- Joint Commission accredited
- Girls-only home
- Ages 12 to 17
- Admissions 24/7
Eating disorder treatment for teen girls near Youngtown, AZ.
Shift work in Youngtown leaves little room for a daughter who has stopped finishing dinner, yet that worry follows you onto every shift. Nexus Teen Academy treats girls 12 to 17 for anorexia, ARFID, bulimia or binge eating disorder at a licensed residential house in Cave Creek, and our admissions people carry as much of the phone tag and paperwork as they can, so you are not doing it from a break room.
- 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
On shift right now? Leave a number; our licensed admissions staff ring you back fast, often before your break ends, to go over her eating, your insurance and what comes next. No sales pitch.
- 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 Youngtown families.
Nexus Teen Academy is a state-licensed treatment house in Cave Creek, one The Joint Commission has accredited, where one clinical group looks after girls aged 12 to 17 whose eating has gone off the rails. Youngtown parents usually call after weeks of patching things together between shifts: a packed lunch returned untouched, laps around the block every evening, a pantry that empties overnight. Beneath that, we tend to find worry, a need to get everything right, or a hurt she has no words for. Both get treated.
Some girls need a hospital before they need us. Fainting, a pulse that has dropped too low, or bloodwork flagged as abnormal means a hospital steadies her first, and admissions books her Cave Creek start once doctors sign off. Credentials: AZDHS license, Joint Commission accreditation, LegitScript certification.
Nexus Teen Academy provides residential treatment for teen eating disorders for families from Youngtown, 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.
No piece of this has to be requested or chased. Therapy, food, classes and family sessions all hang off a single treatment plan, and her team holds that plan up each week against how she is truly doing, body and mood, not against a date circled on a calendar.
Full assessment up front
Her eating, weight curve, labs, school records and mental-health history are laid out together, so the plan matches the girl in front of us.
Hospital first, when needed
Vitals or labs showing she is not medically safe send her to a hospital before Cave Creek, and we book her start once doctors clear her.
Therapy every weekday
A licensed clinician she knows by name sits down with her each weekday to take on the fear, the rules and what they cover up.
A grown-up at every meal
Every meal and planned snack happens with a staff member beside her, following a meal plan that climbs as her body mends.
Family time that bends to shifts
A weekly family session, sitting together or on a secure video call, plus Saturday's parent group, so meal coaching starts before she is home.
Prescriber in the house
Her prescriber is on site; if anxiety, depression or OCD symptoms call for medication, no dose moves without your OK.
School that still counts
Lessons each weekday, taught by a certified teacher, earn credit that transfers to the school she will return to.
A plan for coming home
Meal and warning-sign steps on paper, outpatient appointments set up close to Youngtown, and a slow return to the classroom.
- Her eating, her mood and what drives both, on a single plan
Treated together
Co-occurring conditions in teen eating disorders.
Food is seldom the whole story. One national survey of teenagers found 3.8% of girls met criteria for an eating disorder by their late teens, and most teens living with binge eating disorder or bulimia carried a second psychiatric diagnosis on top, anxiety and mood problems more than any other.
For a Youngtown parent that adds up to one phone number and one team, rather than a therapist in one town, a psychiatrist in the next and a food specialist somewhere else, each wanting its own intake packet. Her eating disorder and whatever rides along with it sit on one plan inside the Cave Creek house.
When a girl's eating quietly changes
Primary focus
Anorexia, binge eating disorder, bulimia, OSFED and ARFID in adolescent girls
Depression
Mood that sinks lower as her plate shrinks.
Anxiety & perfectionism
Rigid food rules that pass for feeling safe.
Trauma & PTSD
Eating habits that numb a painful memory.
ADHD
Impulsive snacking that tips into a binge.
Substance use
Vaping, pills or alcohol to dull hunger.
Dual diagnosis
Substance use knotted up with a mental-health condition.
Self-harm
Checked for at intake; it can rise as eating shifts.
Safety firstSuicidal ideation
Always looked at first, before anything else.
