- Joint Commission accredited
- Girls-only home
- Ages 12 to 17
- Admissions 24/7
Sexual trauma treatment for teen girls near Desert Hills, AZ.
In a place like Desert Hills, a girl may dread that asking for help means the whole neighborhood finds out. Nexus Teen Academy treats girls ages 12 to 17 in a quiet Cave Creek house that only girls call home, reached by heading east on Carefree Highway for under half an hour, so trauma-focused therapy happens away from familiar faces but never far from her parents.
- 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
Leave a number in confidence and an admissions counselor, licensed and discreet, will phone you back, frequently within minutes, to talk about your daughter, your coverage and possible next steps. No pressure, no obligation.
- 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 Desert Hills families.
Nexus Teen Academy is a Joint Commission-accredited, state-licensed program where girls recovering from sexual abuse or assault live and heal together. The house sits on open acreage in Cave Creek, and everyone who lives there is a girl between 12 and 17. Many come carrying shame, sleepless nights, or a dread of being noticed. Our clinicians begin with steadiness and discretion; the harder memory work waits until she has the footing to handle it.
Recent assault? Then the medical exam, along with any report the law mandates, is completed first, and admissions books her arrival for afterward. Mandated reporting applies to all our clinicians, and they explain it to you plainly at the outset. The home is AZDHS-licensed, Joint Commission accredited and LegitScript certified.
Nexus Teen Academy provides residential treatment for teen sexual trauma for families from Desert Hills, Arizona, for ages 12 to 17. Girls live in a licensed home in Cave Creek with daily trauma-focused 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 sexual trauma program includes.
Therapy, skill drills, schoolwork and family meetings live inside one written plan. The team rereads it weekly against the goals she set, so she advances when she is ready instead of when a calendar says so, and her care is discussed only among people you have approved.
A careful, private assessment
Sleep, mood, safety, schooling and history covered in one unhurried conversation, so she recounts painful details only when she must.
Medical needs and reports first
Any recent exam or legally required report is finished before arrival, and admissions picks a start date that lets treatment begin calmly.
Therapy every weekday
Each weekday brings a session with her own licensed clinician; TF-CBT or EMDR begins after steadying skills take hold.
Skills for hard moments
Slow breathing, grounding and emotion-regulation drills daily, so a flashback or a surge of panic runs into a routine she already trusts.
Weekly sessions with family
Family therapy each week, easy to attend from Desert Hills, plus Saturday's parent group on what to do when triggers flare at home.
On-site psychiatric care
Medication for PTSD symptoms, poor sleep, anxiety or low mood is decided by an in-house prescriber, never without your consent.
School that keeps going
Monday to Friday, a certified teacher teaches for-credit classes, so school stays in motion during treatment.
Before she heads home
Tools for staying safe and coping, written down; outpatient trauma care arranged near Desert Hills; and a paced walk back into her own classroom.
- Close to home, private, and just for girls
Beyond the trauma
Mental health effects of sexual trauma in teen girls.
Sexual trauma seldom travels by itself. The NIMH adolescent survey places lifetime PTSD at 8.0% among girls 13 through 18, and a girl who has been harmed is more prone to low mood, panic, self-injury, restricted eating, or drinking and vaping as the months pass.
Nothing is farmed out. In Cave Creek, the same clinicians treat the trauma and the habits that formed to survive it, since panic, numbness or self-harm tend to loosen only after the memory beneath them has been worked through carefully, at a speed she can tolerate.
Why privacy matters after sexual trauma
Primary focus
Effects of sexual abuse and assault, including PTSD, in adolescent girls
Depression
Low mood and retreating after the abuse.
Anxiety & panic
Always scanning the room, panic, avoidance.
PTSD & trauma
Flashbacks, bad dreams and feeling shut off.
Eating disorders
Restricting food to regain a sense of control.
Substance use
Drinking, vaping or pills to mute memories.
Dual diagnosis
Alcohol or drug use layered on a psychiatric diagnosis.
Self-harm
Screened at intake for self-injury used to cope.
Safety firstSuicidal ideation
Evaluated first, before any other treatment.
Safety first- From nightmares to self-harm, every piece of her treatment stays with one team, one plan and one Cave Creek house.
The setting
The Cave Creek residence for sexual trauma treatment.
The residence is a genuine house on acreage in Cave Creek, under half an hour from Desert Hills yet removed enough that bumping into classmates or neighbors is unlikely. Only girls live there, each bedroom and bathroom belongs to the girls alone, overnight staff remain awake, and the whole home holds AZDHS licensure.
Take a self-guided 3D walkthrough of the home
Life inside
Structure and routine in residential care.
Memories tend to press hardest after dark, which is why evenings carry the most structure. Every adult answers her in one steady, unhurried way, and over the weeks her body starts to believe it no longer has to stay on guard.
- 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 sexual trauma.
Studies of children and teens harmed sexually favor TF-CBT more than any other method, and the World Health Organization lists EMDR among its recommended PTSD treatments. Living on site, she has support awake at 2 in the morning, when sleep breaks, rather than waiting for a weekly appointment.
