welcome to pc, his girl! i'm so glad you found us.
i am bipolar and i hope i can help in some small way. the site has many resources for you on bipolar. also many bipolars resist taking their meds in a regular fashion and of course this only brings on more episodes, in my humble opinion (IMHO).
does you bf have a therapist (T)? if so, encourage him to talk about this with his T. perhaps the T can explain this process to him and then he may be able to do as suggested. my T asked me to promise i would take my meds. if i decided to go off them he asked i call him first. that worked for me cause one, i keep a promise and i think my T knew this and two, agreeing to call him first helped me know maybe my thinking wasn't clear.
you mentioned the bf abused alcohol. does he still drink? if he does, it will muddle his bipolar mind and counteract what the meds are supposed to do.
i know this isn't all the suggestions that will help but i'm sure others will respond to you too. i've been stable with my bipolar for over 10 years. i contribute this to my meds and my therapy.