You've built something remarkable.
Your relationship deserves the same level of attention.
Dr. Steven S. Steele brings thirty years of experience, graduate-level training at Princeton (PTS), and a direct, disciplined approach to helping high-performing couples and professionals do the relational work that career success doesn't cover.
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For couples who are successful in every visible way.
Succeeding everywhere else
You manage teams. You hit targets. You solve complex problems for a living. But the communication skills that work in a boardroom don't always translate to an intimate partnership — and the two of you have been stuck in the same cycle for longer than you want to admit.
When something breaks
An affair. A disclosure. A moment when one of you says the word "divorce" and means it. These are not situations to navigate with a generic approach. They require someone who has sat across from couples at their worst and knows exactly what the next move is.
Private, not broken
You are not in crisis. But you have been carrying something for a long time — in a relationship, in a pattern, in a version of yourself you are ready to move past. You want real work with someone who will not waste your time.
Thirty years.
A doctorate
from Princeton (PTS).
One practice.
Steve holds a doctorate from Princeton (PTS), with emphasis in Organizational Psychology and Attachment Theory, and a graduate degree with an emphasis in Family Systems Theory from Fuller (FTS). He is a Level 3 trained Gottman Method practitioner and a Certified Practitioner in Relational Life Therapy (RLT) under Terry Real. He has also taught and supervised graduate students at Princeton, Fuller, and Western.
His practice is private, in-person or on-line, and limited — by design.
- Gottman Method — Level 3
- Relational Life Therapy (RLT) — Certified Practitioner
Precise, compassionately direct, and built around your situation.
This is not passive listening. The work is direct, structured, and purposeful. Sessions are designed around where you are stuck — not a standard curriculum.
Steve integrates the Gottman Method's forty-year research base on what makes relationships succeed or fail, with the relational directness of RLT, which addresses the patterns beneath the conflict. Together they form a specific, rigorous toolkit for couples who need more than talk.
"Marriage is one of the most courageous and rewarding works you will ever do. The wisest among us recognize we cannot do it alone."
Areas of Focus
Where Steve works
Couples Counseling
For couples navigating communication breakdown, disconnection, high-pressure careers, and the slow drift that happens when two driven people stop investing in the relationship between them.
Learn more →Affair Recovery
When an affair comes to light, the decision of what comes next is one of the most consequential a couple will make. Steve provides structured, experienced guidance through disclosure, the immediate aftermath, and the longer work of deciding what your relationship becomes.
Learn more →Individual Counseling
For individuals navigating relational patterns, life transitions, professional identity, and the work of becoming a better partner, parent, or person. Private, discreet, and focused.
Learn more →Counseling for Professionals
High-performing professionals face relational pressures that standard counseling frameworks rarely address. Steve has worked alongside founders, executives, and senior professionals for thirty years.
Learn more →Premarital Counseling
For couples preparing to marry who want a rigorous, evidence-informed foundation — not a checklist. Research-based and personalized.
Learn more →Family Counseling
For families navigating conflict, communication breakdown, and the dynamics that affect every person in the household. Parent-adult child relationships, blended families, and family transitions.
Learn more →A 3-page summary you can save or share — no email required.
ThriveNow Counseling
851 Fremont Avenue, Suite 214
Los Altos, CA 94024
Hours
Tuesday – Friday by Appointment
In-person and
available online
Steve offers in-person or on-line counseling from his Los Altos office, centrally located on the Peninsula and accessible from Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Mountain View, and surrounding communities.
Video sessions are available for clients who prefer the flexibility of remote care, with the same attention and privacy as an in-person or on-line hour.
Initial consultations are confidential and free of charge.
A short conversation to see whether this feels like the right fit.
Essays on the work
between two people
Ready to have a different conversation?
Initial consultations are confidential and free. You can reach Steve directly by phone, or submit a brief inquiry and he will respond within 1–2 business days.