By Nathan Carrick
Gazette Staff Writer
Thursday, August 28, 2008

There was a time not long ago when Devon Teabout didn't want to do anything: He didn't want to live, and he didn't want to die.

He had ulcers from stress and pent-up anger by the time he was 19. He hadn't seen his mother in six years. He led an unguided life, which led to a crime that landed him in prison. It is something he no longer wants to discuss.

On June 5, 2006, a judge ordered him to the Ridge School of Montgomery County, part of Potomac Ridge Behavioral Health in Rockville, where he would spend the next 1 1/2 years.

Now the 20-year-old lives in Silver Spring, works the third shift at United Parcel Service to pay for college and his new car and dreams of being an FBI homicide investigator.

"If I hadn't gone through the program, I'd most likely be in jail or on the streets with no goals set for life or anything like that," Teabout said. "My decision-making was kind of off."

At the Ridge School, he and the other teenagers settled into a routine that included school, free time, meals, counseling and not much else. Some students resented the confinement and wanted to get out. Their strategy was what Teabout described as "fake it to make it."

"I first started off faking it because I was just trying to get out of here," he said. "But eventually it was like, no, I don't want the same lifestyle. I was confused. Didn't know if I wanted to go to school, didn't even know if I wanted to live anymore. I was just confused at life in general."

At times, Teabout said, the only person he felt safe talking to was a social worker who helped him find his mother and grandmother, who, he learned, were both terminally ill.

"At that time, I was on the verge of my transformation. I realized that these two very important people in my life were ill and close to death," he said. "So that was a very emotional time for me and, to be honest, I don't think I've quite gotten over that. It was a struggle to overcome knowing these things and not being able to see them like I wanted."

Teabout's mother died just before Christmas. Her funeral was Christmas Eve. He said he remembers the time as a turning point, a period of mourning during which he began to understand that people were concerned about his well-being.

"I saw Mom a week before she died," Teabout said.

A social worker and teachers formed a cocoon around him, Teabout said. And that is when he stopped faking it.

Lisa Nelson, a teacher at the Ridge School, said Teabout's experience isn't unusual, but what helps him is his ability to be honest with himself.

"Quite a lot of [students] have trouble verbalizing their emotions," she said. "For Devon, that change came when his mom passed. You have to remember, these kids missed huge chunks of their early childhood programming."

About 130 students attend the Ridge School, with six to eight students in each class. The intimate setting is vital for teachers to connect with students, Nelson said.

Teabout graduated from the program late last year. From there, he went to Montgomery College, where he completed a year of general studies at the Rockville campus and then transferred to Tesst College of Technology in Beltsville, where he is studying criminal justice.

"I've always been a 'CSI' and 'First 48' fanatic," he said, referring to the television shows. "I want to be a homicide investigator."

His schedule is almost as regimented as it was at the Ridge School, Teabout said. He works from 9 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., goes to school from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., rests at home until 6 p.m., and then starts getting ready for work. He works Sunday through Thursday.

He sums up his experience at the Ridge School as "time well spent." While there, he said, "it's like I went from being a 5-year-old to a 20-year-old."

For kids who could be heading in the same direction he took, Teabout has this advice: "I would not say it's not hard. It's most definitely very, very hard. Whatever got you here, you're still human.

"There are certain things that you have to do but don't want to," he said. "But in the end, the outcome will be good if you allow it to. You've got to accept hope and want to help yourself."