Katherine
K. McTaggart
(1943-2012)
 |
| Kathy McTaggart, champion for violence prevention |
Katherine
McTaggart, better known around the community as Kathy, was loved by the
countless young people whom she befriended over her 16-year career as a licensed
therapist at various Santa Monica schools. Her specialization was working with
adolescents and their families.
Her official title was School and Community Partnership Coordinator in
the SM-Malibu Unified School District. In
the early 1980s, Kathy was the on-site therapist at Olympic Continuation School,
where she counseled high-risk and gang-involved students. She met with their
families and enabled many young people to stay in school and resist drugs and
other dangers that their peers were involved in.
Kathy
developed a genuine rapport with her students, which in turn led to long-lasting
friendships. Over the years she stayed in touch with many of her former
students, both those at Olympic and those at Santa Monica High School.
In 1988 Kathy was honored as YWCA Woman of the Year. She was active in youth-serving
organizations in the community such as the Police Activities League (P.A.L.),
where she served on the Board of Directors. As a part of city and county social
service networks, she had extensive knowledge of community resources for youth
and families.
Violence Prevention
Violence
Prevention aims to prevent the infusion of physical, emotional, and
psychological distress from occurring.
Instead, meaningful dialogue serves as a preventive measure to ensure
that violence does not become a solution to disagreement or a developing
problem.
In
the first decade of this millennium, Kathy and others in Santa Monica connected
to form a Community Violence Prevention Coalition. We sought solutions to youth
and community violence through education, community dialogue, and advocacy for
services and policies that would result in violence prevention and
intervention. Conflict de-escalation was a central training we supported.
Education
and early years
A valedictorian
of Suffern High School in Suffern, New York, Kathy graduated from Smith College
summa cum laude in 1965 with two BA degrees, one in social work and one
in art history. Then she earned two MA degrees
in art history and in child development from New York University, followed by another
MA in Family and Child Counseling (MFCC) from CSU Northridge. She married and
raised two sons.
