A path to ‘recovery’
Overcomers Anonymous expands to Sugar Grove
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A faith-based recovery support group that began in Russell is expanding to Sugar Grove, offering a place for people facing addiction, trauma, domestic violence, mental-health struggles
and other difficult life circumstances to find support.
Overcomers Anonymous was founded at Praise Fellowship Church in Russell by Dewayne and Christy Moore and Kristopher Wright, who drew from personal experiences with addiction and from walking alongside loved ones who had battled it. Their shared belief that recovery is the cure became the foundation for a Christ-centered support group focused on encouragement, accountability, healing and hope.
Now, Meghan Kelsey and her partner, Chris Guiffre, are preparing to bring the Christ-centered support group to Sugar Grove, with an opening night question-and-answer session planned for Monday, Sept. 14, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The Crosswalk Community Center on Main Street, in between The Bucket and The Outpost Share and Care Store.
The session will give community members an opportunity to learn about Overcomers Anonymous, meet Kelsey and Guiffre and ask questions before regular meetings begin.
While addiction recovery will remain an important part of the group’s mission, the Sugar Grove branch is intended to reach people facing a wider range of struggles, including trauma, domestic violence, mental-health challenges, eating disorders, unhealthy relationships and destructive coping patterns.
Loved ones of those battling addiction are also welcome. The group hopes to help family members and friends better understand recovery, establish healthy boundaries and learn how to support someone without unintentionally enabling harmful behavior.
“We want people to understand that recovery is not limited to one particular struggle,” Kelsey said. “Someone may be recovering from addiction, another from domestic violence or trauma, and someone else may be working through mental-health challenges, an eating disorder,
unhealthy relationships or destructive coping patterns. Every story is different, and we do not believe in labeling people by what they have experienced or what they are battling.”
The idea of expanding Overcomers Anonymous into Sugar Grove was first brought to Christy Moore by Judge Laura Bauer, who wanted to see this type of support available in the community. Moore later reached out to Kelsey and asked her to pray about leading a Sugar Grove branch. Kelsey and Guiffre prayerfully considered the opportunity together and ultimately agreed to take on the new location as a team.
Both bring personal and professional experiences they believe will help them connect with those who attend.
Guiffre has his own history of addiction and recovery and now works as a drug and alcohol therapist in the Warren area. He previously worked as a caseworker for Children and Youth Services and in peer support with Beacon Light Behavioral Health Systems, giving him experience working with youth and adults as well as issues involving trauma, mental health and family dynamics. He also serves with Battle Cry International, a Christ-centered men’s ministry focused on responsibility, accountability and spiritual growth.
Kelsey brings more than two decades of lived experience involving domestic violence and trauma and has also watched loved ones battle addiction. Those experiences, she said, have given her an understanding not only of the person struggling but also of what family members and friends can experience alongside them.
Professionally, Kelsey formerly worked as an administrative assistant at Deerfield Centers for Addictions Treatment and at the Youngsville Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility. Kelsey became especially interested in the connection between addiction and trauma. She began recognizing that while the two are not the same, both can affect how people respond to fear, stress, emotions, relationships and everyday challenges. Currently employed as a front desk coordinator and medical receptionist at Horner Family Practice, Kelsey's experiences have helped shape her belief in looking at recovery from a whole-person perspective, considering physical and emotional health, trauma history, relationships, coping patterns and spiritual well-being rather than viewing an individual’s struggle in isolation.
That understanding helped shape one of the Sugar Grove group's central goals: to bridge the gap between trauma recovery and addiction recovery while also recognizing that recovery can include healing from domestic violence, mental-health struggles, eating disorders, unhealthy relationships and destructive coping patterns.
One of the central goals of the Sugar Grove group's mission will be helping people understand and address the root of addiction, trauma and destructive patterns, rather than focusing only on the symptoms that appear on the surface.
Kelsey and Guiffre believe that addressing behaviors without examining their underlying causes can leave people repeatedly struggling with the same unhealthy patterns. Rather than assuming everyone’s struggle has the same cause, the group plans to create a space for self-reflection, accountability, healthy boundaries, practical recovery tools and biblical guidance.
Participants will be encouraged to consider the experiences and patterns that may have shaped their thoughts, emotions, choices and relationships and identify healthier ways of moving forward.
Another important part of that approach is refusing to define people by their circumstances. Kelsey said the group's philosophy is that a person is always more than the struggle they are facing. The main function of the group is to provide an environment where people can be
heard and supported without shame or judgment while working toward stability, healing and restoration.
Faith will be a central part of the Sugar Grove group, just as it is with the original Overcomers Anonymous program.
For Kelsey, taking on the new role also connects with her own Christian faith and experiences over the past several years. After accepting Christ in 2018, Kelsey attended Family Church in
Jamestown, N.Y., for nearly eight years. She said her time there helped build her spiritual foundation and deepen her understanding of Scripture, Christian community, worship and service and what it meant to trust God through difficult circumstances.
When she later felt led to leave the church community that had played such an important role in her life, Kelsey said she initially struggled to understand the change.
“At the time, I didn’t understand why the Lord would lead me away from a place where I had grown so much and where I had built such strong relationships,” she said. “I couldn’t see what He was doing yet.”
Looking back, Kelsey said she now views that transition differently.
“I started to realize that maybe God wasn’t taking me away from something as much as He was sending me into something,” she said. “He had spent years preparing my heart, teaching me and giving me tools that I could take into another church and into my own community.”
Meeting Guiffre became another piece of that journey, she said. His experience with addiction and recovery, combined with her experiences involving domestic violence and trauma, showed them how their different backgrounds could complement one another in ministry.
Kelsey also uses music as an extension of her faith and ministry. A singer and songwriter, she writes and performs original music under Malachi alongside guitarist Ryan Lundgren and also sometimes performs with her son, Skylar Martin.
For Kelsey, the music and the new recovery ministry have a common purpose: reaching people who are hurting and helping them see that difficult experiences do not have to determine their future.
“My heart has always been to help people in their healing journey and teach them about the love of Christ and how His love can restore the pain and difficulty we have experienced in life,” Kelsey said. “I believe God prepared me for this season long before I understood what
He was preparing me for.”
Those attending will be able to ask questions about the support group and its approach to addiction, trauma, domestic violence, mental-health struggles, eating disorders, recovery, healing and faith. The event will also provide an opportunity to get to know Kelsey and Guiffre.
The Sugar Grove branch will continue the original Overcomers Anonymous vision while broadening its reach to people walking through many different forms of recovery, without defining or categorizing them by the struggles they face.
At its heart, the group believes people should never be defined by addiction, trauma, domestic violence, mental-health struggles, eating disorders, past choices or painful experiences. Instead, participants will be encouraged to recognize their worth, understand the roots and patterns that have shaped their journey, and pursue healing, stability, freedom and renewed purpose through Christ. The group also holds closely to the truth found in Psalm 139:14 -- that each and every person is fearfully and wonderfully made -- and therefore worthy of dignity, respect, compassion, support and hope. The group will emphasize perseverance, grace, consistency, resilience and faith -- and the belief that no one should have to walk the road of recovery alone.