Pinterest and Mental Health Day: Introducing Havens, search trends, community giving and more
October 5, 2021
At Pinterest, we’re on a mission to help people create a life they love —a mission that is perhaps most important when life presents unexpected challenges to wellbeing. According to the World Health Organization, one in four people will be affected by mental health issues in their lifetime, and more than 300 million people today suffer from depression.
In honour of Mental Health Awareness Day, we’re supporting this moment with a continued and deepened focus on mental health for Pinners with inspiring content, new resources, and the launch of Havens, an online and offline space for community-driven inspiration.
Our goal of advancing inspiration guides how we show up in our communities, how we think about our societal obligations, how we contribute our time and resources, and how we tackle barriers that prevent positivity or introduce toxicity. We’re creating space—on our platform and in the world—for reflection on how mental health can impact us all globally.
Wellbeing on Pinterest
People come to Pinterest to discover ideas, get inspired and focus on themselves and their futures. We’re seeing Pinners coming to Pinterest for inspiration around increased emotional wellbeing and overall wellness, including new ways to stay positive and take care of themselves. Over the past year, we’ve seen an increase in searches for the following self-care inspiration:
Sunday reset routine1 (7x)
Destressing tips2 (12.7x)
Optimism tattoo2 (3x)
Self care quotes mental health2 (4x)
Resting quotes2 (4x)
We can each support our own mental wellbeing by focusing on relaxation strategies. There are many activities, such as yoga, meditation and mindfulness that can help reduce or manage levels of stress and anxiety. Find an activity that works for you and that you are likely to continue doing, which will help you work towards a regular practice.
Dr. Juveria Zaheer, a researcher and psychiatrist at The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
More ways to find wellbeing on Pinterest
Compassionate Search continues to serve as a way to find helpful resources and activities if they’re feeling stressed, anxious or sad, when searching for terms related to emotional wellbeing. Brazil and Germany are the latest countries to have this feature, joining the U.S., UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Singapore, India, the Philippines, Hong Kong and New Zealand. These guided activities were created with the help of emotional health experts at Brainstorm, the Stanford Lab for Mental Health Innovation, and with advice from Vibrant Emotional Health and the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
Pinners can also tap on “daily inspiration” in the search tab on Pinterest to find a selection of wellbeing activities curated by creators because emotional wellbeing and mental health can look different to everyone. Journaling, meditating, walking, dancing, drawing and more, are all activities that can support our emotional wellbeing and mental health.
Community giving
Emotional wellbeing is a core focus at Pinterest. In May, Pinterest committed $10 million over 12 months to fund organizations that are increasing awareness of mental health and wellbeing challenges, advancing innovations in the field, and explicitly tackling racial and other disparities in access. As part of this commitment to organizations that are doing valuable work in this space, Pinterest will recommend over USD $1,000,000 in grants to organizations focused on advancing emotional wellbeing services and resources from the Pinterest Charitable Fund, the Company’s donor-advised fund administered by a donor-advised fund program. Grantees include:
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Rising Ground
The Steve Fund
The Trevor Project
Pinterest’s social impact thesis is that emotional wellbeing and mental health are vital components of living a life you love. On World Mental Health Day, we’ve chosen to focus on organizations doing groundbreaking work supporting different underserved communities at multiple levels. That ranges from deep place-based work in communities in the United States, to programs and advocacy efforts that are making a dramatic impact on mental health access and outcomes around the world.
Ari Simon, Responsabile impatto sociale e attività filantropiche
Introducing Havens
As a visual platform, Pinterest has an opportunity to shape the world through the power of imagery. That’s why we’re excited to launch our anti-burnout oasis Havens: Invest in Rest, an online and offline destination exploring the relationship between mental health and rest. Inspired by the Pinterest Predicts trend “invest in rest,” The Haven will include a collection of relaxing Idea Pins about rest from Creators around the world on Pinterest. Employees from Pinside Out, Pinterest’s internal mental health community, also co-curated content in the Haven. From stunning waterfalls, to gratitude journal prompts to bedtime affirmations, Havens is designed to help you reboot and recharge.
