About
I’m Dean Coates a certified life coach and founder of Rock Pool Coaching. I am based in Bristol and coach people online across the UK and internationally. I specialise in coaching creative people who want to build sustainable, fulfilling businesses without getting overwhelmed.
My work focuses on helping creatives navigate the particular pressures of creative businesses, where responsibility is high, expectations are complex, and the line between personal identity and professional role can easily blur.
My work has spanned creative enterprise and educational leadership, running my own business and starting an arts charity. Each of these roles roles has given me invaluable experience of building something meaningful without losing sight of creativity and purpose.
I trained with a Diploma from the Animas Centre for Coaching, one of the UK's leading ICF-accredited institutes and am trained to work with neurodiverse clients, including those with autism and ADHD.
Through thoughtful, individualised coaching, I support creatives to regain clarity, strengthen resilience, and build businesses that are ambitious and sustainable. My approach is practical, reflective, and grounded in lived experience helping you lead with confidence. When I’m not coaching I spend as much time as possible in my ceramics studio, walking in the country and at the gym.
Find out more by getting in touch.
Why Rock Pool
I sometime get asked why I called my coaching business Rock Pool Coaching so here’s the answer. Rock pools are small worlds full of fascinating and diverse life. I’ve always been drawn to them as places to pause, watch, and observe. Sometimes they are calm and still; at other times they are shaped by turbulence and change, they are metaphors for how life can be. That sense of reflection, resilience, and possibility is what inspired the name Rock Pool Coaching.