World Mental Health Day is this Sunday the 10th of October, and to mark the occasion, Pinterest is launching “an anti-burnout oasis” via a new project called “Pinterest Havens: Invest in Rest”
Pinterest Havens is not a Minecraft biome, or a new space in the Metaverse, but it’s actually a Pinterest board which is designed to help users “explore the relationship between mental health and rest”
As explained by Pinterest:
“The Haven includes a collection of Idea Pins about rest from Creators around the world, from gratitude journal prompts to bedtime affirmations, to tips for a mental reboot. Pinterest is inviting people - the ad industry included - to dive in and take some time for themselves to honor World Mental Health Day.”
As you can see in the above example, Pinterest Havens provides a range of mental health tips and exercise routines, inviting Pinners to take a moment out of their day to relax and take a break. Which, amid the various impacts of COVID-19, we could all probably use right now.
And Pinners, in particular, have been looking for relief. Throughout 2021, the platform has seen an increase in searches for things like “Sunday reset routine” (+7x), and “de-stressing tips” (+12x), among other mental health related queries.
Pinterest is also looking take its Havens initiative beyond the platform, with a new, real life Havens installation.
“Located within Boxville on Chicago’s South Side, “Havens: Invest in Rest”, is a site-specific installation curated by local artist Dwight White dedicated to bringing the anti-burnout oasis to life through real-life Pins and community programming.”
Pinterest will additionally donate $80,000 to three Chicago organizations dedicated to supporting the local community as part of its broader wellbeing funding commitment.
The Havens initiative is the latest in Pinterest’s efforts to provide mental health assistance and consideration. One of the platform’s main programs on this front has been its self-care program, which provides quick exercises to help Pinners that are dealing with mental health issues, along with direct links to professional assistance, if needed.
The resources are displayed when users search for related terms, like “stress quotes” and “work anxiety”, which can help to guide users to key assistance measures in times of need.
And as we’ve seen via the recent revelations about Instagram’s impact on the mental health of teen users, this is a critical area of social platform focus.
It may not seem like a major addition, but even a simple update, that reaches users at the right time, can have a big impact.
You can check out the Pinterest Havens board for yourself here.
