Hancock County Prevention Specialist Earns State Honor
(From Hancock County ADAMHS)
Zachary Thomas, the education and wellness director at Hancock ADAMHS, has received the 2025 OPPA Prevention Advocate Award for supporting prevention efforts across Ohio.
The statewide advocacy awards are presented annually by the Ohio Prevention Professionals Association. Jim Ryan, OPPA’s executive director, said Thomas was recognized for advancing the organization’s mission of “employing the power of dialogue, education, networking, and advocacy to amplify a united voice for prevention in Ohio.”
Thomas accepted the award at the Championing Prevention session of the OPPA Conference 2025 last week in Columbus.
Thomas is an Ohio Certified Prevention Specialist. At the Hancock County Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services, he coordinates and manages the Hancock County Community Partnership and the Coalition on Addiction. He oversees the Board’s interests and public relations and leads work in humility and health equity. He is a BGSU graduate.
Precia Stuby, director of Hancock ADAMHS, said the community is fortunate to have Thomas’s talent and commitment.
“Zach understands the importance of using your voice to ensure laws, polices, and practices are consistent with the needs of those we serve and the communities they live in,” Stuby said. “He makes time for this despite multiple other competing priorities. The field of prevention in Ohio is better off because of his efforts.”
Dionne Neubauer, director of the Findlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce, said Thomas has helped the community come together on sometimes difficult conversations about prevention.
“On the local level, he listens, engages, and pays attention to the people of Hancock County to figure out how prevention works best in a continually evolving world. His work with the Hancock County Community Partnership, at 35 years and counting, is rooted in the fundamentals of linking community-based passion with prevention science.” Neubauer said.
Rebecca Jones, Associate Director of Community Care, Talbert House, said Thomas brings the “same energy to prevention on the state level.”
“He has become an understated ‘thought leader’ for prevention, raising questions and considerations with state prevention leaders on everything from how we talk about marijuana in an age of legalization, to real-life application of the prevention rule, to the legitimacy of new prevention – or claiming-to-be prevention interventions,” Jones said.
Jones continued: “Through his advocacy on the local and state levels, Zach nudges, convinces, and, when needed, pushes his local community and our statewide prevention system to ask and answer the tough questions that lead to healthier communities.”
A Bowling Green State University graduate, Thomas is an Ohio Certified Prevention Specialist. At the Hancock County Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services, he coordinates and manages the Hancock County Community Partnership and the Coalition on Addiction. He oversees the Board’s interests and public relations and leads work in humility and health equity.