Core therapies
- 1
Trauma-focused CBT (TF-CBT)
Skills arrive first; after that she slowly shapes her story into words, never faster than she can stay steady.
- 2
EMDR
Guided bilateral movement helps stuck memories settle so they stop hitting as hard. It begins once she feels stable.
- 3
Emotion-regulation and distress-tolerance skills
Grounding and calming skills rehearsed daily, so a trigger leads to a plan instead of shutting down or self-harm.
Supporting care, running alongside
Healthy relationships and body safety
Groups of a few girls work on boundaries, consent and trust, in a room where no one from home is listening.
consentprivate groupsFamily therapy and parent group
Family sessions weekly, simple to reach in person from Desert Hills, plus a parent group on Saturdays.
in person weeklyparent groupEquine, art and experiential
Friday equine time, together with art and music, gives her calm in her own body, no talking required.
Friday horsesart and music
Your teen's clinical team
Meet our licensed clinical team.
One primary therapist, licensed and trauma-trained, leads her care, backed by a psychiatric prescriber and a house team whose faces you will soon know. Each Arizona credential listed here is public, and we encourage you to verify 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
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
Our licensed counselor starts by hearing what you have observed, asks if she is out of danger today and whether whoever harmed her can still reach her, reviews symptoms, prior diagnoses and earlier treatment, and gives you a candid answer on whether a residential level fits.
- What to have ready: nothing. Just call, questions are welcome, and there is no obligation.
2
- Same day
- Free & confidential
Coverage check
With your go-ahead, we phone your insurer and translate the answers into plain figures: how much the policy contributes to a residential stay, our network standing, and your probable share. Trauma treatment is billed under mental-health coverage; we go through your policy's rules line by line.
- 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 covers only the parts of her history she is able to share, together with psychiatric background, prior care and present safety, and then advises on the level of treatment. An open case or medical need decides the timing; nobody hurries it.
- 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 coordinator handles her medical clearance, school paperwork, prescriptions and a list of what she may pack, screened for safety, and works with you to keep her whereabouts from people who have no business knowing them.
- 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
She is introduced to the adults caring for her, sees her bedroom and starts to know girls near her own age. Before you head back toward Desert Hills, the date of your first family update has been set.
- From here: predictable days, weekly updates, and a team your teen knows by name.
Coverage & cost
Using insurance for residential sexual trauma treatment
Nearly every major private insurer lists residential trauma care under behavioral-health benefits, and we work with most commercial carriers. We verify your daughter's coverage, network status included, free of charge and confidentially, typically inside a day, and tell you what your share may be before you decide anything.
- 1You send your plan detailsTwo required fields. Member ID optional. Takes about a minute.
- 2We verify with your insurer directlyIn-network or out-of-network, free and confidential, usually the same day.
- 3You get the number in plain EnglishYour exact out-of-pocket cost, explained before you commit to anything.
- Meritain
- UMR
- + more
Out-of-network or unsure about your plan? Call anyway, cost should never be the reason a teen doesn't get help.
- Free benefits check
Ask us what your policy covers for residential trauma treatment; the check is free, with no obligation.
After discharge
Aftercare planning for Desert Hills families.
Well before discharge, you sit with her team and sketch the next stage: PHP or IOP when appropriate, a trauma-savvy outpatient therapist plus prescriber within easy reach of Desert Hills, a written plan for staying safe and coping, and a stepped return to her classes worked out with Deer Valley Unified.
Answers
Sexual trauma treatment FAQs for Desert Hills families
What Desert Hills families most want to know about keeping their daughter's care close to home and out of public view.
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, and it is close. Desert Hills parents looking for sexual trauma care near me can turn to our Cave Creek house, where only girls ages 12 to 17 live, usually under half an hour east along Carefree Highway. Admissions: (480) 485-3424, every hour of every day.
It is a short run east on Carefree Highway, somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes. In-person family therapy every week is realistic, and visits by people on your approved list fit around school pickups and shifts with no overnight stay needed.
It is unlikely. The home sits outside her everyday circles, only girls in treatment live there, and visits are restricted to names you approve. We share her location with no one you have not cleared.
Many girls go quiet in mixed groups after being harmed. In the Cave Creek house, only girls share the bedrooms, bathrooms and groups, which often frees her to speak about boundaries and her body once she chooses to.
Care & cost
Nothing is forced. Early weeks center on steadiness and coping tools, and every choice about telling (whether, when, how much) belongs to her. Trauma work follows her lead, even if that takes a while.
Hospitals, advocacy centers or law enforcement complete the medical exam, any legally required report and any forensic interview first. Admissions schedules her arrival after those steps, and our clinicians, as mandated reporters, describe their role openly.
We accept most major private insurance. Insurers group trauma treatment with mental-health coverage, and the benefits check is free and confidential, often wrapping up the same day, so network standing and probable costs are clear early.
