After a very long year with my 15 year old, we are in crisis. Our story started last year when he began 8th grade and hit the ADD academic wall. His inability to follow along in the classromm lead to behavior issues at school. As I followed up with teachers and tried to create structure at home to support doing school work, he became angry and defiant, screaming at me, throwing things, etc. We started family and individual counseling for him at this time, but he continued to struggle. In the summer between 8th and 9th grade, the pot smoking started. By the time school started, it was regular. 9th grade was a disaster from the start. His pot smoking continued, be began experimenting with other drugs as well. In March, he was expelled when he was caught with pot at school. We had the good fortune of getting him into a boarding school with a very supportive academic program and a substance abuse program that uses testing and education to help kids that are struggling. He did great for the first 5 weeks, before he found the substances there, got caught and was given "medical leave". The deal was if he attend Wilderness Therapy over the summer, he can come back in Sept. During Wilderness, we seemed to embrace the substance abuse program, but struggled to achieve behavioral growth due to his impulsivity and challenging their requirements at times. Somewhere along the way, he decided since it is taking him so long to advance through their levels, he is no longer willing to go to a boarding school. As we present our plan for him to return to the previous school, he say no way, he is coming home and will not go there. When we tell him that's not an option and we will have to go for Therapeutic Boarding School (which would put our family in financial duress) he says if we try that he may have to kill himself because he would rather die. He also says that if we send him anywhere he is going Occupational Therapist (OT) be so bored that he will have to do drugs. I had a long talk with an educational consultant today who suggested that maybe trying to bring him home, with a private school setting, individual and family counseling and a firm behavior contract would be best due to how much he is opposed to anything else. He also said that there are no guarentees with those schools and they are very expensive. I am distraught and totally at a loss. I would love to hear all advice, especially from anyone who has been through the therapeutic boarding school option.