- Joint Commission accredited
- Girls-only home
- Ages 12 to 17
- Admissions 24/7
Eating disorder treatment for teen girls near Litchfield Park, AZ.
In a town the size of Litchfield Park, parents often worry about who will notice before they worry about anything else. Nexus Teen Academy cares for girls ages 12 to 17 with bulimia, ARFID, anorexia or a binge eating disorder, in a licensed Cave Creek house reserved for girls, well away from the carpool line and the familiar faces of the neighborhood.
- 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
Share a phone number in confidence. One of our licensed admissions counselors will ring back, often within minutes, for a private conversation about her eating, your coverage and sensible next steps. No commitment.
- 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: eating disorder treatment for Litchfield Park families.
AZDHS-licensed and Joint Commission accredited, Nexus Teen Academy keeps one clinical team responsible for every teenage girl it treats for an eating disorder. Home, for those weeks, is a private house on open desert outside Cave Creek, under an hour from Litchfield Park. Families here tend to value restraint, and so do we: her story travels only as far as the people you name. Skipped meals, purging or binges get treated, along with the anxiety, perfectionism or grief that fuels them.
If her pulse drops dangerously low, her blood pressure falls on standing, or her labs return out of range, hospital doctors steady her before anything else, and admissions then books her first day for the date they release her. AZDHS-licensed, Joint Commission accredited, LegitScript certified.
Nexus Teen Academy provides residential treatment for teen eating disorders 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
Components of eating disorder treatment at Nexus Teen Academy.
Meal plan, therapy hour, prescriptions and schoolwork all sit with a single team under a single roof, and no detail leaves that roof without your signature. She receives each element below, and each is revisited weekly in light of what her body and mood are showing.
A full, private assessment
Eating patterns, weight over time, lab work, psychiatric background, school records: all considered together, and kept strictly within her team.
Hospital first when needed
Where vitals or labs signal danger, hospital staff steady her before admission, and her start date follows her medical clearance.
One therapist, every weekday
Every weekday she meets the same licensed clinician, so the fears and food rules she keeps hidden are finally said aloud to one trusted person.
Meals shared with staff
Three meals plus planned snacks at the table with staff, on a meal plan increased in steps as her strength returns.
Family sessions and Saturday group
Weekly family therapy and a Saturday gathering of parents who understand, so supporting meals at home feels familiar before she returns.
On-site psychiatric prescriber
When anxiety, OCD symptoms or low mood call for medication, the on-site prescriber handles it, and no adjustment happens unless you agree.
School credits that transfer
A certified teacher gives weekday lessons that carry credit, so her coursework keeps going and the credits come back to Litchfield Park with her.
A quiet return home
Written meal guidance, a list of warning signs, outpatient care arranged near Litchfield Park, and a school return paced with the district.
- Meals, moods and their private reasons, held in confidence
Treated alongside
Co-occurring conditions in teen eating disorders.
What shows at the table is often only one piece. Across a national sample of teenagers, an eating disorder had touched 3.8% of girls by 18, against 2.7% of teens overall, and among teens whose diagnosis was binge eating disorder or bulimia, most carried another psychiatric condition too.
Because anxiety, low mood or an old hurt so often sits under the eating, our clinicians treat them together at the residence rather than referring her elsewhere. Fewer handoffs also means fewer people holding her story, which matters to families who prefer private matters stay private.
Quiet signs of eating disorders in girls
Primary focus
Anorexia (typical and atypical), bulimia, ARFID, OSFED and binge eating in adolescent girls
Depression
Sadness she hides well, often deepening as meals shrink.
Anxiety & perfectionism
Perfectionism that turns calorie rules into safety.
Trauma & PTSD
Eating patterns that keep painful memories at bay.
ADHD
Impulsive eating or missed meals from a scattered day.
Substance use
Diet pills, vaping or alcohol to suppress appetite.
Dual diagnosis
A substance habit knotted up with a psychiatric condition.
Self-harm
Screened at intake, then watched closely as habits loosen.
Safety firstSuicidal ideation
Assessed first, before anything else is planned.
Safety first- Whatever lies beneath her eating, one plan and one team treat it, behind one front door in Cave Creek.
The setting
Our girls-only residential home in Cave Creek.
Her address for these weeks is a genuine family house set on open Cave Creek desert, roughly half an hour above downtown Phoenix and well beyond the orbit of anyone from school. Food comes from its own kitchen to a single shared table, the schedule hardly varies, staff remain awake through each night, and its AZDHS license covers the whole home.
Take a self-guided 3D walkthrough of the home
Life inside
Daily schedule at the Cave Creek residence.
Early meals are the steepest climb, and staffing is heaviest there for that reason. Each adult meets the pleading, the trading and the rules around eating in one even tone, and after plates are cleared a staff member stays within reach until the impulse to reverse the meal fades.
- 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 eating disorder treatment.