Plan on a month or more; stays are set around 30 days or longer and then adjusted to clinical progress like calmer nights and fewer flashbacks. By discharge, step-down care if suitable, plus a trauma-experienced therapist and prescriber close to Desert Hills, are already booked.
A certified teacher holds classes for credit every weekday. As discharge nears, the team and Deer Valley Unified set up a gradual return, so she is not dropped back into a full schedule overnight.
Licensing & privacy
Its state license comes from AZDHS for behavioral-health residential care, its accreditation from The Joint Commission, and its certification from LegitScript. Each can be checked independently.
Only people you authorize. HIPAA protects her records, except where the law obliges a report to keep a child safe. Calls and visits stick to your approved list, and her location stays private.
Through family therapy every week and a Saturday parents' group, where you practice steady responses to triggers and small ways to rebuild trust. Her primary therapist keeps you updated between sessions.
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.
What the numbers show
Research on sexual trauma in teen girls
The CDC estimates that roughly a quarter of American girls endure sexual abuse before adulthood, and a lot of them keep quiet about it. Every figure names its source.
18%
of high school girls in America reported experiencing sexual violence over the prior 12 months (CDC YRBS, 2021).
14%
of American high school girls reported being physically forced into sex on one or more occasions (CDC YRBS, 2021).
8.0%
of girls aged 13 through 18 nationwide carry a lifetime history of PTSD (NIMH, NCS-A).
1 in 4
Arizona adolescents who needed care for mental health said reaching it was impossible or very difficult (AZDHS, 2026).
Since a great deal of this goes unspoken, a shift in how she sleeps, eats or treats her friends deserves a quiet, private talk.
When one in four Arizona adolescents cannot readily get care, a residential option less than half an hour from Desert Hills can spare a family a long wait for an outpatient slot.
Group home alternatives for teen girls
Homelike in feel, clinical in practice.
Researching group homes because your daughter has been sexually abused or assaulted? Our Cave Creek house admits only girls, sits under half an hour from Desert Hills by Carefree Highway, and is licensed by AZDHS to provide residential behavioral-health treatment, so therapy, classes and everyday life happen in one protected place.
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 listed below has families whose daughters stay with us in Cave Creek. We help plan the travel, and parents come to family sessions each week in person or join through secure video.
Across Arizona
Residential sexual trauma care within reach of Desert Hills.
Carefree Highway runs from Desert Hills over to Cave Creek, usually a 20-to-30-minute trip heading east: near enough for a weeknight session with her therapist, removed enough from her usual circles. Relatives traveling from farther off can land at Phoenix Sky Harbor. Admissions never closes.
A short trip east
From Desert Hills, Carefree Highway carries you east to Cave Creek within 20 to 30 minutes, so a weekly session or Saturday visit slots into an ordinary day, while the house stays well outside her usual neighborhood.
Weekly sessions, in person
Most Desert Hills parents are able to attend weekly family therapy in person; on weeks when a shift or a sibling's game interferes, a secure video link takes its place.
Care lined up for her return
Before discharge she has step-down care through PHP or IOP when suitable, outpatient therapy with a trauma specialist near Desert Hills, and a slow, planned school return alongside Deer Valley Unified.
Nexus Teen Academy, Cave Creek · girls’ residence
Admissions 24/7
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Distance from Desert Hills to the Cave Creek residence
Carefree Hwy east, roughly 20-30 min
Saddle Mountain Rd, 85331 · 20 min north
Also near Anthem, New River and Cave Creek
Travel, telehealth & aftercare
Every Nexus program, statewide
Teen treatment programs by condition.
Our clinicians work as one team across a broad set of conditions statewide. Begin with the concern nearest your daughter's, then open the page written for families where you live.
Nexus Teen Academy is a licensed residential treatment provider for adolescents 12 to 17, working with sexual trauma, depression, trauma and PTSD, anxiety, suicidal ideation, self-harm, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, ADHD, and substance use. Girls here for sexual trauma reside in a Cave Creek house reserved for girls, and Desert Hills families, like others across the north Valley, receive directions, travel help, and secure video for family therapy when the drive doesn't fit.
Depression care, statewide
Sexual trauma care in other Arizona cities
Girls come to our one Cave Creek house from every city here. Families receive help with the drive, a home safety plan, a return to classes through their own district, and answers to local questions.
Other conditions we treat for teens
Pick a condition to open its statewide guide; nearby city pages add the details local families ask about.
Talk it through with a counselor
Tell an admissions counselor what you are seeing at home, and they will say plainly which program fits.
Girls-only programs
Treated only at the Cave Creek girls residence
Five programs for teen girls, each with an Arizona guide and a page for families from each nearby city.
Co-occurring mental health and substance use
Eating disorders in teen girls
Sexual trauma in teen girls
Severe mood swings in teen girls
Don't see your town? We admit girls from every region of Arizona and beyond its borders. Phone (480) 485-3424 for directions to Cave Creek and a step-by-step admission rundown.