Is your teenager showing signs of substance use? Ember is here to help.
Ember Recovery is YSS's inpatient addiction treatment program for youth (ages 12-18). The individualized, evidence-based treatment is located in welcoming residential environment. Find information about our program for young adult males (ages 18-24) here.

Healing Starts with Hope
Why choose Ember Recovery?
- Adolescents only - Our program caters to youth (ages 12-18), so they can develop age-appropriate relapse prevention strategies.
- Gender responsive - Gender-specific treatment helps youth develop coping skills and build healthy relationships.
- Continuing education - Youth continue their education while in treatment and, in many cases, are able to catch up on high school credits they previously missed.
- Home-like atmosphere - Set in residential houses, the program offers an environment that is warm and welcoming.
- Family involvement - We are a licensed provider of the Strengthening Families Program and provide family weekends and family therapy.
About Us
Home Away From Home
Set in traditional homes, Ember’s environment is inviting and comfortable. Both our boys and girls locations are modified to suit teen group living.
Our homes offer inclusive treatment for LGBTQIA+ teens, and we approach each person individually—placing them in the environment where they feel most comfortable.
Our Staff, Your Advocates
Our counselors are highly trained to help build coping skills, educate on substance abuse and motivate youth to be successful in their journey toward sobriety.
Each individual client’s progress is reviewed by the treatment team during a weekly supervision.
Continuing Education
Our adolescent drug treatment center offers programs for students to continue schoolwork within a local Iowa school district.
Our facility works with tutors or state-certified teachers to help students with classwork, homework, and preparation for the SAT or ACT.
Ember staff work with the teen’s home school to ensure a smooth transition back once treatment is complete.
We also integrate physical activity along with musical and artistic experiential learning into our programs during treatment.

Our Treatment
The comprehensive treatment at Ember Recovery address adolescent substance use as well as mental health conditions. Our therapies are tailored to the goals and circumstances of teens to help with their unique struggles—including peer pressure, academic stress, and social challenges—that may contribute to unhealthy thoughts or behaviors.
Therapies
Ember Recovery believes in treating the whole self. Our treatment addresses addiction, trauma, grief, loss, or other challenges to health and well-being—all in an environment focused on recovery.
We offer a variety of drug and alcohol recovery programs and mental health therapies to address the needs of teens.
Focused and intensive, our specialized therapies help teens in need of guidance in understanding the consequences of addiction and finding a path to healing.
During residential addiction treatment, we also may integrate the following therapies, depending on the teen's needs:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Systems Training for Emotional Predictability and Problem Solving (STEPPS)
- Trauma Therapy
- Individual Therapy
- Multidimensional family therapy (MDFT)
- Group Therapy
A Lifetime of Support for a Lifetime of Recovery
Achieving sobriety is a huge accomplishment, but the work doesn’t end there. We help each youth transition back to their home communities and continue on a positive path of sobriety.

Riley's Story
At 16, Riley was heading down a bad path—smoking weed, and hanging out with older friends. But it wasn’t until she was facing a felony charge that she knew she needed help.
Riley came to Ember Recovery and learned to focus on her well-being. She explored hobbies such as painting and reading, in addition to benefiting from individual and group therapy.
“I learned a lot. Day in and day out, all you do is work on yourself,” Riley says. “Plus, I loved bonding with the girls and staff. When I graduated, I didn’t want to leave because they were like my family.”
Today, Riley lives in Florida with her own apartment and a job she loves. Nearly three years clean, she credits Ember Recovery with changing the direction of her life. “Ember Recovery helped me so much," Riley says. "I’ll always remember it.”
Our Approach
Gender Responsiveness
Our separate homes for boys and girls creates a comfortable and safe environment for successful treatment. We have found—and the research agrees—that a gender-responsive program is most effective at treating addiction and any underlying mental health issues.
We also understand that not every teen will feel comfortable residing with peers of the gender they were assigned at birth. Ember is an inclusive provider and will work with families to determine the best fit for each individual.
Strengthening Families
The Strengthening Families Program (SFP) at Ember Recovery brings families together with their teenager to address problematic behaviors. SFP uses bonding, boundaries, and monitoring strategies to create happy homes.
Ember Recovery offers SFP weekends four times a year. Parents, caregivers, and even siblings are invited to Ember for a weekend of training, engaging activities, shared meals, and more.
Get Started
To learn more and begin the admissions process, call us at (515) 393-4060 or visit emberrecovery.org.