As a former at-risk foster kid, Shipp found it difficult to trust adults: "The way I defined trustworthiness was: are you gonna not give up on me when I show you what I'm capable of? When I show you all my ugliness and all of my past and everything you didn't cause, but now you're gonna be dealing with…can you handle all of that?"

Josh Shipp wants to pass that experience on to as many others as he can, so those adults can care for the kids in the way he needed: "Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story."

This week, we talk to Josh Shipp about how growing up in foster homes and being a counterphobic six has impacted his current work as a global youth empowerment expert.

Josh Shipp is an author & youth advocate, and television producer of a documentary TV series on A&E that follows his groundbreaking work with youth and families.

He has written two national bestsellers, "The Grown-Up's Guide to Teenage Humans," winner of the Nautilus Gold Award for Parenting & Family – and "The Teen's Guide to World Domination.

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