In its 2023 guideline, the APA (American Psychiatric Association) names eating-disorder-focused family therapy for teens, and CBT-E also has evidence in this age group. A residence adds repetition: the same methods at breakfast, at lunch, at dinner and at every snack.
Core therapies
- 1
Family-based treatment
For a period you guide her meals with coaching from our team, then return that control to her gradually as she gets well.
- 2
CBT-E
Targets rigid food rules, the mirror checking and the outsized importance of shape that sustain the eating disorder.
- 3
Emotion-regulation and distress-tolerance skills
Daily practice with hard feelings, so the pull toward skipping a meal, bingeing or purging meets a rehearsed skill.
Supporting care, running alongside
Exposure and body-image work
After she is medically stable, she and her therapist work up a ladder of feared foods and situations she has dodged, rung by rung.
feared foodspaced exposureFamily therapy and parent group
Weekly family therapy, held at the house or through secure video, and a confidential Saturday group for parents.
weekly sessionsparent groupEquine, art and experiential
Fridays with the horses, plus time for art and music, let her experience her body as calm and capable rather than a size.
Friday horsesart and music
Your teen's clinical team
Meet our licensed clinical team.
She is paired with one licensed primary therapist you will know by name, sees a psychiatric prescriber on the premises, and lives among a small residential staff. Our Arizona licenses appear below, so you may verify them quietly on your own.
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 Litchfield Park 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
That first conversation is confidential. A licensed counselor asks what her plate looks like lately, how her weight has changed, whether purging or binges are happening, about dizziness or fainting, earlier diagnoses and care, and her safety, and then says frankly if residential treatment suits her.
- What to have ready: nothing. Just call, questions are welcome, and there is no obligation.
2
- Same day
- Free & confidential
Coverage check
Once you consent, our staff phone the insurer on your behalf and return with clear numbers covering residential behavioral-health benefits, network standing and an estimate of your share. Eating disorder care is counted as a mental-health benefit; the verification costs nothing, stays confidential and is typically done within the day.
- 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
Next, a licensed clinician studies the record: eating patterns, the direction of her weight, psychiatric history, past treatment and safety. That review yields a recommended level of care, and current vitals and lab work from her own pediatrician decide whether she must be stabilized in a hospital beforehand.
- 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 arranges medical clearance, records from school, prescriptions, the drive and a safety review of what she packs, and settles with you ahead of time exactly what the school is told.
- 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
Arrival day brings introductions to her team and a first meal at the shared table; before you head home, a date is set for the opening family update.
- From here: predictable days, weekly updates, and a team your teen knows by name.
Coverage & cost
Does insurance cover teen eating disorder treatment?
For most families holding major private insurance, a residential stay for an eating disorder falls within behavioral-health coverage, and most major commercial carriers are accepted at Nexus Teen Academy. Our team looks up your daughter's precise benefits, whether in network or not, free and in strict confidence, typically within the day, then explains privately what you might owe 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
Request a private, no-cost review of what your plan pays for residential eating disorder care, with no obligation.
After discharge
Discharge and aftercare planning near Litchfield Park.
Weeks ahead of discharge we plan the return with you: step-down to PHP or IOP if her team advises it; referrals to a therapist, pediatrician and dietitian nearby; written guidance for meals and the earliest warning signs; and her re-entry to class, paced with her district, whether Agua Fria Union or Litchfield Elementary.
Answers
Questions Litchfield Park parents ask about eating disorder care
What Litchfield Park parents ask us about discretion, school, medical safety, cost and the drive north to Cave Creek.
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. For a Litchfield Park parent typing near me into a search bar, the answer from Nexus Teen Academy is a Cave Creek residence that serves girls alone, under an hour away by Loop 303, then I-17. Girls ages 12 to 17 are treated there. Call (480) 485-3424 any time, day or night.
Only the people you choose. The residence is in Cave Creek, away from her school and neighborhood, and we release nothing to anyone, including relatives, coaches or the school, without your written authorization.
Keep it simple and true: she is getting care for a health issue and will be back. Her therapist can help you and your daughter agree on wording she is comfortable with, so everyone tells the same short story.
The Cave Creek home admits only girls ages 12 to 17, so body image, periods and appearance pressure come up without self-consciousness. From Litchfield Park the drive is under an hour, easy for weekend visits.
Care & cost
The school hears only what you authorize, often just that she is out for medical reasons. Meanwhile a certified teacher keeps her in credit-bearing coursework each weekday, and what she earns transfers to her school, Agua Fria Union or Litchfield Elementary alike.
Most likely. Her team treats ARFID and OSFED, bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa in both its typical and atypical forms, and binge eating disorder. What shapes her plan is the pattern of her behavior and the purpose it serves, rather than a label alone.
Not yet, if she is unstable. The house is not a hospital, so a dangerously slow pulse, fainting, electrolyte imbalance or fast weight loss is treated in a hospital first. Admissions keeps in contact with those doctors, and she comes to us the day they discharge her.
