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From Monitoring to Mentorship: The Evolving Role of Inspections in Peer-Led Rehabilitation

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By Nada India
Nada India highlights the ARPAN Project’s peer-led approach to addiction recovery, focusing on dignity, lived experience, and community care.
The blog urges a shift from punitive inspections to collaborative learning, where peer educators and recovering individuals play a transformative role in building humane, evidence-based treatment systems.

The journey of peer-led rehabilitation in India has taken a long road—from closed-door centers to heart-driven, community-owned healing spaces. At the core of this change lies

ARPAN, a Nada India-supported initiative that champions peer-led drug rehabilitation centers guided by lived experience, compassion, and evidence-based practices.
One of the biggest milestones in this journey has been the shift in how monitoring and inspections are conducted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE) and its supporting units like the Project Management Unit (PMU) and the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD).

🌱 From Closed Doors to Open Dialogue

In past decades, inspections often felt punitive—focused on checking files rather than understanding lives. As noted in a tragic incident reported from a private rehab center near Bengaluru, outdated and inhumane practices still haunt some facilities. These reinforce the urgent need for community ownership and dignity in addiction treatment.

Nada India, through the ARPAN Project, assists peer-led centers in building standards of care, aligning with MSJE guidelines while keeping the voices of people with addiction at the forefront. The Haryana NGO Network for Peer-led Drug and Alcohol Prevention, born from ARPAN, exemplifies this model of mutual learning and community resilience.

🔄 Inspections as Two-Way Learning

Recently, a heartening example of change came from the inspection of Muskan Foundation a Nada Network for NCDs Prevention and Control member   in Delhi by a young, energetic team from MSJE’s PMU. What stood out was not just their professionalism but their openness to learning from peer educators, reviewing documents without intimidation, and showing genuine appreciation for the team’s efforts. It was a far cry from earlier times.

In contrast to the encouraging and appreciative inspection experience reported by Muskan Foundation managed by Dr.Bharat Bhushan in Delhi, Mr. Karamveer—a person with lived experience, patient champion, and alumnus of a UNODC-supported certification course—shared a different reality from Sonipat, Haryana. With over three decades in recovery, he recalls that past inspections were often fear-inducing and intimidating for both staff and patients.

Although his peer-led center now receives regular visits from district medical, social welfare, police, and SDM officials, the approach can still feel procedural and lacks the sensitivity seen at Muskan. While there is some progress in understanding, the intimidation and discomfort among patients during inspections remain a challenge, underscoring the need for more dignity-driven and participatory monitoring practices across all rehabilitation centers.

💬 A Note from the Field

Back in 1998–99, MSJE had envisioned internal learning through leadership-based reviews of rehab centers. Mr. Suneel Vatsyayan, then Director of Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation, was one of six leaders chosen across India to inspect and recommend improvements. While well-intentioned, the suggestion was respectfully deferred in favor of independent peer review—a practice we now see gaining ground in ARPAN and NISD-supported spaces.

❤️ "What Comes from the Heart, Goes to the Heart"

In every safe space we create, every peer educator we empower, and every policy we humanize, we bring healing closer to those who need it most. Inspections, when done with compassion and curiosity, become tools for trust, not just compliance.

Nada India will continue to voice for mutual learning, dignity-based care, and the central role of lived experience in driving services that don't just meet market demand, but meet people where they are—with heart.

🔗 Learn more:
👉 Watch the Video
👉 ARPAN Project Blog
👉 Peer-Led Therapeutic Communities Report (ISSUU)

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