Safety first- Whatever is going on under the eating, one clinical team keeps every piece in one plan, in one Cave Creek house.
The setting
Our girls-only residential home in Cave Creek.
Home base is a genuine house sitting on open desert acreage in Cave Creek, half an hour's drive above downtown Phoenix and 40 to 50 minutes from Youngtown. Each day repeats the same schedule, girls eat meals cooked in the house kitchen, someone on staff is awake every hour of the night, and the Arizona health department licenses the whole place.
Take a self-guided 3D walkthrough of the home
Life inside
Daily schedule at the Cave Creek residence.
Early on, sitting down to a plate costs her more than anything else in the day, so that is where the staff put their attention. Each adult at the table hands the same even reply to the same food arguments, until the disorder quits finding a crack to work at.
- 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.
Back in 2023, the American Psychiatric Association's guideline named family work that keeps the eating disorder at its center as the approach to reach for with adolescents, while CBT-E also holds up well in teenage patients. Residential care supplies the repetition a Tuesday appointment never can: someone at the table for breakfast, lunch, dinner and every snack, weekends included.
Core therapies
- 1
Family-based treatment
You run meals at home for a stretch, then pass choices back to her one at a time as she gets well.
- 2
CBT-E
Goes straight at food rules, body checking and the habit of letting shape and weight decide her entire sense of worth.
- 3
Emotion-regulation and distress-tolerance skills
Drilled daily, so a pull toward skipping, bingeing or purging meets a coping move instead of a behavior.
Supporting care, running alongside
Exposure and body-image work
When she is medically steady, the foods she fears and the places she avoids return gradually, her therapist right alongside.
feared foodsone at a timeFamily therapy and parent group
One family session a week, around a table in Cave Creek or through a secure video call when work gets in the way, plus Saturday's parents' group.
weekly sessionsSaturday groupEquine, art and experiential
Fridays mean horses; other days bring art and music. Her body becomes something that carries and steadies her, not something to measure.
Friday horsesart and music
Your teen's clinical team
Meet our licensed clinical team.
Her primary therapist, her psychiatric prescriber and the house staff will all be people you know by name. Any license this page mentions is yours to look up, so you never have to take our word on it.
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 Youngtown 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
Ring us when your shift lets out, even at 2 a.m. A licensed counselor walks through what she eats these days, whether her weight has moved, any purging, bingeing or medical red flags, past diagnoses and past treatment, and how safe she is right now, then gives you a plain yes or no on residential care for her.
- What to have ready: nothing. Just call, questions are welcome, and there is no obligation.
2
- Same day
- Free & confidential
Coverage check
Hand over your plan details and we run the benefits check at no charge, typically before the day is out, so your lunch break is not spent on hold. What comes back: network status, how residential behavioral-health coverage works on your plan, and an honest estimate of your share, with eating disorder treatment billed through the mental-health 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 looks over her weight curve, her eating and mental-health history, whatever treatment came before, and her safety, and then names a level of care. Fresh vitals and bloodwork, ideally from her pediatrician, decide if a hospital stay must 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 becomes your go-to for medical clearance, school records, prescriptions, travel and what to pack, so you are never retelling the story to five different people.
- 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
Day one, she meets the people treating her and eats a first meal at the house table; your first family check-in is booked before you head back to Youngtown.
- From here: predictable days, weekly updates, and a team your teen knows by name.
Coverage & cost
Does insurance cover teen eating disorder treatment?
Most big private plans file a residential eating disorder stay under their mental-health coverage, and Nexus Teen Academy works with most large commercial insurers. Send over your card details and we do the legwork: a free, private look at her benefits, network status included, usually answered the same day, with anything you would owe laid out in plain words beforehand.
- 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
Skip the hold music: we learn what your policy covers for a residential eating disorder stay, free and private.
After discharge
Discharge and aftercare planning near Youngtown.
You get a seat at discharge planning from the first week. Depending on her progress, the plan may add a partial hospitalization or intensive outpatient step, a pediatrician, a dietitian and an outpatient therapist all within reach of Youngtown, meal and warning-sign instructions on paper, and a slow re-entry at her Dysart or Peoria district school.
