CHRIS BATES
Founder of Overcome Exploitation Consulting
IMPACTFUL SPEAKER
MOTIVATED LEADER
INTENTIONAL ADVOCATE
Professional Highlights
Commissioner & Consultant, Massachusetts Special Commission on Unaccompanied Homeless Youth (UHYC)
Achievements
-Recipient, Key to the City of Worcester
-Recipient, Excellence in Youth Peer Advocacy Award Parent/Professional Advocacy League
Certificates
-Certified Paralegal, Boston University
-Certified Peer Mentor, Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
-Certified Sexual Assault Counselor, Pathways for Change, inc.
Personal Highlights
Non-binary (they/them pronouns)
Parent of Max a cute rescue dog
Survivor to Thriver
Favorite color is orange
PETA member
CHRIS'S IMPACTFUL LIFE STORY
Chris is committed to changing the systems that impact our most marginalized and vulnerable community members
As a sexually exploited runaway youth from a rural community in Connecticut, Chris not only experienced a childhood filled with a number of adverse childhood experiences but lives a life of exemplary determination
At just 27 years of age, Chris’s voice and work has become essential to bringing awareness to and improving systems that work with youth and young adults that have had to exchange sex to meet their needs
Since 2018, Chris has been an independent consultant working on projects in Massachusetts and beyond, focused on homelessness, exchanging sex to meet needs, and stakeholder engagement related-issues
Chris has become a nationally recognized survivor speaker on the issue of males that exchange sex to meet their needs
“I am a male survivor. As a kid growing up, I wanted to become a doctor, an architect, or engineer. I never once woke up and had aspirations to sell my body.”
-Chris Bates to Truckers against Trafficking
From strategic planning to innovative solutions, the focus is always on improving the quality of care for vulnerable and marginalized people. Chris works directly with individual programs or networks of programs.
