Drug Rehabilitation Education & Mentoring (DREAM)
DREAM is a rights-based initiative from BREADS that empowers lakhs of children and youth to
dream beyond drugs. It aims to prevent substance use and other addictions among school and
college students through awareness creation, counselling and deaddiction services across 10
districts in Kerala: Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Alappuzha,
Kozhikode, Kannur, Wayanad and Kasaragod. The programme collaborates closely with the
Government departments and the local communities for more effective intervention.
DREAM addressed escalating challenges of substance use and addictions among children and
youth through a multi-pronged strategy encompassing prevention, counselling, rehabilitation,
capacity building and intersectoral collaboration with multiple stakeholders, especially the
Kerala government.
In its first phase of operation from November 2021 to April 2025, DREAM reached over
405,977 school students and 94,620 college youth through awareness programmes, training
3,055 student leaders as peer influencers. The initiative trained 3,876 teachers, 300,562 parents
and 681 volunteers to prevent addiction in their local spheres of influence. Advocacy in the ten
districts took the campaign against drug abuse to over 88,231 people. DREAM offered
mentoring services to 57,940 children and youth. DREAM’s de-addiction and rehabilitation
centre exclusively for boys under 18 years, Don Bosco Sadan in Monvila, Thiruvananthapuram,
successfully treated 207 boys for addictions during the first phase.
