L'Oreal Finalist Helps Women In Pinellas Jail Create Good Change

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Barbara Rhode, a local marriage and family therapist who helps women in jail learn to manage their emotions through her non-profit organization, the Red Tent Women's Initiative, is a national finalist for L'Oreal Paris Women Of Worth.

The program founded by Rhode and based in St. Petersburg helps incarcerated women in the Pinellas County Jail turn negative coping skills, such as relying on drugs and alcohol to numb lingering pain caused by sexual assault or other trauma, into positive behavior.

"Most of them never connected the dots about the trauma and how to cope," Rhode told Patch. "They want to learn how to process these traumas and develop healthy responses."

The program was founded in 2012 and has treated about 950 women, according to Rhode.

Women registered in the program take part in the class three days a week. They learn habits and skills like mindfulness meditation, sewing, seated yoga, and they develop mental tools taught by certified professionals in the mental health field.

Board member Meg Hogan teaches the heart mask method, which shows women ways to feel and recognize unwanted emotions and how to process through them.

If Rhode wins the L’Oréal Paris Women of Worth National Honoree, she will receive $25,000 that will create a second class at the Pinellas County Jail. They've had a waiting list for eight years.

"When I first reached out to the jail, they told me that women incarcerated wouldn't come because they are so depressed while they are in jail," Rhode said. "These are hard times for them emotionally. But once we started the class, women started showing up, and they'd go back to their pods and tell the other women that they have to do this."

A spark of inspiration to create the Red Tent happened many years ago when Rhode was contracted through a local corrections agency with Goodwill to help the staff manage women inmates because they lacked experience only having dealt with men inmates prior.

"I stayed on contract with them for five years, and I learned so much through mental health assessments," Rhode said. "Unresolved trauma is usually why women use drugs and turn to criminal activity. I saw that we weren't treating the women for their mental health symptoms, and we're not treating the children for separation anxiety from their mothers but re-traumatizing the moms and their children."

According to Rhode, the recidivism rate in Pinellas County is 45 percent, but 76 percent of women who go through the program don't return to jail. And the ones who do don't return quickly. Women are allowed to return to the program if they were unable to connect the dots the first time about traumas that have caused criminal behavior.

"The roadblocks we put up for former inmates is terrible," Rhode said. "A lot of landlords won't rent to them if they know they've been incarcerated. It's hard for them to get jobs. And we wonder why people relapse and go back to jail?”

On Wednesday, Nov. 25, at 8 p.m., Rhode will be on NBC along with the other national finalists discussing the work they do and why each is best fit to hold the national title.

You can cast your vote for Rhode until Nov. 27 at Meet Our Women Of Worth.