Helpful will be closing at the end of this year

Helpful , the Cambridge-based caregiving and mental health support platform founded in 2022, will shut down on December 31, 2025. CEO Wes Donohoe shared the news publicly, calling the decision “the hardest and most meaningful work of my career” and expressing gratitude to the families, therapists, and partners who used and supported the platform.

Helpful was built around a simple premise: make healthcare and insurance navigation easier for caregivers while providing mental health support when the burden became overwhelming. The company combined benefit guidance, access to medical records, personalized care insights, and condition-specific education in a single HIPAA-compliant app. Over the last three years, Helpful helped thousands of families understand their loved ones’ coverage, delivered tens of thousands of therapy sessions, and partnered with health plans — including VNS Health — to streamline how caregivers access benefits and care information.

On LinkedIn, Donohoe apologized to his team, writing that his “most fundamental job as a founder was to keep the company alive,” and that he “wasn’t able to do that.” He emphasized pride in the team’s work and the impact they made for families navigating complex medical and insurance decisions.

Helpful will continue operating through the end of the year. After 12/31/25, the company will cease operations and wind down services.