MTV to premiere series featuring North Shore teens battling addiction

BEVERLY, Mass. — The journey of nine Massachusetts teenagers battling addiction will reach viewers across the nation in a new MTV series premiering Tuesday night.

The four-part documentary series ’16 and Recovering’ will air on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. through the month of September.

It features the triumphs and tragedies captured at Northshore Recovery High School in Beverly over the course of an entire year.

The school’s principal told Boston 25 News it was one of her hardest years in education.

“Not only did we lose one of our current students. We also lost former students throughout the year,” said Northshore Recovery High School principal Michelle Lipinski. “We had seriously attended a funeral every month.”

Michelle Lipinski said when she and her students decided to film during the 2017-2018 school year, they figured it would be a small documentary.

She said no one imagined it would air on a national platform like MTV.

MTV to premiere series featuring North Shore teens battling addiction The journey of nine Massachusetts teenagers battling addiction will reach viewers across the nation in a new MTV series premiering Tuesday night.

“The reason I did it was because I felt like the message wasn’t getting out there. A lot of documentaries that I had seen were very dark and very depressing and didn’t show the beauty of recovery,” explained Lipinski.

Lipinski, who started the program in 2006, said three of the students featured in the series just graduated in June.

“We don’t hold grudges. We don’t hold their past against them,” she said. “There’s so many things happening in the adolescent brain. If we treat them differently, I think we have a really good chance at solving this.”

Steve Liss, director and executive producer of ’16 and Recovering’, told Boston 25 News he was moved by this particular school’s unique approach.

“It’s one of the very few in the United States,” said Steve Liss. “In some ways, I think the school has offered a last best hope for young people struggling.”

Liss said he hopes the in-depth footage following nine very different stories will help break down stereotypes.

“A lot of the young people come from families where there is a great deal of love and parents are at their wits end,” added Liss. “This disease, it affects children from affluent backgrounds. It affects children from impoverished backgrounds.”

In addition to the series, MTV is launching 16andrecovering.com to provide resources and to open the door to conversations about adolescent addiction.

Cox Media Group