Tom Preston

Tom has been working in the mental health field since 1984. Most of his time was spent as a substance abuse counselor for the Buncombe County mental health entity Blue Ridge Center in the Intensive Outpatient program, the Neil Dobbins Detox Center, and in the Opioid Treatment Program. Tom also worked with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities with substance abuse problems. He has worked with children and adults in psychiatric hospitals and residential treatment centers, as well as in shelters and group homes.

Tom has worked at OHAC for over three years. Some of his other interests are working against war and racism and for workers’, women’s, and LGBTQ rights. In his spare time, Tom likes to run and walk in the woods, read and write, and create art, as well as watch films and listen to music.

He is from Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia and has a large and loving family, including two grandsons. Tom has lived in Western North Carolina since 1987.