The Social Intervention Group (SIG)

The Social Intervention Group recently published a new study in Social Science & Medicine, which is among the first to examine the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ individuals with diverse gender expressions at a national scale in China. The study examined the associations between gender nonconformity and victimization attributed to sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression (SOGIE), including discrimination, violence, and barriers to accessing public services in seven different social contexts.

Key findings included that higher levels of gender nonconformity were significantly associated with greater risk of victimization and gender nonconformity showed significantly positive associations with barriers when accessing public restrooms and bathing facilities.

Read more: https://sig.columbia.edu/news/sig-publishes-landmark-nationwide-study-victimization-lgbtq-individuals-diverse-gender

At this year's Beyond the Bars conference, hosted by Center for Justice at Columbia University, participants were given space to think about the roots that already exist that they can rely on and where they can plant roots to ground themselves and their communities during rising authoritarianism.

Relive the weekend of celebration, solidarity, skill-building, and resistance to the expansion of criminalization: https://centerforjustice.columbia.edu/news/beyond-bars-conference-2026-recap

In two new papers, findings from the JasSpark study in Kazakhstan show the potential for using crowdsourced material to allow adolescents to frame HIV stigma in their own words, and how sexual and gender minority stigma shapes perception of barriers to HIV testing. Read more: https://sig.columbia.edu/news/two-new-jasspark-papers-examine-perceptions-hiv-stigma-among-youth-kazakhstan

A new report from the Center for Justice at Columbia University, "Ending Endless Punishment," calls on New York to pass the Second Look Act. Co-authored by a man who returned to society two years ago after spending more than 24 years in prison, the report makes a comprehensive case that New York should review sentences handed down decades ago, often during periods of punitive excess, racialized enforcement, and political fear. https://centerforjustice.columbia.edu/news/new-report-ending-endless-punishment-calls-new-york-pass-second-look-act

Dr. Nabila El-Bassel joined the Journal of Addiction Medicine's Beyond the Abstract podcast to discuss artificial intelligence and stigma in addition research. Listen now: https://journal.podbean.com/e/artificial-intelligence-and-stigma-in-addiction-research-insights-from-the-healing-communities-study-coalition-meetings/

On Thursday, April 30, join CHOSEN for Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies for SUD: A Contextual Overview. Jae Sevelius, PhD, and Heidi Allen, MSW, PhD, will discuss psychedelic-assisted therapies as a promising new approach to treating substance use disorders. They'll provided an overview of current regulatory landscape, commonly studied psychedelic compounds, and the rationale for their use in SUD treatment, with attention to proposed mechanisms of action including shifts in narrative and sense of self.

Zoom link provided by email after registration. Register: sig.columbia.edu/Psychedelics

In a new review of existing research on intimate partner violence in the Caribbean and among Caribbean diaspora women, a SIG-led research team found that while it remains a critical public health issue, the evidence base needed to drive effective policy and intervention is strikingly thin. The review also sheds light on the compounded vulnerabilities facing immigrant survivors of intimate partner violence, particularly women from English-speaking Caribbean communities in the United States, who face significant social and systemic barriers including racism, xenophobia, lack of culturally relevant services, and fear of immigration consequences.

Read more about the findings: https://bit.ly/4sHhz9n

Ukrainian NGO Club Eney won Council of Europe Development Bank's 2026 Award for Social Cohesion for their implementation of WINGS. WINGS-Ukraine, which was established in 2018, supports women facing violence, exclusion, poverty, and substance abuse in the context of war across 16 regions of Ukraine. Congratulations to Club Eney! https://bit.ly/4lSfdlk

Watch Club Eney accept the award: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAgdOyhHwb8

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CEB Award for Social Cohesion 2026 In line with its mandate, the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) launched an annual competition to acknowledge and reward remarkable contributions to s...

In a new column for the Columbia Spectator, Dr. Nabila El-Bassel discusses the importance of employing best practices for AI for social good when AI is used in the classroom. https://bit.ly/46h3eqR

Discourse and Debate: We need to rethink AI for social good and society at Columbia When the launch of ChatGPT in 2022 made generative artificial intelligence widely available, the value and purpose of education were thrown into question. Since then, academic institutions have increasingly moved to

📢 New paper: SIG Director Nabila El-Bassel and UCLA professor Steve Shoptaw report that among people who inject drugs but are not in treatment, fentanyl exposure is nearly universal across five major U.S. cities, while xylazine and stimulant exposures vary sharply by location and, in some settings, are rising over time. In “Prevalence of Illicit Drug Detection in 5 US Cities Among Out-of-Treatment People Who Inject Drugs,” published in JAMA Network Open, they share research on drug use patterns in New York City, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., produced in collaboration with researchers across five universities and the HIV Prevention Trials Network.

“Across all five cities, fentanyl exposure was nearly universal and polysubstance exposure was the rule, not the exception,” said Dr. El-Bassel. “But what’s equally important is that xylazine and stimulants were not showing up everywhere in the same way. In some cities, xylazine is essentially saturating the drug supply, while in others it remains far less common. That geographic contrast is a public health signal and it tells us we need real-time, local drug supply surveillance and rapid, tailored harm-reduction and treatment responses that reach people who are not currently engaged in care.”

Read more: https://bit.ly/3OgnYc8