MAYVILLE — The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) under the U.S. Department of Health of Human and Services has awarded a $4 million grant over the next four years to the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene for its Tapestry Resilience Initiative. Tapestry, a system of care, provides supports, community education, and other resources and partnerships for children, youth, and their families throughout the county.

“Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene is absolutely thrilled to receive this grant award,” said Pat Brinkman, Chautauqua County Director of Mental Hygiene Services. “There has been such collaboration between many partners to make the work under Tapestry successful. This new funding recognizes the contribution of all of those partners and gives us the opportunity to further develop the system of care for children and their families.”

SAMHSA is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. SAMHSA’s mission is to reduce the impact of substance use and mental illness on America’s communities.

With the SAMHSA grant, the Tapestry Resilience Initiative will focus on two specific age groups of youth in the system of care. Young children (ages 0-8 years) who are experiencing serious emotional disturbance (SED) will be supported with activities and services that meet their needs and reflect the unique characteristics of families living in Chautauqua County. Simultaneously, college-aged students (18-21 years) in the transition to adulthood will receive engaging, educated, and integrated supportive care.

“Chautauqua Tapestry provides much needed services to Chautauqua County children and their families,” said U.S. Representative Tom Reed. “We are proud to support this program and get much needed funds to the right place. Continuing this partnership of programming will help the people we care about get a fair shot at life.”

“We appreciate our Federal partners recognizing the critical importance of proactively addressing the mental health needs in our communities especially for our young people,” said George Borrello, Chautauqua County Executive. “I appreciate the hard work of the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene in pursuing and receiving this grant.”

The goal of the Tapestry Resilience Initiative is to provide safe and engaging trauma-informed services to prevent mental, emotional and behavioral disorders and to identify and address concerns as early as possible and strengthen existing collaboration among community groups and forge effective coordination to provide the needed supports and services for children, youth, and their families.

For more information about the Chautauqua Tapestry initiative, please visit www.chautauquatapestry.org or find Chautauqua Tapestry ion Facebook.

For more information about SAMHSA, visit: www.samhsa.gov.