Chase Masterson on mental health in the pandemic era and the growth of The Heroic Journey at Home
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Chase Masterson presents a TEDx Talk on mental health
JANUARY 17, 2022 - In a TEDx Talk that has over 178,00 views and, most recently, during last weekend’s TREK*talks telethon, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s Leeta, Chase Masterson, has been speaking about the importance of bringing the values of Star Trek to life through the lens of mental health. Her Pop Culture Hero Coalition combines evidence-based psychology with pop culture storytelling, including Star Trek, to teach social emotional learning and bullying prevention. Masterson spoke with TrekMovie late last December about how the program has been developing.
Masterson said that she and author Carrie Goldman founded Pop Culture Hero Coalition in 2013 as an “outreach against bullying, racism, misogyny, LGBTQI+ bullying, and cyberbullying at a Comic-Con.” Since then the outreach has expanded in reach and in scope, and the Coalition has recently partnered with the YMCA to provide mental health curriculum.
While the Coalition’s focus initially was mainly on bullying, Masterson said, “[w]e … soon realized that identity, and fear, and lack of self-compassion, lack of self-worth, and lack of resilience were so intrinsically tied with bullying that we should create a full mental health curriculum rather than just do bullying prevention.”
“I am thrilled and honored to say that Pop Culture Hero Coalition’s Heroic Journey is the program for children, teens, and parents’ mental health at YMCAs nationwide,” said Masterson. “We were hoping to make a difference for people during the pandemic, so we created a set of tools on our website—The Heroic Journey at Home—to help children, teens, and parents learn resilience, how to manage family conflict, and how to manage difficult emotions during the pandemic, including grief.”
Masterson went on to reflect upon how mental health is being addressed in current productions, such as Star Trek: Discovery, as well as related issues that, for her, account for the continued resonance of Deep Space Nine.
For much more from Chase Masterson, including how to support the Pop Culture Hero Coalition and even what she thinks Leeta and Rom might be up to, you can read the entire interview at TrekMovie.
David is a contributing writer for Daily Star Trek News on the Roddenberry Podcast Network. He is a librarian, baseball fan, and book and movie buff. He has also written for American Libraries and Skeptical Inquirer. David also enjoys diverse music, but leans toward classical and jazz. He plays a mean radio.
