Partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters, Lifetime Television Launches New Unscripted Series, Teen Trouble

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The all-new gritty unscripted series, Teen Trouble, premiers December 28 on Lifetime, with a national campaign to support Big Brothers Big Sisters, a program proven to change the odds for youth who face adversity.  Behavior specialist and Teen Trouble host Josh Shipp is a former "Little Brother" who credits his mentor, Gary, for helping him through his troubled teen years, which were scarred by childhood abandonment, addiction, abuse and depression.

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The gripping hour-long series, which premiers Friday, December 28, at 10 PM ET/PT, follows Shipp as he embeds himself into the hidden lives of teens on dangerous, self-destructive paths -- drug and alcohol abuse, stealing from their families, and breaking the law.  He helps desperate parents while confronting their out-of-control teens with what their future holds if they don't change —jail time, sleeping in a morgue and on the street with prostitutes, and stories just like their own that end in death.  Shipp delivers positively reinforcing action plans and introduces troubled teens and their parents to others who've successfully overcome similar challenges.  

A Lifetime Twitter promotion will encourage fans to become Big Brothers Big Sisters donors.  For every @BBBSA RT of @LifetimeTV #TeenTrouble premieres 12/28, Lifetime will donate $1 (up to $15,000) to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.  Lifetime has also produced public service announcements (PSAs) featuring Shipp that aim to help Big Brothers Big Sisters raise funds to carefully make and maintain meaningful mentoring matches; recruit more mentors, and encourage program alumni like Shipp to reconnect with the organization to help kids avoid teen trouble.  The PSAs will run on Lifetime through the series run.

"Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story," Shipp said.

On January 22 in Washington, DC, Lifetime will sponsor a VIP pre-event reception for Big Brothers Big Sisters' first national Juvenile Justice Forum (January 23), Mentoring Partners in Action: Successful Children and Safer Communities. Honoring program alumni, the reception will feature an exclusive announcement from special guest Grammy Award Winning artist EVE, and debut her soon-to-be released single, "Make it Out this Town."  The overcoming-the-odds anthem will become part of Eve's fundraising efforts to support Big Brothers Big Sisters' work. 

During the VIP event, Miss America 2012 Laura Kaeppeler, whose platform is Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents, and another former Little Brother, two-time Super Bowl Champion Darrin Smith, MBA, will preview the forum, where they will serve as hosts.  Big Brothers Big Sisters' Mentoring Partners in Action: Successful Children and Safer Communities forum comes on the eve of MENTOR's national two-day 2012 summit, Mentoring Works: Inspire Achieve Advocate.  This first-time National Juvenile Justice Mentoring forum will focus on how mentoring can help children like those featured in Teen Trouble --  youth who are at high-risk of delinquency because they have been incarcerated, are in foster care, or are truant/chronically absent.

 About Josh Shipp

Teen behavior specialist Josh Shipp helps adults understand teens and teens understand themselves. Abandoned at birth and thrown into many different foster homes, Shipp had a traumatic childhood. He was abused, addicted and suicidal, and knows what it means to be a teen in trouble.  Thanks to his Big Brother in Big Brothers Big Sisters and other caring adults, Shipp was able to overcome the most severe hardships and become a beacon for families in crisis. His work over the last decade has earned Shipp an international reputation as the "go to guy" when families need help. When teens are out of control and parents are out of options, he gets the call. Shipp, author of The Teen's Guide to World Domination (St. Martins Press), was featured on INC. magazine's "30 Under 30" list in 2009 and named a "Young Person Who Rocks" by CNN. He has a broad network of parents, educators and mental health professionals he can call upon for additional expertise. Shipp, himself, has lectured at elite universities, such as Harvard and Stanford, on the psychology of getting through to adolescents and has influenced countless teenagers through his work. Shipp is a frequent contributor for MTV, CNN, FOX, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, MSNBC and numerous other media outlets.

ABOUT LIFETIME

Lifetime Television is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families.  In the Third Quarter 2012, the network posted major growth in viewership versus Third Quarter 2011, including a 14% increase among Women 18-49, +9% in Women 25-54 and +5% among Adults 18-49, marking the third straight quarter Lifetime has registered year-on-year growth among the key demographics.  Lifetime Television®, LMN®, Lifetime Real Women® and Lifetime Digital™ are part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, LLC, a subsidiary of A+E Networks.  A+E Networks is a joint venture of the Disney-ABC Television Group and Hearst Corporation.

About Big Brothers Big Sisters
Big Brothers Big Sisters, the nation's largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, holds itself accountable for children in its program to achieve measurable outcomes, such as educational success; avoidance of risky behaviors; and higher aspirations, greater confidence and better relationships.  Partnering with parents/guardians, schools, corporations and others in the community, Big Brothers Big Sisters carefully pairs children ("Littles") with screened volunteer mentors ("Bigs") and monitors and supports these one-to-one mentoring matches throughout their course.  The first-ever Big Brothers Big Sisters Youth Outcomes Summary, released in 2012, substantiates that its mentoring programs have proven, positive academic, socio-emotional and behavioral outcomes for youth, areas linked to high school graduation, avoidance of juvenile delinquency and college or job readiness.

Big Brothers Big Sisters provides children facing adversity, often those of single or low-income households or families where a parent is incarcerated or serving in the military, with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one mentoring relationships that change their lives for the better, forever.  This mission has been the cornerstone of the organization's 100-year history.  With about 350 agencies across the country, Big Brothers Big Sisters serves nearly 630,000 children, volunteers and families. The organization is engaged in a nationwide search to reunite with alumni mentors, mentees, donors, and family, staff and board members.  Learn more at BigBrothersBigSisters.org.

SOURCE Big Brothers Big Sisters