Jazzmine Brooks, a violence prevention and Green Dot coordinator, will be speaking at this week’s Margaret Sloss Center’s Feminist Friday. The title of her discussion is “Womxn and Wellness: Navigating Health Services from an Intersectional Lens.”

Brooks will speak on her experiences at Iowa State working in student wellness, as well as her own personal experiences as a woman of color with a passion for women’s healthcare. Brooks said she hopes to address common issues posed to women who are seeking healthcare, specifically trans women and women of color.

“For example, what does it mean to go to counseling and look for a counselor?” Brooks said. “Maybe I’m a survivor, and I’m Latinx, and I live in a rural community. We all know that there may not be a lot of folks who identify with me on either aspect of that identity.” 

With her discussion, Brooks said she hopes to reach not only students but potentially healthcare providers themselves, as well as students who are planning on going into the field of healthcare.

“As a survivor, it’s hard for me because I have a distrust for healthcare in general, so I want to bring up ways that people can navigate these things,” Brooks said. “But also for folks who are providing health services, if they are in the room, how they can start thinking about how they’re providing care.”

Green Dot is Iowa State’s violence prevention program, designed to engage students in becoming active bystanders.

As a Green Dot coordinator, Brooks is responsible for providing trainings, facilitating engagement strategies and holding programs to reach members of the Iowa State community. In addition to that, she has facilitated events for the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center.

“[I’m] one of the few self-identifying women in the office of Student Wellness, and I just have a very close regard [for] us and our experience. […] I want to connect marginalized communities in general to better health and wellness care,” Brooks said.

Brooks will be speaking in the Margaret Sloss Women’s Center at 1 p.m. on Friday.