When medical necessity is established, most major private insurers place residential eating disorder treatment within the mental-health benefit. We confirm yours free and confidentially, often within the day, and claim details travel only between us and the insurer, protected by HIPAA.
Expect 30 days or longer at first, adjusted to clinical markers such as steadier eating and medical stability. By the time she leaves, a step-down program and outpatient providers near home have already been arranged.
Licensing & privacy
Please do. Arizona's health department (AZDHS) licenses the house; accreditation comes from The Joint Commission; LegitScript certification rounds it out. Every credential is public, and you can confirm each one without calling us.
Her records, diagnoses and treatment notes count as protected health information. They reach only those you name in writing, perhaps her pediatrician or the insurer, and even a first admissions call stays confidential.
Expect her primary therapist to update you often, and you see progress firsthand in weekly family sessions and hear from other parents at the Saturday group. At the outset her therapist sets out what is shared with parents, so she knows the ground rules and you stay informed on safety and progress.
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.
Quiet numbers
Why early eating disorder treatment matters
Among U.S. high school girls in 2023, persistent sadness or hopelessness was reported by more than half, according to the CDC. Eating disorders often grow quietly out of that same strain.
3.8%
Lifetime share of U.S. teenage girls aged 13 through 18 who have faced an eating disorder; across every adolescent, the figure is 2.7% (NIMH, NCS-A).
3.0%
is the rate by age 17 or 18, while for 13 or 14 year olds it sits at 2.4%, a gap that opens across high school (NIMH, NCS-A).
49%
of anorexia patients in their teens reached complete remission twelve months after family-based treatment, whereas individual therapy produced 23% (Lock et al., 2010).
1 in 4
Arizona adolescents who sought mental-health help found care very difficult to reach, or impossible (AZDHS, 2026).
Because the risk keeps rising across adolescence and is heavier among girls, a private assessment early is wiser than waiting until others begin to notice.
Access is tight statewide, and Litchfield Park is no exception, which is why parents here often call us before an outpatient opening ever appears.
Teen group home care for Litchfield Park girls
A private household, run as a licensed treatment home.
Weighing a group home for your daughter's eating disorder? Girls from Litchfield Park and statewide live in Cave Creek at our girls-only home, which holds an AZDHS license for behavioral-health residential care, so meals, therapy and schoolwork share one address, away from public view.
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 below has sent daughters to our home in Cave Creek. Our team helps map the trip, and parents may join weekly family therapy in the room there or securely by video.
Across Arizona
Eating disorder treatment for girls near Litchfield Park.
Most Litchfield Park households pull up at the residence 45 to 55 minutes after leaving home, going up Loop 303 and joining I-17 northbound. She is unlikely to cross paths with classmates there, yet you can visit regularly. Admissions picks up at every hour.
About 50 minutes north via Loop 303
From Litchfield Park, follow Loop 303 north to I-17, then continue to Cave Creek; allow 45 to 55 minutes. Near enough for weekend visits, and removed enough that treatment stays separate from daily life at home.
Family therapy, your way
Weekly family therapy meets at the residence or over secure video; on weeks the drive is hard you can still join from a private room at home, with no one else listening in.
Aftercare close to Litchfield Park
Step-down care through a PHP or IOP when her team recommends it, referrals for a local therapist, pediatrician and dietitian, and a quiet school return worked out with her district (Agua Fria Union or Litchfield Elementary).
Nexus Teen Academy, Cave Creek · girls’ residence
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Cave Creek residence location for Litchfield Park families
45 to 55 minutes to Cave Creek
Saddle Mountain Rd, 85331 · 20 min north
Also serving Goodyear and Avondale
Travel, telehealth & aftercare
Every Nexus program, statewide
Explore residential programs by condition.
Our clinicians treat many adolescent conditions for households statewide. Choose the struggle that sounds most like hers, then read what care involves for families close to you.
Nexus Teen Academy operates licensed residential treatment for adolescents between 12 and 17. Conditions treated include eating disorders and self-harm, depression, ADHD, anxiety, bipolar disorder, suicidal ideation, substance use, and trauma and PTSD. A girl in eating disorder care lives in Cave Creek, in a house only for girls, and Litchfield Park parents receive drive guidance, travel support and secure-video family sessions, all under HIPAA.
Depression care, statewide
Eating disorder treatment for girls in nearby cities
Each of these cities sends girls to Cave Creek for treatment. Every linked page walks through that city's drive, how meals are supported at home, school re-entry alongside that district, and what parents from there tend to raise first.
More conditions treated at Nexus Teen Academy
Each condition opens a statewide guide; each city link then shows what treatment involves for the families who live 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
Is your city missing? Girls may come to us from any Arizona town, or from out of state. Call (480) 485-3424 for a walk-through of the route up to Cave Creek and of the admission process.