Collage as a Creative Coaching Tool
A Comprehensive Resource for Coaches and PsychologistsRoutledge 2023
Why I Wrote This Creative Coaching Book
The genesis of this book took root when coaches began asking me how to use collage as a creative tool within their practice.
I began by offering training and it quickly became apparent that there was very little else to support them. The books that referenced collage related either to art therapy or vision boards.
This book emerged from a desire to fill that gap and provide a dedicated resource for coaches.
It was also an opportunity to extend the reach of the approach beyond training, and introduce coaching with collage to the wider personal development sector, where it has considerable value for clients.
The First Book Dedicated to Coaching With Collage
As the first book dedicated to coaching with collage, I introduce you to the Collage Coaching Technique™. This three-stage creative process unlocks unconscious thinking, enabling profound psychological insight through deeper and faster exploration of emotions and behaviours.
As a comprehensive resource, I share in-depth information and research including coaching with the unconscious mind, meaning-making through symbolic images and visual metaphors, embodied cognition, the neuroscience of creativity, and the role of storytelling.
Case studies, client reflections, and my personal experiences feature throughout, illustrating and enriching the theory. The book aims to instil creative confidence in coaches, so you feel equipped to use this transformative technique in your practice. As such, it is inspirational and essential reading for anyone starting, reviewing, or deepening their creative coaching journey.
On the Shoulders of Giants
The CCT has its foundations in the work of Carl Gustav Jung, and his psychological tradition that honours the wisdom beyond our thinking mind.
I first encountered Jung while studying for an art therapy diploma and was immediately drawn to his work, particularly his understanding of the unconscious and the way images can reveal inner knowing that words alone cannot easily access. From my own experience, I was convinced of his theory of dreams as a pathway to deeper self-knowledge.
Shortly after completing the course, I read Man and His Symbols cover to cover, highlighting and notetaking heavily throughout. So that by the time I came to write my book, Jung’s thinking had become deeply embedded in my practice and provided rich reference material to draw on.
“He who looks outside, dreams; he who looks inside, awakes.”
His work continues to shape how I approach coaching, including his writing on the collective unconscious. The quote above has a permanent place on my website, capturing something fundamental about what the CCT invites people to do. Engage with images that speak directly to the unconscious, allowing insight, alignment and authentic direction to unfold in ways that feel both surprising and deeply true.
Jung is one of several thinkers whose ideas are woven through the CCT. You can read how these influences come together in practice throughout my book.
How the Book Cover Came to Life
In this video I walk you through the creative process behind designing my book cover. Like every collage, it tells a story. One that unfolds through each stage of its development, from the symbolism and colour to the positioning of every image.
As the dance between my head and my hands takes place, I invite you into my thought process, revealing how meaning emerges through the making.
What Reviewers are Saying
This book is an informative, well researched and evidence-based resource for coaches wishing to incorporate the power of collage into their approach. Having seen and experienced it in action, Andrea Watts innovative, considered and thorough approach is second to none. It speaks to Andrea’s generosity that she has been willing to demystify and codify the process for all within the pages of this great read. This book, its approach and wisdom will help to transform your approach with working with clients, helping you and they to reach full potential.
What was interesting was the exploration between vision boards and the ‘collage coaching technique’ developed by Watts. My assumption was these would be one and the same, but Watts’s development of collage has moved the tool from a simple representation of future plans into a deeper psychological space. Read full review
For me, the best thing about the way this book is written is that although it is not designed to be a guide as to how to integrate collage into coaching, in explaining the process and underlying science, Andréa also shares so much of her own expertise and client’s experiences with the CCT, that you get a real feel for how this would work in your own coaching practice. A must read for coaches looking to engage in more creative techniques.
What Coaches are Saying
Collage as a Creative Coaching Tool brings something original, new and evidence based to the field of coaching. It’s easily the most useful coaching book from the last five years.
I was blown away. It is exactly what it says on the tin – a comprehensive resource for coaches and psychologists. I also liked the references to other techniques and work around Arts based methods that permeate the book, making it a rich resource indeed.
Andréa goes beyond the surface level writing of detailing the steps of the approach. She provides comprehensive (and fully researched) scientific explanations of why collage as a creative coaching tool works.