Answers
Questions Youngtown parents ask about eating disorder care
Plain answers for Youngtown families about the drive, time off work, meals, money, school and privacy.
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. If your hunt for help near me began in Youngtown, Nexus Teen Academy cares for girls ages 12 to 17 at a licensed house in Cave Creek, roughly 40 to 50 minutes out via Grand Avenue then Loop 101. Call (480) 485-3424 any hour.
Figure 40 to 50 minutes each way, so a family session plus the round trip eats about half a day. On weeks you cannot get away, that session happens on a secure video call from home or a break room.
Periods, growing curves, comparisons on social feeds, dating pressure and, for some girls, sexual trauma come up again and again in eating disorder therapy. Surrounded only by girls her own age, she can bring any of it up at dinner or in group without filtering a word.
Plenty of girls insist nothing is wrong, because that is what the disorder tells them. A counselor can coach you on how to bring it up, and a lot of girls who walk in furious calm down once meals stop being a battle.
Care & cost
Anorexia nervosa (atypical anorexia too), OSFED, the catch-all category, binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and ARFID. We build the plan around the job each behavior does in her life, beyond its label.
Not while she is medically unstable. Fainting, a heart rate running very slow, drops in blood pressure, electrolyte trouble or fast weight loss mean a hospital steadies her first. We keep in contact with that team, and she transfers to Cave Creek once doctors sign off.
Three meals plus set snacks, with staff at the same table, following a meal plan that grows as she recovers. Food talk stays calm and neutral, and afterward staff stay close while the urges fade.
Most major private insurance is accepted. Eating disorder care bills to the mental-health benefit, so whether it is covered generally comes down to medical necessity. We check your benefits at no cost, often that same day, before you sign a thing.
Count on roughly 30 days or more; her progress sets the length, not a fixed date. Before she comes home we set up a step-down if it fits, plus outpatient help near Youngtown: a dietitian, a pediatrician and a therapist.
Licensing & privacy
Its behavioral-health residential license is issued by Arizona's health department (AZDHS). Accreditation comes from The Joint Commission, certification from LegitScript, and you can look each one up yourself.
Only if you tell them. HIPAA covers her records, and they go solely to people you sign off on, say her pediatrician or one school contact. Calls to admissions stay confidential.
Her primary therapist checks in with regular updates, the weekly family session can be in person or on a secure video call, and Saturday's parent group teaches meal coaching you will use at your own table.
Admission & daily life
Often within a few days. Admissions calls are returned within 24 hours, usually within minutes. A counselor checks your insurance benefits and licensed clinicians complete an assessment, and if everything moves smoothly your teen can move in shortly after. A coordinator walks you through travel, paperwork, and the first day.
Yes. Nexus Teen Academy offers tours of the home by appointment, so you can see where your teen would live and ask the team your questions in person before you decide anything. Call admissions to schedule a tour at a time that suits your family.
Yes. Family therapy happens once a week and is typically followed by about an hour of visitation, and parents are expected to take part. After orientation, teens can call home during designated hours most days, and families can also join a weekly virtual Family Empowerment group with other parents.
No. Personal phones and other devices stay at home for the length of the stay. Teens use tablets for video calls with approved contacts and computers for schoolwork, so contact with family continues through approved channels while the focus stays on treatment.
School continues during treatment. Teens attend accredited, credit-bearing classes on site, and education supervisors help with coursework and stay in touch with families. Bring a copy of any 504 plan or IEP at admission, and before discharge the team plans a staged return to your teen's home school.
Pack about two weeks of clothes without laces or drawstrings, alcohol-free toiletries, and any prescribed medication in its original packaging with a current medication list. Bring a guardian ID, a copy of any 504 plan or IEP, and school books. Personal phones and school-issued tablets stay at home.
By the numbers
Why early eating disorder treatment matters
Over half of American high school girls told CDC researchers in 2023 that sadness or hopelessness had become persistent, and disordered eating tends to grow in that same soil. Each figure below names its source.
