandparents and parents in the Sun City West area plan whichever mix fits, so the distance never interrupts her care.
Step-down care closer to home
Step-down and outpatient providers are booked on the Sun City West side of the Valley before discharge, and school re-entry is worked out with Dysart or the district where she is enrolled.
Nexus Teen Academy, Cave Creek · girls’ residence
Admissions 24/7
See a center on the map
Tap Cave Creek below to load its interactive map right here.
Google Maps loads only when you choose, so nothing is shared with Google before you opt in.
Distance from Sun City West to the Cave Creek residence
45 to 55 min via Loop 303 and Loop 101
Saddle Mountain Rd, 85331 · 20 min north
Surprise and El Mirage families welcome
Travel, telehealth & aftercare
Every Nexus program, statewide
Teen treatment programs by condition.
Pick the condition that fits her, and each guide explains how our single team treats it and what care looks like for families driving in from the Sun City West area.
Our licensed residential care for adolescents ages 12 to 17 covers eight conditions: anxiety, depression, trauma and PTSD, self-harm, suicidal ideation, bipolar disorder, substance use and ADHD. Every girl in this program is treated at the girls-only residence in Cave Creek. Whether your family lives near Sun City West, elsewhere along Loop 303, or anywhere else in the state, we offer guidance on drive times, practical travel help and family sessions over secure video.
Depression care, statewide
Dual diagnosis care in other Arizona cities
Whichever city you pick below, the care takes place at the one girls' residence in Cave Creek. Every page walks through travel time, coordinating her return with the home district, and common local questions.
Other conditions we treat for teens
Each link opens a condition's Arizona overview; the city names beside it show what care looks like locally.
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 where you live? Girls from any Arizona town, and from outside the state, are welcome. Reach admissions at (480) 485-3424 and we will talk through the route to Cave Creek.