Coach Secrets

An art project by Beth Clare McManus

What goes unsaid in coaching?

Coaching is often described through the things we do, the conversations we have and the difference we hope to make. But what about the things we don't say?

The moments we're unsure about. The things we wish we'd handled differently. The experiences that stay with us, the small victories, the uncomfortable truths and the things we might not even have admitted to ourselves.

Coach Secrets is an invitation to reflect on your coaching practice and anonymously share something true about it.

Your secret might be challenging, positive, regretful, hopeful, celebratory or anything in between. It might be about a client, another coach, yourself or the experience of coaching.

There is no right or wrong thing to share. I'm interested in the things that often remain unspoken.

Make your secret

Create your secret using words, images or a combination of both. The invitation is to make something that expresses your secret, rather than simply describe it.

You can submit your contribution in either of two ways:

Physical submissions

Create your secret on a square canvas measuring 120mm × 120mm. You can use any mailable material.

Please post your submission anonymously to:

Coach Secrets
c143 Pollard Yard
Pollard Street East
Manchester
M40 7QX

Digital submissions

Create a square image and upload it using this form.

Before you submit

Coach Secrets is an anonymous creative project. You don't need to provide your name or contact details when submitting a digital secret.

Please take a moment to read the following conditions before submitting your work.

Anonymity and confidentiality

Please don't include your name or other details that identify you.
Don't include names, identifying details or confidential information about clients, colleagues or other people.
Remember that even without names, particular circumstances or details might make someone recognisable.
Please only submit material that you have created yourself and have the right to share.
Check your image before uploading, including any embedded information or metadata that might identify you.

Permission to use your submission

By submitting your work, you give Beth Clare McManus a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to reproduce, display and share your contribution as part of the Coach Secrets project.

This includes:

Sharing selected submissions through the Coach Secrets Instagram account and associated social media.
Including submissions in exhibitions, presentations, publications and other outputs directly related to the Coach Secrets project.
Making reasonable adjustments to submissions for presentation purposes, such as resizing, cropping or formatting.

You retain ownership and copyright of your original work. I will not sell your submission, license it to unrelated third parties or use it for purposes unrelated to Coach Secrets without seeking your further permission.

Submitting your work does not guarantee that it will be selected or published. I reserve the right to decline or remove submissions that are inappropriate, potentially identifiable or otherwise unsuitable for the project.

Privacy and handling of submissions

I will handle submissions with care and use them only for the purposes described above. Digital submissions will be stored securely and access will be restricted to me.

I do not ask for your name or contact details as part of the digital submission process. However, please be aware that images may contain identifying information, including embedded file metadata.

Physical submissions may be retained as part of the project's archive.

If you have a question about a submission or wish to request its removal before publication, please contact me at hi@bethclaremc.com. Once something has been published or shared online, I cannot guarantee that every copy or repost can be retrieved.

By submitting your image, you confirm that you have read and agree to these conditions.

What happens next?

Coach Secrets is an ongoing creative project. I'll review submissions and select contributions to share through the project's Instagram account and other related outputs.

I may crop or resize an image to make it suitable for display, but I won't intentionally change the meaning of your contribution.

The project is inspired by Frank Warren's PostSecret, which explores the power of anonymous sharing and the things we carry but don't always say.

Sometimes, making something visible is a way of giving it somewhere to go.