3.8%
of American girls 13 to 18 have met criteria for an eating disorder in their lifetime, against 2.7% of adolescents overall (NIMH, NCS-A).
3.0%
is the lifetime figure once teens reach 17 to 18, compared with 2.4% back at 13 to 14, so the odds keep building across high school (NIMH, NCS-A).
49%
of anorexic teens given family-based treatment reached full remission at the 12-month mark, set against 23% who had individual therapy (Lock et al., 2010).
1 in 4
Arizona teenagers who went looking for mental-health help said reaching it was very difficult or flatly impossible (AZDHS, 2026).
Risk climbs through high school and lands hardest on girls, so a change at her plate deserves an assessment this month, not next year.
For Youngtown families, that statewide access gap argues for asking about residential care early rather than burning months on an outpatient waiting list.
Teen group home care for Youngtown girls
Feels like a family home, works as treatment.
Hunting for a group home because of your daughter's eating? Youngtown girls, and others from across the northwest Valley, stay at our girls-only house in Cave Creek, which carries an AZDHS residential behavioral-health license, so meals, therapy and classes all happen at one address.
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
Daughters from each town listed have made the trip to Cave Creek. Our team helps you plan that drive, and parents sit in on a weekly family session, in the house itself or through secure video.
Across Arizona
Eating disorder treatment for girls near Youngtown.
Most Youngtown parents cut over on Grand Avenue, pick up the Loop 101 and are parking in Cave Creek 40 to 50 minutes later, traffic permitting. A family session or Sunday visit fits in half a day, and admissions answers whenever you ring, 3 a.m. included.
40 to 50 minutes from Youngtown
Most parents take Grand Avenue to the Loop 101 and arrive in Cave Creek in 40 to 50 minutes. A visit or family session plus the round trip fits inside half a day off.
When work runs long
The weekly family session meets at the house or, when a double shift or a sick sibling gets in the way, over a secure video call, so your family never loses a week.
Aftercare set up near Youngtown
Ahead of discharge we arrange a step-down to PHP or IOP should she need one, a local outpatient team of therapist, dietitian and pediatrician, and her restart at a Dysart or Peoria district school.
Nexus Teen Academy, Cave Creek · girls’ residence
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Cave Creek residence location for Youngtown families
Grand Ave and Loop 101, 40 to 50 min
Saddle Mountain Rd, 85331 · 20 min north
Also El Mirage, Peoria, Sun City
Travel, telehealth & aftercare
Every Nexus program, statewide
Explore residential programs by condition.
One team handles a whole range of conditions for girls statewide. Pick the one closest to your daughter's situation, then read what treatment involves from your end of Arizona.
Nexus Teen Academy gives licensed residential care to teenagers 12 to 17 who face eating disorders, self-harm, ADHD, depression, trauma and PTSD, substance use, bipolar disorder, suicidal ideation, and anxiety. Girls in treatment for eating make their home at our Cave Creek residence, where only girls live. Youngtown households, and plenty of others statewide, get a hand mapping the drive, one coordinator minding the details, and secure-video family therapy whenever the trip will not work.
Depression care, statewide
Eating disorder treatment for girls in nearby cities
Families from these towns have made the same trip to Cave Creek. Open one for drive times, how school re-entry works there, and what parents from that area tend to ask first.
More conditions treated at Nexus Teen Academy
Each condition opens a statewide guide, and the town links beside it cover driving, school and visits from each place.
Talk it through with a counselor
Tell an admissions counselor what you are seeing at home, and they will say plainly which program fits.
Girls-only programs
Treated only at the Cave Creek girls residence
Five programs for teen girls, each with an Arizona guide and a page for families from each nearby city.
Co-occurring mental health and substance use
Eating disorders in teen girls
Sexual trauma in teen girls
Severe mood swings in teen girls
Not seeing your town? Wherever in Arizona she lives, or even outside the state, we can still take her. Ring (480) 485-3424 and an admissions counselor will sketch the Cave Creek route and each step of getting her admitted.