Pinterest Sets Several Mental Health Awareness Month Initiatives

Pinterest detailed several ways it is marking Mental Health Awareness Month in May. The company said a recent survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 42% of respondents reported anxiety or depression symptoms due to the pandemic, adding that GlobalWebIndex found that Pinners are 20% more likely than the rest of the population to have mental and emotional well being be top of mind during Covid-19. When comparing the period of March 26 through April 22 of this year with the same days in 2020, searches for Mental Health Awareness Month were 2.5 times greater, and mental health and well being topics to see significant increases included mental health tattoos (13 times), mental well being quote (11 times), yoga meditation space (eight times), mental glow up (3.5 times) and mental health challenge (2.7 times). Pinterest said it will commit $10 million over the next 12 months to fund organizations that are increasing awareness of mental health and well-being challenges, advancing innovations in the field and explicitly tackling racial and other disparities in access. Content on the platform’s Today tab will focus on mental health throughout the month of May, the Rekha Pinterest logo will be displayed in green, the official color of Mental Health Awareness Month, on all of its social media accounts. Pinterest is also teaming up with #HalfTheStory, donating ad credits to the nonprofit so that it can encourage Pinners to learn about its organization, raise funds for its Social Media U teen-focused curriculum and direct Pinners to resources on topics including managing screen time and empowering safe advocacy online. #HalfTheStory founder and executive director Larissa May wrote in a Pinterest blog post, "Pinterest's dedication to digital wellness and social media responsibility is fundamental to elevate #HalfTheStory's mission to empower healthy tech usage. Our collaborative campaign seeks to inspire moments of digital wellness through conscious content and democratize tools for healthy tech consumption and effective advocacy. All of the funds raised from this campaign support Social Media U, a five-week science-backed curriculum to empower healthy relationships with technology from the start for teens." Grammy Award-nominated singer and songwriter Bebe Rexha will team up with Pinterest during Mental Health Awareness Month, creating exclusive content for the platform, including Story Pins discussing her mental health journey and how it impacted her new album, which will drop May 7. She will also take part in a live event on Pinterest’s Instagram channel May 27 to discuss the science of well being with Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence founding director Marc Brackett. Content from Rexha will be part of the Pinterest Mental Health Group Board, alongside contributions from Brackett, self-trust coach Nory Pouncil and Yale University professor of psychology Laurie Santos. Rexha wrote in Pinterest’s blog post, “I’m thrilled to partner with Pinterest for Mental Health Awareness Month. Advocating for mental health and generating awareness around it is something that is close to my heart. Pinterest has always been a place where people can find positive inspiration, and for me, sharing those positive spaces and encouraging my followers to practice self-love is more important than ever before.” Finally, Pinterest is closing its offices worldwide from May 28 through June 1 so that its employees can take time to disconnect and be intentional about self-care. Pinterest head of social impact and philanthropy Ari Simon said in the blog post, “Pinterest’s identity is anchored on being a place for people to be inspired, and our ability to give philanthropically significantly expands the ways in which we can support inspiration and well-being in the world, driven by the belief that to live a life you love, you need to have a self you love. But that same impulse also requires us to step up in this moment, given the mental health crisis exacerbated by Covid-19 and the disparities across communities that the pandemic has laid bare. For that reason, we have made emotional well-being our core philanthropic focus, with well over one-half of our planned grantmaking in the coming year dedicated to the topic.”

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Pinterest Sets Several Mental Health Awareness Month Initiatives

The platform is partnering with #HalfTheStory, Bebe Rexha

David Cohen

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