About Rockpool Coaching

Hello, I’m Dean Coates founder of Rock Pool. I’m a creative coach based in Bristol in the UK specialising in coaching people working the creative industries.

I have always been drawn to creative people and creative processes. The art studio at school was my favourite place to hang out, as an adult I have taught art workshops and classes in schools and colleges and eventually ended up with a senior management role in a Further Education College. It was a difficult political role and the workload was relentless and eventually I hit burnt out. Tired and exhausted I couldn’t see a way forward, I knew I needed a change but didn’t know what or how to make that change so I sought a coach to help me reimagine what my future might look like.

Within eight months, I left my role and founded a nomadic gallery in 2013 with my partner. It really did change my life for the better. I love working with artists, curators, visiting studios, travelling the world and being my own boss and in 2015 I went back to university to study for a Masters in Ceramics and not long after got my own studio.

Following the systemic changes in the post-Covid art world and a downturn in sales, I chose to formally retrain as a coach as a side hustle and obtained a diploma in transformative coaching from a great school called Animas. During my training, I coached writers, actors, and visual artists, noticing shared themes: the search for clarity, sustainable balance, confidence, and meaningful direction.

Today, I specialise in coaching creatives because I genuinely enjoy the process of helping people think more clearly and forge their own path forward. Coaching with me is collaborative, curious, and grounded in reality. It’s not about telling you what to do it’s about us creating space for insight, resilience, and purposeful action so your creative life can evolve in a way that feels both viable and deeply yours.

Find out more by getting in touch via my contact page.