Our story
How a youth-led idea became He@lio, and the start of Compassion8Innovation.
He@lio began during the early days of the pandemic, when youth mental health needs were rising fast and the tools to meet them did not exist. The spark came from a storytelling session on AI led by local entrepreneur Chad Oda. Youth members of the Bellevue Youth Link Board and Youth Council took on the challenge themselves, learning computer science and building the first version by hand. What started as a simple text chatbot grew, year by year, into He@lio, and the mission behind it became Compassion8Innovation.
A youth group's idea
Bellevue Youth Link's mental health subgroup imagines a chatbot that talks to youth like a youth, and builds the first version on Microsoft Virtual Agent.
Learning to converse
The team moves to a conversational AI platform, Voiceflow, for a more natural back-and-forth.
The third iteration
He@lio adopts a ChatGPT-based approach, bringing far richer and more helpful conversations.
Recognized nationally
The project applies to the National Science Foundation and qualifies as human-centric design, advancing to the next stage.
A product of its own
He@lio is rebuilt from the ground up as a standalone web app, with full AI features, an edge-native architecture, and age-adaptive tone.
Tested at a university
A University of Washington MSIM Capstone team evaluates He@lio's safety, effectiveness, and interaction quality.
Today
He@lio is in closed beta, and the mission it began now carries on as Compassion8Innovation, with a growing team and a widening research program.
How He@lio started