The impact of this on mental health has been overwhelming, and not only for those who were tirelessly serving our communities at a time that we were at war with an invisible enemy. This time coincided with Tom West looking bringing his idea of a community-based platform, RentMy, to life. This was before my time with RentMy, I was working in a health and wellbeing environment and was lucky enough to be able to design a pivotal platform which was rapidly developed and deployed to support our frontline workers, in the reduction and limitation of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD). This project has played a major part in our ongoing design and development of RentMy 2.0.

‘Little did we know the true level of positive impact it would have on people’s mental health and wellbeing! ‘

At a time when many couldn’t see an end in sight, RentMy were busy developing a community-based platform to allow anyone to rent anything at any time. Little did we know the true level of positive impact it would have on people’s mental health and wellbeing!

As we started to emerge from the depths of lock-down, the devastation was becoming clear to many. One such bleak realisation was the financial crisis! The crisis has weakened consumerism resulting in a shift towards people wanting to access rather than own private assets; thus more products being shared. This pivot has also been promoted by a growing following and accountability for sustainable solutions.

‘This marks one of the biggest shifts in consumer assumptions, from being about owning assets to accessing assets (‘we are what we have and possess’ to ‘you are what you can access’) ‘

The shift towards a much more digital centric way of interacting has been a catalyst to thrusting what we refer to as Collaborative Consumption (CC) to prime position in the new world! CC is an extensive network of peer service providers willing to access their under-utilised assets using online platforms.

This marks one of the biggest shifts in consumer assumptions, from being about owning assets to accessing assets (‘we are what we have and possess’ to ‘you are what you can access’)

So what does this mean to helping our Mental Health?

There have been many studies run on the subject, revealing that there are several positive elements within Collaborative Consumption that positively contribute to our mental health and wellbeing.

Being Part of a Community:

Community insulation (the opposite to isolation) was at the core of the PTSD project I mentioned earlier. Loneliness (isolation) is far from limited to those living alone. The pandemic has activated this in many of us, and it is continuing beyond lockdown. Connection to other people and our community is fundamental to protecting and promoting our mental health and wellbeing.

Being part of a community does not mean that you must join clubs or proactively extend your friendship groups. RentMy has been designed with the community at the core, providing a safe environment to build relationships between individuals wanting to share assets, experience new things, or achieve goals that are otherwise restricted by finance, space or time.

Sharing is caring:

There have been many elements that have promoted the shift towards CC and subsequently positive mental health and wellbeing. The key areas the RentMy has focused on include: increasing population, sustainability awareness, desire for community belonging, economic needs, technological expertise and social network diffusion, all of which have be engrained in the platform.

People share for not only functional reasons but are often driven by altruism, which has hugely positive effects on one’s mental health. The actual event of sharing itself contributes to environmental and social sustainability through the incitement of anti-consumption and environmentally conscious behaviours.

 

Cash is King:

Accessing assets without the need to buy, store or maintain, means that the opportunity to experience new things or achieve goals without the economic barrier.

 

On the flip side, the opportunity to put your under-utilised assets to work, is a positive step to reducing the anxieties we are all exposed to. The opportunity to earn additional income helps but more importantly, doing something positive to try and mitigate the current economic doom and gloom has an arguably greater impact!

2022 Theme: Make Mental Health & Wellbeing for All A Global Priority!

With the rapid growth of digital acceptance, we believe that bringing platforms, users and brands together in a cohesive drive, the positive impacts seen by Collaborative Consumption will positively contribute towards the theme set for this year’s World Mental Health Day!

To learn more about the Award-Winning solution, please contact myself, Paul or another member of the team. We are here to help!

 

Paul Hutton - [email protected]

Ref: The Relation between Collaborative Consumption and Subjective Well-Being – Martina Toni