For children dealing with difficult life situations—like a serious disease, grief or bullying—it can be tough for relatives to know how to empower or reassure them. That’s why last year, a Babson MBA student and her husband decided to launch SuperHealos, a social innovation company that is developing creative, age-appropriate resources aimed at helping kids “bridge the gap between sickness and recovery, loss and acceptance, fear and courage.”
The concept for SuperHealos was sparked from a smaller idea to develop more comfortable pediatric hospital gowns and capes that would empower children and make them feel like superheroes. Then, the duo decided to expand their endeavor to include story coloring books to teach kids about what they’re going through in their own language.
Co-founders Yuan Yin, who will graduate from Babson this year, and Dylan Murphy were awarded an office in the Babson Butler Hatchery space recently. Now that they’re fully equipped with a white board, conference room and other equipment, they’ve launched a Kickstarter for SuperHealos to kick production into high gear. With 20 days to go, the campaign has raised $4,882 from 52 backers—more than half of its $10,000 goal. If the campaign is successful, that money will go toward the publishing of the startup’s first storybook: “SuperHealos Adventures in the Hospital.” From there, the team aims to re-visit its effort to redesign children’s hospital gowns. Yin and Murphy are currently working with other organizations to have Color your own SuperHealos Capes, Create your own SuperHealos stories, and other fun activities for children. They are also currently evaluating topics for future books, and writing music to accompany the stories.
“It's important to us that our stories are real and effective,” Yin said. “It has been great to see the smiles on kids' faces and have them react positively to the stories.”
If the SuperHealos Kickstarter raises $10,000, that campaign will fund 2,000 SuperHealos Coloring Storybooks for children. Backers are able to ensure that the reward they get, whether a customized color cape or a story book, goes to a child who needs it.
